Sponsorships and branding: a social impact theory perspective

Purpose The study investigates the impact of sponsorships on brand value, the numerical value of brand equity. Design/methodology/approach Our sample consists of annual observations for 106 firms publicly traded on the major US exchanges for the period from 2000 to 2020. We follow an empirical modeling approach. Findings Our estimates show that while Olympic sponsorships significantly improve brand valuations reported by Interbrand. However, the favorable impact on brand value grows in magnitude with sponsorship duration, but it falls as firm size and advertising expense increase. The results provide novel insights into the branding effects of Olympic sponsorships. Robustness checks support these results. Originality/value We draw on the social impact theory to propose variables that account for the strength, immediacy and the number of influencing sources for the Olympics and those firms sponsoring the games.