Resumen de Brand stereotyping and image transfer in concurrent sponsorships

Francois A. Carrillat, Paul J. Solomonb, Alain d'Astousc

• Concurrent sponsorship, that is, when several brands simultaneously sponsor the same event, is a common yet understudied marketing communication situation. The research presented in this article explores the transfer of image that takes place among the sponsoring brands in this situation. The results of two experiments reveal that this image transfer is due to stereotypic processing. Additional analyses delineate more specifically the stereotyping process at work. They show first that the stereotype is ad hoc, rather than based on some a priori developed mental schema, and therefore that it is construed from the images associated with the concurrent sponsoring brands. And second, that brand stereotyping serves a cognitive rather than an evaluative function, thus suggesting a valence-neutral process whose outcomes can be beneficial or detrimental to a focal sponsor, depending on the images initially associated with the other sponsors. The implications of these findings for sponsorship research and practice are discussed, along with research limitations and future research avenues