For many companies, sponsorships are an important component of their marketing programs primarily used to increase brand exposure.

In 2010, North American companies invested 17.2 billion marketing dollars on sponsorships; that was a 3.4% increase over 2009. What primary metrics did they use to evaluate the value of this investment? Most companies believe the value of sponsorships is brand exposure and therefore tend to use it for recall and impressions as the two primary metrics for measuring sponsorships.

These may not be the best options. Metrics that tie sponsorships more closely to sales and brand equity might be better alternatives. How might we do this? They key is affecting customer behavior. 

For many companies, sponsorships are an important component of their marketing programs primarily used to increase brand exposure. In 2010, North American companies invested 17.2 billion marketing dollars on sponsorships; that was a 3.4% increase over 2009. What primary metrics did they use to evaluate the value of this investment?

Most companies believe the value of sponsorships is brand exposure and therefore tend to use it for recall and impressions as the two primary metrics for measuring sponsorships. These may not be the best options. Metrics that tie sponsorships more closely to sales and brand equity might be better alternatives. How might we do this? They key is affecting customer behavior. 

The interactive nature of sponsorships offers some insight into how to measure sponsorship effectiveness. By honing in on the interactive aspect, it is possible to use level of engagement/involvement and fit as metrics to assess how well the sponsorship is working. The premise behind this concept is that level of engagement and involvement will be affected by the degree of fit between the sponsor and the property or event. That is, the greater the engagement/involvement and the stronger the fit, the more likely the sponsorship will drive the desired behavior. 

Using engagement and fit as alternative metrics to recall, and impressions as a way to measure sponsorship effectiveness may impact your sponsorship decisions. For example who you target and how you message. Why? Because research suggests that the emotional bond of the customer toward the property impacts the emotional bond these customers have toward your organization. This bond is one key determinant of sponsor recall and potentially preference. This idea is based on Heider's Balance Theory. Heider established that most individuals strive to maintain a sense of balance in relationships and attitudes to avoid inconsistency in behavior. 

This theory can be applied to sponsorships. If a sponsor enhances a person's enjoyment of an event or supports a property to which they feel a strong emotional bond, the person's attitudes toward the sponsoring organization is positively affected. The studies concluded that affecting emotional bond and sponsor-liking produces better results than simply trying to increase awareness.

The implication is that it is a more effective and better investment to communicate a sponsorship of a particular event, property, etc. to people who already have an emotional connection to that event/property rather than taking a more broadcast general approach or restricting the sponsorship solely to a logo-viewing experience. This means that you would want to select sponsorships and ensure that your sponsorship elements enabled you to enhance the experience in order to affect a person's behavior and advocacy toward your brand.

If you decide to take use these metrics, then it is important to realize that you are transforming sponsorship from being about brand awareness to serving more as a role for emotional engagement.

Laura Patterson is president and co-founder of VisionEdge Marketing, Inc., a recognized leader in enabling organizations to leverage data and analytics to facilitate marketing accountability. Laura’s newest book, Marketing Metrics in Action: Creating a Performance-Driven Marketing Organization (Racom: www.racombooks.com ), is a useful primer for improving marketing measurement and performance.

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