Empirical Study On The Sponsorship Of China Time-honored Brands Based On Brand Image Transfer

Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) plays a critical role in the revitalization of China Time-honored Brands. As one of the most important tools of IMC, Sponsorship is valuable for the China Time-honored Brands in the brand communication.Past sponsorship research has been primarily concerned with the individual's perception of congruent based on prior experience, and the communication values resulting from this perception. However, not all the relationship between the sponsor and event are logically sanctioned. Past research reveals that perceived congruent can be enhancing by establishing explanatory links. However, past research has primarily focused on awareness building strategies, and has virtually ignored brand image issues. The innovation of this research is to gain insight into the brand image transfer aspects of sponsorship. This research uses the psychology experimental method, examining the effect of congruent and explanatory links on the brand image transfer and attitude of China Time-honored Brands. Through this research, implications and suggestions will be given on brand image improvement of Chinese time-honored brand. The study combines theoretical analysis with empirical research. All of experimental materials (the simulated sponsorship press releases) used in the experiments were constructed through the pilot test and literature research. We measure brand image transfer and brand attitude through on-line questionnaires in the form of psychological experiment. The results of the experiment lead to several findings, including: (1) Congruent between brand and event will influence the brand liking and the image transfer such that the brand liking and the image transfer will be stronger for brands having congruent with the event they are sponsoring than when brands have incongruent with the event.;(2) Explanatory links between brand and event will influence the brand liking and the image transfer such that the brand liking and the image transfer will be stronger for sponsorship having explanatory links than when sponsorship have no explanatory links; (3)Moreover, explanatory links have less of an effect in congruent than in incongruent conditions.