Sponsorships in Decline

This is not really about chess, but I couldn't help thinking about a chess angle when I read the article in today's AFR. Neil Shoebridge reports of a research study by Sweeney Research into Australians' sports sponsorship awareness and sporting interests. Unfortunately, the AFR article is for subscribers only, so I can't link to it from here.

Mr Shoebridge:

The value of the $1.5 billion Australian companies pump into sponsoring sporting events, teams and competitions each year has been called into question by research that show awareness of most sponsorships is declining.

The latest edition of Sweeney Research's 21-year old sports report shows that fewer consumers are aware of big-spending sponsors such as Nike, adidas and Foster's Group than a year ago.

Our reporter goes on to cite some figures. Examples: awareness of Uncle Toby's sponsorships falling from 31% to 27%; adidas' figures dipping from 26% to 20%, and Speedo's from 20% to 12%.

All this seems almost like a total downer to those who dream of big bucks for chess. Not really. The Sweeney Research study focuses on awareness and not on levels of engagement or ROI. As Sweeney director Todd Deacon was quoted in the article as saying, "Some companies might generate low awareness of their sponsorships but get good results in terms of engagement with specific groups of customers."

That surely explains why I still think of "Cepacol" and I know you blokes only stick to "Ansell".