Chantal Scoubeau, PhD, Laurent Arnone, D.E.A., and Angy Geerts, D.E.A. Marketing and Communication, Université de Mons - Warocqué, 17 Place Warocqué, Mons, 7000, Belgium
During the 90s our society was characterized by extreme individualism. But nowadays, looking at people's attitude and behaviour, we can point to a reverse trend: people are increasingly gathering in small groupings or communities centred around common interests, values or lifestyles. Marketing literature has already integrated these social trends through concepts such as brand communities, sub-cultures of consumption or tribes. Aware of the opportunities offered by this tribalization of our society, marketers carry out strategies aimed at building stronger relationships with some of these consumer groups. Sponsoring is a traditional communication tool used by companies to develop their brand image and reputation, make known new products, increase the sales,... Unfortunately, it is very difficult to analyse the results of this type of activities mainly in the case of specific target as consumer tribes. The goal of our research is thus, in the case of a particular tribal outdoor event (City Parade, Mons, 2007), by the way of interviews with managers and consumers, to pinpoint the main objectives of the ones and the perceived results by the others.
Methodology :
Our research is divided into two parts. First, we realised a qualitative study by interviews with managers of the main sponsors of the Belgian Edition of the City Parade. The goal of this part was to analyse the perception of sponsoring as communication tool and to identify the main objectives expected for this approach. The second part was dedicated to the consumer point of view by the way of a quantitative questionnaire developed to study the perception of brands by the members of the tribe.
Results/Expected results :
Compared to our preliminary thoughts, and regarding the specific target of this type of event, the use of sponsoring as a communication tool stays mainly traditional and managers don’t try to take advantage of their presence on the event to develop more emotional and relational links (really important in case of tribe behaviour) with the consumers (creation of interactions, databases,…).
From the consumer point of view, the perception of the sponsors stay very commercial but they accept this marketing influence because it makes possible the organisation and realization of the event (That would be more complicated with only non commercial implications). The positive influence of this kind of communication tool seems to be more obvious on major sponsors reputation and brand image than on other types of partners. Although it is no longer involved, the original sponsor of the event seems to stay linked to the event in the consumer spirit.