● Concern over traditional promotional methods. First, many corporations have become concerned about the value of traditional forms of marketing.
Concomitantly, technological advancements have resulted in an explosion of marketing possibilities ‘with the attendant problem of clutter and cost efficient access’
(Meenaghan 1998, p. 4). As the number of commercial television and radio stations has risen, traditional advertising has produced a proliferation of messages within the medium. Sponsorship is seen as an alternative and often cheaper form of gaining exposure that avoids clutter and allows a sufficiently distinctive message to be seen and/or heard (Howard and Crompton 1995).
● Creation of favourable associations. Sponsorship has increasingly been viewed as a way in which to generate audience awareness while at the same time create an association between the values the sponsored entity exemplifies and the sponsoring Chapter 25 · Sponsorship 574 ● In addition, Owens-Corning’s publicity material described the common link in values between the sport and the company: ‘Freestyle is off the beaten path of tradition and the sport’s unique qualities of panache, courage, and skill are directly transferable to the corporate style of Owens-Corning.’ Recognising the resource that they had, the company was determined to hang on to it. It therefore set about developing the relationship into one that would prove beneficial for both parties. Owens-Corning first helped the sport gain Olympic status, then assisted with the development of a national training centre. It has also developed one of the best video libraries in the world on the sport and even helps train athletes to deal with life after retirement. The effort has worked. The two parties are in weekly contact,● discussing new ideas that might be beneficial to one side or the other. As the Marketing Director told us, ‘they give back to us everything we give to them; they love us as much as we love them’. The formal agreements between the two sides, which were first signed in 1986, have been renewed ever since, with little sign of any parting of the ways.
Source: J. Amis, N. PLant and T. Slack (1997), Achieving a sustainable competitive advantage: a resource-based view of sport sponsorship, Journal of Sport Management, 11(1), 80–96.
Sponsorship Contribution to an activity by an organisation. Although sponsorship may be purely altruistic, it is normally undertaken with the expectation of achieving benefit for the sponsor, e.g. in achieving corporate or marketingrelated objectives.

company (Meenaghan 1996). In View 25.1, for example, shows how an insulation company was able to create a sense of adventure and excitement about itself and its products by sponsoring freestyle skiing, one of the most thrilling of the Winter Olympic sports.

● Overcomes linguistics/cultural barriers. Sponsorship also has the ability to transcend cultural and linguistic barriers. It is no coincidence that sport, the arts and music are the areas that receive the most amount of sponsorship funding as these are activities with global appeal.

● Wide/multiple target audience appeal. Sponsorship as a marketing medium can be used to influence strategic partners, company staff, civic officials and government regulators, while at the same time appealing to customers and, as such, influence a company’s ‘bottom line’.
● Overcomes legal barriers. Sport sponsorship has also provided a vehicle to legitimate products such as alcohol and tobacco. While a number of countries ban or provide stringent regulations to govern the advertising of tobacco and alcohol products, sponsorship has provided a platform that has given these potentially harmful products an air of respectability. It also allows them access to television coverage and a youth market, nationally and internationally.
In the past, tobacco companies have been particularly adept at using Formula 1 motor racing for this purpose. In Canada, concerns over tobacco sponsorship of sporting and cultural events has arisen and the federal government has given sponsored organisations a five-year period to find replacement funds. Similar restrictions are increasingly being applied throughout Europe 1 What factors have contributed to the growth of sponsorship?