Investigating how customers respond to the sport sponsorship programs of Big Cola

Abstract

Commercial sponsorship is currently one of popular forms of marketing communication. This is “an investment in cash or in – kind, in an activity in return for access to the exploitable commercial potential associated with that activity”, according to Meenaghan (1991). Sport sponsorship is a type of commercial sponsorship that is believed to generate great loyalty and involvement as sport is an important part of modern culture. As a trend, sport sponsorship is developing fast when many companies invest a large amount of money on sport sponsorship. This study examines how Vietnamese customers respond to Big Cola’s football sponsorship for The FA Cup League. The framework of Sponsorship Effectiveness of Meenaghan in 2001 is used as a theoretical foundation and the quantitative research approach is applied to conduct this study.

The research first explores the process that customers respond to Big Cola’s sponsorship in the context of Vietnamese market based on the data analysis. Then recommendations that could be useful for Big Cola as well as other companies are given. Although there are still limitations, the study still provides some general ideas about this kind of sponsorship as a part of marketing communication tool to reach the target customers.