FiT Publishing

This article explores the impact of an In-Game Sponsorship Activation Experience (SAE) on its ability to promote sponsorship awareness and share of wallet gains for the sponsoring brand of a college basketball team. The term In-Game SAE is introduced to the literature and is defined as entertainment featuring the sponsoring brand that occurs during a game, which allows for voluntary fan participation. In addition, three other sponsors of the same team are studied that did not utilize an In-Game SAE. Results indicate that an In-Game SAE elevates awareness and share of wallet among attendees...Read more

One of the most valuable assets a sport entity possesses is its brand. However, existing sport branding research has largely examined brands at an individual level and not taken into account the relationships be-tween connected brands or the actual behavioral outcomes of branding. Th is article provides an overview of the current state of sport branding research; proposes an extended conceptualization of sport brand archi-tecture within a sport brand ecosystem framework to guide future examination of sport branding research; introduces the four articles published in this special issue; and...Read more

A case recently decided by the U.S. District Court in Minnesota illustrates the complex interactions between stadium development and lease agreements and the expanding scope of protections provided for intellectual property interests including brand and image. In 2012, the Minnesota state legislature passed a statute (Minn. Stat. §§ 473J.01-473J.27) creating the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority (MSFA) and providing for construction and financing of a new stadium for the Minnesota Vikings football team. e MSFA then entered into a contract with the Minnesota Vikings Football Stadium,...Read more

The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently ruled on an intellectual property dispute between outdoor apparel company Jack Wolfskin Ausrustung Fur Draussen GmbH & Co. KGAA (Wolfskin), and sportswear company New Millennium Sports, S.L.U. (New Millennium). The case arose after Wolfskin attempted to trademark a non-human paw print design to use on its products. The court’s analysis of the legal effect of modifications to protected trademarks and its discussion concerning the common use of paw prints in trademark designs is particularly useful to sport marketers and...Read more

This research examines the effects of brand music on consumer behavior in a stadium retail store. Brand music is custom-fit music embodying the unique attributes and characteristics of a brand, using distinctive lyrics in otherwise analogous music to prime specific concepts. Extant research on store atmospherics and theoretical perspectives of conceptual fluency guided this investigation and aided in hypothesis development. A total of 232 shoppers were randomly intercepted during two shopping scenarios in which brand music or generic (popular) music was played in a stadium retail store....Read more

Using data obtained via natural quasi-experiments across four Super Bowl games (2002, 2003, 2004, and 2006), we investigate the impact of pod (commercial break) position on advertising effectiveness in sport broadcasts. A series of multiple regression analyses was conducted by classifying pods into three categories based on their positions: quarter position, within-quarter position, and between-quarter position. The results support general primacy effects. The brands promoted during earlier quarters were significantly better recognized than those that appeared in later quarters in the...Read more

Michael Jeffrey Jordan. MJ. Air Jordan. No. 23. Six-time NBA Champion. Six-time NBA Finals Most Valuable Player. Five-time NBA Most Valuable Player of the Year. Ten-time NBA scoring champion. Naismith College Player of the Year. Two-time Olympic gold medalist. NBA Hall of Famer. Who would not want to pay homage to arguably the greatest player in NBA history? In tribute to Jordan’s induction into the Hall of Fame, a grocery store’s advertisement tried to do just that.Read more

The purpose of the study was two-fold: (1) to examine the influence athletic performance has on the elements of source credibility, and (2) to investigate its impact on the causal relationships among consumers’ brand attitude, attitude toward the advertisement, and purchase intentions. A between-group experimental design was chosen to assess differences in the source credibility based on an athletic endorser’s on-field performance. Findings identified differences in the elements of source credibility based on an athlete endorser’s on-field performance, while the decomposition of the...Read more

While consumers within emerging markets are the largest growth market for global sport apparel brands, relatively little is known about how they perceive these brands. These emerging markets have recently become consumer markets for Western brands, yet they initially served as producing nations. This study examined how this transition affected consumer perceptions on global sport apparel brands. Consumer behavior theories, such as the brand as “Western status symbol,” ethnocentrism, the country of origin effect, and the country of manufacturing effect were all incorporated within this...Read more

On the red-eye flight from Ann Arbor to Houston, Noelle found she was the only passenger not sleeping soundly. The electric buzz from the previous day’s studio recording was still rippling through her body. Noelle had spent weeks in Ann Arbor consulting with the University of Michigan regarding a music strategy to help market Wolverine athletics. Last night, she witnessed the culmination of her project, as Michigan rock band Pop Evil recorded a final version of their song titled “Big House,” a tribute to the famed Michigan Stadium. In the studio, Noelle and her colleagues glossed over...Read more