By Afolabi Akinkuehin
Public Relations experts say that “Public relations stand out before marketing and advertising as one area in which sponsorship goods have held much away.”
No sponsorship programme can generate any success without first straying into public relations. By implication, therefore, the success or failure of either the marketing or advertising objectives in any sponsorship programme depends largely on how much of public relations spin offs are generated by the sponsorship activity.
For instance, you cannot expect an increased sales volume through sponsorship when the target markets do not have adequate confidence, understanding or positive impression about the company and its products. Therefore, every sponsorship begins with public relations and probably ends with it.
Every sponsorship programme first generates immediate public relations spinoffs before its secondary objectives of meeting marketing or advertising goals are attained. If positive images or impressions are not formed first about a company (sponsor) and /or its products, then sales would be difficult to come by.
This is because sales are only possible when the rich conducive environment has been created which, primarily, is the goal of sponsorship- to raise the corporate image of the sponsor. These positive spinoffs of sponsorship are classified under the following perspectives according to Jetkins(1993):
- Corporate image: Sponsorship helps to project the sponsor (company or candidate) as one which is socially responsible or make a contribution to society, thus building goodwill and reputation. Companions can use sponsorship to counter prejudice and negative images.
- Corporate identity: Given that an organization’s logo, house, colour or anything associated in identifying the company from others helps in increasing awareness of the physical identity of the organization. These physical identities go a long way in distinguishing the organization (sponsor) from its competitors.
- Name familiarizing: An organization or a product can gain name familiarity through sponsorship especially if it is one that is new, difficult to spell or pronounce. Example of this is Glo mobile, Nigeria and Smart Communications, Philippines, mobile telephone operators. They became house hold names because of their involvement in major sports sponsorship.
- Understanding: Beside name familiarization, an organization can also use sponsorship to create understanding among its various publics or services supplied by the organization. As a communication medium, sponsorship helps in projecting an organization correctly and adequately before its publics.
- Public relations strategies of which sponsorship is crucial, offers a very veritable medium for realizing the objective since it has a role to play in the creation or reinforcement of awareness and image of both product and the organization.
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Akinkuehin is the Chief Executive of Distinct Guides Institute of Professional Studies, 206, Arakale Road, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria,
+234 806 446 4664
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