Influence of Sponsorship Companies on Customer Buying Behavior - Essay Example

How Arsenal FC and sponsorship Companies have an influence on buying behaviour in the UK? Table of contents Introduction…………………………………………………………1 Objectives of the study……………………………………………...2 Significance of the study…………………………………………….2 Background…………………………………………………………..3 Literature review……………………………………………………...5 Factors that influence consumer behaviour…………………………...5 Cognitive Theory……………………………………………………..6 Instrumental conditioning Theory…………………………………….7 Classical conditioning theory…………………………………………8 Methodology…………………………………………………………..9 Qualitative Research Method………………………………………….9 Limitations of the study………………………………………………..9 Bibliography……………………………………………………………10 Introduction The study seeks to investigate the extent to which Arsenal Football Club and sponsorship companies have an influence on the customer buying behaviour in the UK. The study would seek to explore the approach used by the sponsors on the football club as well as the impact on the sales as well as advertisements if there is any. The study would begin by giving a background of the Club’s operations since its inception and how the sponsorship structure has changed over time. This would be followed by literature review where the writer would seek to outline and explain the theoretical framework that can be used to explain the consumer buying behaviour of the customers in UK. The section of methodology would attempt to highlight the methods that can be used to gather data especially from secondary sources in a bid to explore the forces that often influence consumer behaviour to buy brands or products associated with Arsenal FC. Objectives of the study The major aims of the study involve an investigation of how the behaviour of the consumers is influenced by sponsors of Arsenal football club. The study would also aim to highlight the impacts of sponsorship on soccer and how it affects the performance of clubs and how it yields the overall behaviour of consumers in the UK. The major objective is to answer the following main research question as well as other sub questions: How do Arsenal FC and sponsorship companies have an influence on customer buying behaviour in the UK? How do sponsors approach the football club? Investigate if the sponsors have improved on their sales? To look at advertisement done by the sponsors and how it has had an effect on the football club? Analyze how both the sponsors and the football club are promoting themselves for example sponsor logos on football kits and in the global market. How have the sponsorships changed in terms of sponsoring the football club since it was established particularly the deal with Emirates Airline? Significance of the study The study is very significant in that it would attempt to investigate the behaviour of the consumers if it is influenced by the sponsors in any way as far as soccer is concerned. The study would also aim to investigate the impact of sponsorship on the performance of football clubs. Background Arsenal Football Club (FC) is a UK based English Club which plays in the Premier League and is regarded as one of the richest and most successful clubs as far as English soccer is concerned. The club was founded in 1886 and is also popularly known as the ‘Gunners’ which spot traditional white and red colours. Thus, according to information obtained from Arsenal FC’s website, they have a record of winning thirteen titles in the first division as well as thirteen Premier league titles. They have also won a record ten FA cups and two League cup winners as well as eleven charity/community shield winners among others in their history and this makes them one of the most highly rated clubs in English football. The Premier League therefore is the world’s most watched league and the most prestigious according to the Premier League’s website. It attracts players from virtually the whole world and was established in 1992. Since its inception, the Premier league has strove to attract quality players from across the globe with the major aim of promoting professional football at club and international level. It can be seen that for quite some long time, various sponsors have always tried to be associated with internationally acclaimed football clubs through sponsoring their activities as going to be discussed below. According to Phillip Rosson (2001), “commercial sponsorships have become an important element in most sports. This is true in English football where, since the early 1980s, shirt and kit sponsorships have generated important revenues for clubs at all levels.” For instance in 1999, a European subsidiary of the Japanese electronics Company, SEGA Enterprises, announced that it had entered into a shirt sponsorship arrangement with Arsenal F.C. Thus, according to the above mentioned author, SEGA’s executives believed that football could play a significant promotional role for the Dreamcast and wished to partner with leading clubs in important European markets. All the same, at that particular time, Arsenal FC had no sponsor to print its T-shirts as well as the shirts. It can thus be noted that clubs have been using various promotional incentives offered by the sponsors in the form of jerseys signed by the players as well as depicting the traditional colours of the team for quite some time and this has had a lot of influence on the buying behaviour of the consumers. According to information obtained on line, research has shown that Arsenal has a global fan base of around 27 million people. This figure is testimony enough that the club is one of the largest sports clubs in the world and also boasts as one of the biggest in the English Premiership in UK. Since its inception, a sponsorship deal between the club and Emirates airline in 2004 marked a turning point in the club’s history. Thus according to online information, when Emirates and Arsenal announced their £100 million partnership in October 2004, it was the largest sponsorship agreement ever seen in British football and one of the most significant in the world of sport. The 15 year partnership witnessed the construction of the giant Emirates stadium and this has since solidified the relationship between the two as the airline is proud to be associated with the team that always strives to put the best performance and this combination is viewed as a strategy to influence the behaviour of the consumers towards the two organisations. On the other hand, Emirates airline is an internationally renowned airline linking over 100 destinations in about 60 countries and every one would be happy to be associated