Sponsor (commercial)

For example, a sponsor buying the rights to a sports team or competition could achieve increased brand awareness through high profile signage, but might also use hospitality tickets for staff motivation programs or to host key trade customers.

Many theories posit that sponsorship creates a cognitive link between a brand (sponsor) and an event (sponsoree), leading to the formation of event-linked associations in memory.

Work by Cornwell and colleagues[3] however, has shown that brands that don't have a logical match can still benefit, at least in terms of memory effects, if the sponsor articulates some rationale for the sponsorship to the audience.

Growth in Central and South America during 2010 did not materialize to the extent projected—3.8 percent versus a forecast of 5.7 percent—despite the FIFA World Cup and Olympic Games in Brazil in 2014 and 2016, respectively.

Relaxed television industry legislation surrounding product placement has led to a small but increasing rise in TV programming sponsorship in the UK.

For example, Adidas became the sponsor and supplier of Manchester United's kit for ten seasons, in a 2014 deal with a guaranteed minimum value of £750 million (more than US$1.1 billion).

[10] As it has in most years over the past two-plus decades, sponsorship's growth rate will be ahead of the pace experienced by advertising and sales promotion, according to IEG.