The fast food brand is associated with the professional BBL Twenty20 cricket league by 21% of the population, a survey by research firm Roy Morgan has found.
And among cricket fans, the penetration rate rockets to 40% – head and shoulders above rival sponsors Fox Sport and Commonwealth Bank.
The levels of KFC brand association are the result of a long-term commitment to the event, observers say.
CEO of Roy Morgan Michele Levine told B&T Magazine it can take time for a brand to be readily associated with a major sporting event; but KFC’s recognition demonstrates the kind of results a long-term commitment can deliver.
“KFC has been the naming-rights sponsor for Twenty-20 Cricket in Australia for over a decade now,” she said.
“Over 4.2 million Australians now associate KFC with the Big Bash League and when you start analysing people who have a declared interest in cricket whether by playing, attending, or watching on TV, this penetration rises dramatically.”
Compared to the high-levels of brand association for KFC, just 3% of TV cricket fans connect fellow lead sponsors, Fox Sports and Commonwealth Bank, with the Big Bash. However, the Commonwealth Bank achieves far greater recognition in connection with Test cricket (24%), for which it is a long-term sponsor.
Another winner in Test cricket is long-term sponsor Victoria Bitter, associated with the game by 15% of TV cricket fans. But KFC again achieves success in One-Day International sponsorship where it achieves the highest level of sponsors’ brand recognition from TV viewers at 24%; it also achieves 22% recognition in Test cricket sponsorship, just trailing Commonwealth Bank.
WARC’S Global Ad Trends: Sponsorship report revealed sponsorship was forecast to reach $65.8 billion globally in 2018, with the lion’s share going to sport – that’s up from $44 billion in 2009.
Globally, two thirds of brands regard sponsorship as a legitimate marketing channel, with marketers primarily using it to drive brand metrics and reach.
Sourced from B&T; additional content by WARC staff