Sports Marketing and brand sponsorship: the case of Pramac Racing team

Abstract

From its very early days, sport has had an impact on its society, the value it endorses and glorifies, almost mythicized, those who have been able to stand out from the rest. Subsequently, after the Industrial Revolution, when the masses started having access to more money and time, they dispossessed the upper classes from being the exclusive sport participants. With the enthusiasm of the masses and the technological growth that led to the introduction of television and cameras, hundreds of millions every year would watch international sports competitions, become attached to a team or an athlete, buy the clothes his/her hero is wearing. The sports industry was at its emergence and, for its privileged position, brands started getting involved in the sport arena: for many years, brands have sponsored events in order to gain image transfer benefits from the association of the brand to the event. The most popular showcase for companies is represented by sport events, followed by causes, arts and festivals. Moreover, the loyalty that sport fans can demonstrate to brands sponsoring sports competitions led brands to globally spend $44 billion on sports sponsorship in 2016 (IEG). In this work, I carry out a case study on the brand sponsorship of the Pramac Racing Team: Pramac, an electric generators and material handling equipment manufacturer, sponsors a MotoGP racing team. The analysis focuses on the brand effects caused by Pramac’s presence in the Moto GP competition, such as impact on brand awareness, image, and lead generation.