with the marriage of the two organisations which saw the birth of an incredible investment in the form of the stadium. Emirates is also regarded as the only airline which offers non stop service to all the six continents from one hub and the TV commercials often showcase this fact and highlight the airlines unprecedented investment in new products, routes and aircraft which is one major factor that influences the behaviour of the consumers worldwide to associate with the club sponsored by a high flying airline. Adverts would be shown in the club’s colours in most cases. The company is wholly owned by the Government of Dubai and Emirates has grown in scale and stature through competition with the ever-growing number of international carriers that take often take advantage of Dubai’s open-skies policy. The company is able to maintain its identity and competitiveness through this open policy. The company’s growth has been over 20 per cent annually, and the airline has recorded an annual profit in every year since its third in operation and has taken advantage of sponsoring a UK based football club as a result of its good performance. This has influenced a lot of consumer behaviour change among the customers by virtue of two different organisations from different regions unifying in solidarity as a way of promoting business though they are involved into different business. Literature review Factors that influence consumer behaviour As far as sponsorship of a club is concerned, it can be noted that there are various reasons that ought to be taken into consideration that directly or indirectly affect the behaviour of the customers. These behaviors ought to be given due prominence as they in most cases are the ones responsible for the decisions made by the customers towards choosing a particular product. Thus, Cant et al (2006:2) define customer behaviour as “the study of individuals, groups, or organisations and the processes they use to select, secure, use and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to their satisfy needs and desires.” By virtue of being one of the most prestigious clubs in the English Premier League and one which is very competent, Arsenal FC is better positioned to attract as well as influenced the behaviour of the consumers positively as it has a track record of winning prestigious titles as the championship quite often. The club is also consistent in its performance which is one main factor why the consumers are so much attracted to this club which often meet their expectations through displaying professional soccer. In such a scenario, consumers would even wish to be identified with the clubs colours as a result of the confidence gained over a period of time. The official sponsors therefore should take into consideration such factors as they are responsible for the success of the club. The study of behaviour of consumers mainly draws from psychological as well as sociological factors (Lancaster and Reynolds 1999). The sociological factors mainly deal with how individuals conduct themselves and how they relate with others in the communities they stay. This is very important since it affects the behaviour of human beings particularly with regards to purchasing a product. On the other hand, psychological factors mainly deal with attitude and how people perceive different things that may affect their welfare. There are various reasons why people buy products. However, as discussed below, the literature going to be reviewed would attempt to analyse the theoretical framework of published literature and how it influences the behaviour of buyers. Cognitive Theory Lancaster and Reynolds (1999), argue that an individual’s buying behaviour which is mainly determined by factors such as perception, motives, needs as well as attitude is influenced by his or her ability to learn. The ability to learn allows a human being to acquire knowledge that may be useful with regards to buying and consumption of a brand that is concerned. The cognitive theory can be said to be more relevant as far as influencing behaviour of the consumers is concerned towards Arsenal FC as it would be a direct result of their reasoning from the information made available to them. Through the availability of information, the individuals would be able to learn and be in a position to solve the problems that may affect them (Strydom 2000). The cognitive theory states that people are able to identify problems and are in a position to solve these problems through acquisition of information around them which would also make them masters of their own destiny in their respective communities. The theory posits that the individual’s mental capability in conjunction with motivation offered would allow them to reason in such a way that they would achieve a desired goal. Reasoning in human beings often takes a central position in their lives and they often learn or acquire the behaviour of others especially celebrities subconsciously. Being a renowned and prestigious club, individuals often feel comfortable to be identified with Arsenal FC. The sponsors of the club, Emirates always try to identify the features which attract the consumers such as the use of the club’s traditional colours in all the official correspondence such as advertisements or promotional activities. Even if there may be no reward directly offered to the individuals for choosing a brand in this theory, they may still be motivated as a result of their reasoning which would otherwise tell them that they can still be able to derive pleasure and satisfaction for choosing one particular brand. The consumers often make decisions from the information about different brands availed to them by the sponsors in most cases hence the need to take into account the need to offer something attractive. Instrumental conditioning Theory Instrumental conditioning also known as operant conditioning occurs as the individual learns to perform behaviours that produce positive outcomes and to avoid those that yield negative outcomes (Cant et al 2002). Responses in instrumental conditioning are made deliberately to achieve a goal in a process called shaping. In this case, the sponsors may award a prize to the consumers for buying a particular product. The sponsors of Arsenal FC in particular have various prize incentives they often give away to their consumers especially when they promote a match. In some cases, whenever there is a cancelled match, the customers are allowed free entry in the event that a rematch has been organised. The sponsors also often reward the consumers when they sell the club’s jerseys to ardent team