Memorization of sport sponsorship activities: the case of the German Bundesliga Christoph Breuer and Christopher Rumpf Institute of Sport Economics and Sport Management, German Sport University Cologne, Cologne, Germany Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact on consumers’ memory for sponsor brands while watching sport broadcasts as a function of TV exposure and brand preconditions. Design/methodology/approach – A quasi-experimental lab study was conducted to detect the drivers of sponsor memorization during German Bundesliga TV broadcasts. Findings – The accurate memorization depends on both exposure variables and sponsor brand preconditions. While the quantity of exposure produces additional recall the amount of on screen clutter significantly affects memory in a negative direction. Brand familiarity and previous brand purchase behavior also influence recall probability. Research limitations/implications – In order to develop the research further, the sample size should be extended to represent various customer segments. Moreover, this research has a focus on football, therefore it would be interesting to investigate if the same effects hold true for other sports. Practical implications – Counting seconds of logo exposure and combining these with audience reach too narrowly considers the complexity of sponsorship evaluation. Marketing managers also need to take into account the amount of clutter on screen, i.e. the number of competing sponsors, as well as their brand preconditions. Originality/value – Most research on sponsor memorization has been conducted in the field, lacking control for the independent exposure measures. Within this study, the impact of refined exposure variables was tested in a controlled lab setting. Keywords Germany, Sport sponsoring, Sponsorship effectiveness, TV exposure, Sponsor memorization, Consumer behaviour, Brands, Logos Paper type Research paper 1. Introduction While several marketing communication tools like advertising and promotion still suffer from the financial crisis, the expenditures on football sponsorship has recently established another record in Germany. In the season 2008/2009, the 18 clubs playing in the German Bundesliga (first football division in Germany) made overall revenue of 488.8 million euros by selling sponsorship rights, which means an increase of over 35 percent during the last four years (Deutsche Fussball Liga GmbH (DFL), 2010). Meanwhile, sponsorship has evolved as a key source of funding in the German Bundesliga on a par with selling media rights. However, with a more critical look at increased sponsoring budgets both scientist and practitioners doubt the marketing effectiveness of sponsorship. Due to the fact that sponsoring activities fall into the set of strategic marketing options they are continuously compared with these. Accordingly then, a rational marketing executive will only invest in a sponsorship program if it serves the overall marketing objectives more efficiently than its alternatives. But sponsorship evaluation lacks a substantial understanding of how brand stimuli are processed in a sport media context (Cornwell, 2008; Crompton, 2004). The lack of such knowledge represents a critical disadvantage and thus poses a serious threat to the future of sport sponsorship (O’Reilly and Madill, 2009). The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/2042-678X.htm Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal Vol. 1 No. 3, 2011 pp. 284-293 r Emerald Group Publishing Limited 2042-678X DOI 10.1108/20426781111162684 284 SBM 1,3