Thinkbox scoops prestigious IPA Award for landmark sponsorship research
 

Thinkbox has won a prestigious IPA Award for ‘Best Paper’ for its research into the rapidly developing area of TV sponsorship. Using psychological research techniques, the paper explored the difference in the way sponsorship works compared with spot advertising.

Thinkbox, launched in February 2005, is the television marketing body for the main UK commercial broadcasters - Channel 4, Five, GMTV, ITV, Sky Media, Turner Media Innovations and Viacom Brand Solutions. The IPA award was presented to David Brennan, Research and Strategy Director at Thinkbox, and Nicole Greenfield, Research Manager at Thinkbox, at the recent Media Research Group Conference in Lisbon. The award is presented to the most popular paper at the conference, as voted for by the conference delegates, and is in memory of Dr. Simon Broadbent, a seminal thinker in media research. Balanced On receiving the award, Nicole Greenfield said: “It’s obviously great to get this sort of recognition. Providing robust new research is fundamental to what we do at Thinkbox and this study has really struck a chord with advertisers and agencies. We’re over the moon". Guided by a unique cross-industry Working Group to ensure a balanced perspective, the Thinkbox study showed how TV sponsorship’s greatest effect is on the viewer’s implicit and emotional mind - by association with the programme, not in providing information.   Understanding viewers’ relationships with programmes and this emotional/implicit significance is crucial to developing effective sponsorship, the paper suggests. The results illustrated how advertisers should not use the same measures to evaluate spot and sponsorship effectiveness. Impact The study – undertaken by Duckfoot – followed the substantial growth in revenues from programme sponsorships over recent years. It uncovered a range of benefits for brands sponsoring programmes and identified important practical guidelines for more effective sponsorships. Key findings include:   •  Sponsorship has a greater impact on the emotional/implicit mind than the rational/conscious mind.   •  Brands need to become part of the emotional relationship between viewer and programme.   •  Sponsorship makes brands famous and increases purchase intent, favourability and ‘for me-ness’.   •   ‘Fans’ are more likely to have a deeper emotional relationship with a sponsoring brand than less dedicated viewers, but still normal viewers see sponsoring brands as being ‘famous’.   •   If there is less natural ‘fit’ between sponsorship and programme creative, then longevity of sponsorship becomes key to establishing emotional associations between brand and programme.   •   Sponsoring brands can enjoy ‘brand rub’ and adopt the personality traits of programmes.