Investigating sponsorship effectiveness: Do less familiar brands have an advantage over more familiar brands in single and multiple sponsorship arrangements?

Using a human associative memory (HAM) framework, the authors assessed the influence of single and multiple sponsorship arrangements on consumers' attitudes and purchase intentions. In addition, the authors investigated the role of familiarity with the sponsoring brand in sponsorship effectiveness. Using different levels of sponsoring brand familiarity (high versus low) and sponsorship conditions (single versus multiple), a between-subjects experimental design revealed that the effects of sponsorship on attitudes and purchase intentions were greater for low familiarity sponsoring brands than for high familiarity sponsoring brands. Moreover, the impact of sponsorship on attitudes and purchase intentions was not diluted in the case of multiple sponsorships compared to a single sponsorship. Implications and directions for further research are discussed.