The changing sponsorship scene

Alan Cooper

Alan Cooper, HPI Research Group, describes the development of sponsorship in the UK and asks how it should be evaluated.

the changing sponsorship scene

Alan CooperHPI Research Group

In an MRS conference paper in 2000 Jackson and Lowde suggested that commercial sponsorship was worth $20 billion worldwide (1). This sum referred to the cost of acquiring the rights to sponsor the 'property' (for example, the sports team or event, the TV programme, the sports/media celebrity, and so on). Easily two to three times that sum is spent marketing and promoting the sponsorship. Sponsorship is big business.

Yet, commercial sponsorship is only just over 30 years old. In 1970, it has been estimated that the total value of sponsorship in...

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