Att sätta segel i ett av världens största sportevenemang : En studie av begrepp, motiv och utvärdering av sponsring

Sammanfattning: Problem. Sponsorship has increased continuously during the 21st century, however, at the same time the public interest of traditional promotion has been diminishing. The meaning of sponsorship is a very diffuse and therefore the concept needs to be investigated. Due to the multitude of sponsorship and its impreciseness about its financial value, it is difficult to evaluate sponsorship for companies, especially when there is a difficulty in choosing a decent method for evaluation. Purpose. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the concept of sponsorship, motives for sponsorship and evaluation of sponsorship according to the theory and give empirical examples of how these areas are being managed by companies. Method. On the basis of the purpose, a qualitative method was chosen with personal interview and telephone interviews as tools. The choice of method and tool was based on the demand for rich and deep information, since this was needed to solve the purpose. Volvo Event Management, SEB, Assa Abloy and Djuice were the sample of the thesis, and have all been involved in sponsoring of the Volvo Ocean Race. Results. The concept of sponsorship has no universal definition, though it is important that companies understand the concept. By stating some cornerstones of the definition it might help explaining the problem and the indistinctness with sponsorship. Sponsorship as a communication tool is unique and therefore makes it possible for companies to differentiate on the market, since the public is getting tired on traditional promotion. Additionally, there are numerous motives to use sponsorship, but exposure is one of the most common according to the participating companies in this study, closely followed by relations. Motives can further on be categorized in two different groups, internal and external, which simplify and give a better perspective of companies’ motives. Finally, the study has shown that companies evaluate sponsorship using different theoretical tools, however, according to literature and theorists companies are not evaluating. Hence, a disagreement arises between the academic and the real world. In spite of the progression that has been made, there are still doubts concerning the trustworthiness surrounding the translation of exposure to a financial value, which contributes to that the value of sponsorship becomes more uncertain.