The Roles of Sports Sponsorship and Brand Management in Global Sports Marketing

Introduction

The growing interest in professional sports has continued to be considered as the big business in the digital age (Madichie, 2013). Sports are important for the sports marketers in order to target their audiences (Grove, Dorsch, & Hopkins, 2012). Sports can be utilized to build brand through brand alliance in the global sports marketing (Mao & Zhang, 2013). Wang, Jain, Cheng, and Aung (2012) stated that the global nature of sports is evident from the popularity of Western professional sports in Asia, such as European football in Southeastern Asia (i.e., Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia) and American basketball in Eastern Asia (i.e., Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea). Consequently, some Western sports teams have gained huge sports fans following in Asian nations (Wang et al., 2012).

Sponsorship of worldwide sports events has become increasingly popular as a marketing device during the last two decades (Woisetschlager & Michaelis, 2012). Sports sponsorship is a strategy through which firms can generate significant marketing advantages in the global sports marketing (Fahy, Farrelly, & Quester, 2004). Sports sponsorship has a direct impact on brand loyalty in brand management (Mao & Zhang, 2013). In addition, the role of sports sponsorship is recognized as a valuable strategy for attracting consumers at a domestic level (Zwick & Dieterle, 2005). In Asia, the present sports are characterized by the process of globalization which induces changes in the sports systems toward increasing the involvement of sports media, enhancing dependence on sports sponsorship, and supporting the growth of sports industry (Hong, 2002). Many perspectives of sports industry constitute major economic and social activities, with various business operations (Kauppi, Moxham, & Bamford, 2013).

The professional sports industry becomes competitive as a result of a worldwide social trend toward people attending sports as spectators and an ever-increasing range of available spectator events (Hill & Green, 2000; Robinson, 2006). The sports industry is one of the fastest growing business sectors in the world and its primary source of revenue is derived from sports fans (DeSarbo & Madrigal, 2011). Sports fans, sponsors, sports media, and government promote and support the organization for the benefits of social exchange and the creation of personal, group and community identity within a competitive environment (Roy & Singh, 2012). Knowledge of brand management is an important concern for practitioners and researchers. Branding enables firms to achieve sustainable competitive advantage through building higher value perception of customers to get a higher price premium (Hsiao & Chen, 2013).

The global brand strategy, which refers to a new market and an existing co-brand name, is the most appropriate perspective for sports teams and equipment manufacturers (Richelieu & Desbordes, 2013). The strength of this chapter is on the literature review concerning the thorough literature consolidation. This chapter introduces the roles of sports sponsorship and brand management in the global sports marketing, thus explaining the overview of sports sponsorship, brand management, and sports marketing; the importance of sports sponsorship in the global sports marketing; the importance of sports sponsorship and brand management in Asia; the importance of sports sponsorship and brand management in the global sports marketing; the application of brand management in the global sports marketing; the internalization of sports in the global sports marketing; the international marketing in the global sports marketing; and the significance of entrepreneurship in the global sports marketing.