supporters. In some cases there would be a discount marked on all the products that are meant to promote the club. It is against this backdrop that the official sponsors of Arsenal FC should attempt to reinforce the behaviour of the customers through offering rewards. Customers would indeed come to associate with people who reward them and choose products that make them feel good or satisfy some need. Indeed, when targeting customers, the marketing managers and sponsors in this particular case ought to bear in mind the fact that football is the world’s most beautiful game that attracts the largest number of spectators at any given match. It entertains and it is so challenging hence the supporters ought to get the best out of any match. The sponsors therefore should always strive to provide products with consistent quality so that the use of the product to meet the customer need is reinforced. A simple thank you for buying would even make the deal work. This instrumental strategy was especially pioneered by airlines and the Emirates is better positioned to sponsor a high flying club such as Arsenal FC since its performance is not actually very bad. The Classical conditioning theory The classical conditioning theory states that an individual learns an association between two stimuli because of their constant appearance as a pair (Lancaster G &Reynolds P 1999). The idea is that two ideas presented together are considered together provided that there is something to connect them together in the individuals mind. Customers can be conditioned to favour products, brands, prices as well as services. For instance, the ticketing system for Arsenal FC which is often affordable in that there are different categories of tickets depending on the level of affordability is one viable way where Emirates can also use its colours in conjunction with the club’s colours as a way of showing that the two organisations are indeed interrelated. The high flying Emirates can associate itself with another equally high flying football club as a way of trying to pair a brand with another likeable celebrity. In this case, the good service offered by Emirates would be associated with Arsenal Football Club which would make marketing equally easy. There is need for positive response as well as identification of the concerns of the supporters since they are the ones who make the game of football a success. When there are no customers, there is no match since it would be pointless to play a match without spectators. Therefore, there is always need for marketing managers as well as sponsors to consider the use of traditional colours of the club whenever targeting the consumers since they would have a tendency of identifying the two organisations together. Communication in the form of advertising or any other promotional incentive by the sponsor should in any case be accompanied by the colour that is known to be a symbol of the club as a way of showing the consumers that there is a strong tie between the two. Methodology Qualitative Research Method The qualitative research method would be employed to gather data in this study. It will mainly rely with secondary data where published literature about the topic would be collected and analyzed. Data would be collected from mainly the Club’s website particularly the feed back section. The major advantage of the method is that it seeks to gain a deep understanding of human behaviour especially with regards to the way they are influenced towards buying a particular product or service. This method attempts to investigate the reasons why human beings often behave in such a way they do towards a brand. It also attempts to highlight how human beings can be influenced by other people to behave in a certain way towards a brand. The method is therefore known for revealing the inner feelings of the targeted respondents as it specifically deals with the inner part of their feelings towards something. Quantitative Research Methods Quantitative research method is particularly concerned with gathering the physical properties of the subject under investigation. Questionnaires can be used on different respondents to gather their views on how they perceive sponsorship of football clubs and how they feel that they are influenced by the sponsors to change their behaviour positively towards Arsenal FC. One main advantage of this method is that it allows the researcher to gain first hand information about the topic under investigation from the respondents as they would give their own opinions. One disadvantage can be that the responses given may be subjective which may be biased. Limitations of the study Due to time and financial constraints, the researcher may not be able to gather all the necessary information from the respondents from both the club as well as the sponsors. Time could not allow the researcher to physically meet the officials at Emirates to get their first hand information about how they perceive their sponsorship of the club. Also due to the limited time frame of the study, the researcher could not collect all the necessary information relevant to the study. Bibliography Berry T. & Wilson D. (2001), On Target: The Book of Marketing plans: How to develop and implement a successful marketing Plan, Palo Alto Software, Inc USA. Cant M.C et al (2006), Consumer Behaviour, Juta & Co Ltd Cant M.C et al (2002), Customer Behaviour: A South African Perspective, Juta. Deloitte Consulting (2008), Focusing on Customers: the role of technology in business, A Euromoney Publication. Kotler P. (1999), Kotler on Marketing: How to create, win and dominate Markets, Free Press, London. Lancaster G &Reynolds P (1999), Introduction to marketing, A step by step Guide to all the tools of Marketing, Kogan Page Ltd, UK. McCarthy J.E & Perreault W.D (1990), Basic Marketing, International student Edition, 10th Edition, Irwin, Boston McCarthy J.E & Perreault W. D. (1996), Basic Marketing: A Global Managerial Approach, 12th Edition, Irwin McGraw-Hill, USA. Smith P.R. (1999), Great Answers to Tough Marketing Questions, Kogan Page, UK. Strydom J. (2004), Marketing, 3rd Edition, Juta & Co Ltd, SA Official website, Retrieved on 06 May 2009, From: http://www.premierleague.com/page/arsenal The official website, Arsenal.com, Retrieved on 06 May 2009, From: http://www.arsenal.com/home Arsenal FC and Emirates Stadium, Retrieved on 18 May 2009, from: http://www.emirates.com/english/about/sponsorships/football/arsenal_fc_emirates_stadium.aspx Football Shirt Sponsorships: SEGA Europe and Arsenal F.C, Retrieved on 18 May 2009, from: http://citt.management.dal.ca/Files/pdfs/DP-181.pdf Read More