The role of sponsorship marketing in the integrated marketing communication programme with reference to the German insurance company Cosmos Direkt

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:Sponsorship marketing, as part of the integrated marketing communication programme, is arelatively new field of application. There is still a lack of research in many areas of this field,especially in respect of the measurement of the effectiveness of this communicationinstrument. Although its roots could be traced back to ancient Greece, substantial growth anddevelopment in the field of sponsorship marketing have taken place over the past threedecades. More recently the concentration of sponsored events has moved away from sportsand has been divided between a number of other areas, notably art and entertainment and alsocharity events. With the increase in sponsorships, an increase in literary research has also beendetected.The analysis of the sponsorship strategy of a German insurance company - Cosmos Direkt -has shown that in practice many companies are still not fully exploiting the potential of theirsponsorships. This became even more obvious when it was compared to the approach tosponsorships of some of South Africa's largest insurance companies. The comparisonindicated that some of the insurance companies had achieved satisfaction with theirsponsorship, while others were still battling to establish the right formula for success.The inconsistency of the success of sponsorships could often be ascribed to a large number ofcompanies being uncertain about sponsorships and reluctant to fully integrate these into theirmarketing strategies. Sponsorships could only be effective when they are supported by othermarketing communication tools, rather than being viewed as a completely separate activity.Sponsorships should be used in synergy with the other communication instruments, so that thecompany may project a uniform message to its customers and the public.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University