The nature and effectiveness of sponsorship performance measurement systems

Sponsorship represents a unique component of an organisation's integrated marketing strategy. There is increasing pressure from senior management to account for the contribution made by sponsorship to firm performance. This study examines the nature of sponsorship performance measurement systems (PMS) and antecedents' factors that may contribute to its effectiveness. An empirical study is conducted using survey data collected from 57 public companies in Australia. The results show that senior management support the adoption of formal sponsorship performance measurement systems comprising financial and non-financial performance measures but that “intuition” and “trust” were used in 98% of organisations. The antecedent variables of relational marketing strategy and size were found to have a relationship with the sponsorship performance measurement system. This underscores the importance of directing attention to sponsorship investment via the formalisation of the measurement process and the value of sponsorship PMSs in the eyes of senior management.