Image sponsoring: A methodology to match event and sponsor

This study is part of a larger investigation concerned with a methodology to evaluate the effectiveness of image sponsoring. The notion of image, which is equivalent to the idea of social representation from social psychology, is central to this series of studies. This study was concerned with the similarities and dissimilarities in the images or social representations of the Lyon's Tennis Grand Prix, France (GPTL) and Perrier, a seller of mineral water. In the first phase, a convenience sample of 80 subjects was presented with it list of 300 adjectives and requested to identify those adjectives that described the tennis event and Perrier. Frequency analyses of these responses showed that 23 adjectives were most often cited as representative of the tennis event, while 16 were cited as representative of Perrier. These items were used in the construction of a semantic differential scale, which was administered to 162 randomly selected subjects who were familiar with both the tennis event and Perrier. Canonical analyses showed that the GPTL and Perrier shared the images of (a) being highly popular and entertaining and (b) being dynamic and successful, but distracting. The results also showed that the GPTL had the images of (a) a distinguished, as opposed to a commercial, enterprise and (b) popular because of its arousal value. Perrier's images dimension was considered to be natural and young as opposed to appreciated. The practical implications of the results are discussed.