The Role of Sports Sponsorship in Enhancing Corporate Brand Image and Purchase Intention: The Case of KCB Safari Rally

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Date

2014-03

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Daystar University, School of Communication

Abstract

Sports sponsorship has become a critical component of corporate communications globally and locally. The Safari Rally, a motorsport in Kenya and sponsored by KCB, is a case in point. Studying the sponsorship in light of corporate brand image and image transfer and purchase intensions was of interest considering that while established literature insists on the congruence between the event and the sponsor, such is not the case with this particular sponsorship, yet KCB spends Ksh. 60 million every year on the Safari Rally. Studying the Safari Rally event in Isinya, Kitengela and Kajiado in Nairobi Metropolitan, the main objectives was to establish the kind of images that the Safari Rally generated, to find out the images that were transferred from the Safari Rally to the KCB brand, and finally to establish the influence of the Safari Rally on purchase intentions of KCB services. Using the convenient method of survey, the researcher sampled 103 (N=103) respondents who filled in the questionnaires that complemented two focus groups. The research was undertaken during the KCB Safari Rally in June 2011, in Isinya, Kitengela and Kajiado Townships. Three theories of Transfer of Meaning (Grant McCracken, 1989), Semantic Meaning Theory (Osgood, 1957) and Schema-Congruence Theory (Mandler, 1982) were applied to guide the study. The findings indicated non-supportive behaviour from spectator toward KCB’s services. For instance, of all the respondents, 93.0 % were not willing to open a bank account with KCB even if it sponsored the Safari Rally, while 82% said they could not apply for loans either. Yet, 56.6 % said they had always been attending the Safari Rally meaning level of exposure was high. Of interest too was that 59 % of spectators did not know that the Safari Rally was a KCB-sponsored event. The results revealed that the Safari Rally event generated certain images such as masculinity, ruggedness, dust, mud, and alcoholism in the minds of the spectators thus corroborating previous research. The findings also revealed that the Safari Rally was incongruent with KCB because the images of the event did not match the spectators’ schema of the images of KCB given that 95% said they did not connect how KCB and Safari Rally were related. However, contrary to previous literature, the Safari Rally transferred images of aggressiveness, prestige, friendliness, conservativeness and alcoholism to the KCB brand even if findings showed the event and the sponsors did not match.

Description

MASTER OF ARTS in Communication

Keywords

Sports sponsorship, critical component, corporate communications, motorsport

Citation

Wamanji, N. E. (2014). The Role of Sports Sponsorship in Enhancing Corporate Brand Image and Purchase Intention: The Case of KCB Safari Rally. Daystar University, School of Communication