International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR) ISSN (Online): 2319-7064 Index Copernicus Value (2013): 6.14 | Impact Factor (2015): 6.391 Volume 5 Issue 5, May 2016 www.ijsr.net Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY The Impact of Sports Sponsorship on Brand Equity Dimensions: A Case of Castle Lager Brand in Zimbabwe Divaries Cosmas Jaravaza 1 , Alexander Guveya 2 Department of Marketing, Bindura University of Science Education, P.Bag 1020, Bindura, Zimbabwe Abstract: Sports sponsorship involves huge sums of money whose return should be accounted for. The paper focuses on the Castle Lager soccer sponsorship (Castle Lager premier soccer league) in Zimbabweand strives to reveal its impact on three brand equity dimensions (brand awareness, brand loyalty and perceived quality). The three brand equity dimensions are based on Yoo and Donthue brand Equity model. Causal research design was used to determine the impact of sports sponsorship on brand equity dimensions. A sample of 200 respondents was selected from a total of 710 000 soccer fans from Dynamos, Caps United, Highlanders and Harare City Football clubs. The data was collected in Harare (the capital city of Zimbabwe) only. A combination of judgmental and convenience sampling was used in stadia to identify soccer respondents. Structured questionnaires were used to gather data. Data was analyzed through correlation analysis using SPSS version 16.0.The obtained results indicates that Castle Lagersport sponsorship programs generate severalpositive outcomes on the three brand equity dimensions that are brand awareness (R square =0.839), brand loyalty (R square=0.668) and perceived quality (R square=0.573). Therefore, castle lager sports sponsorship could be seen as an effective marketing communication tool in order to achieve brand objectives. The authors recommend firms to invest in sponsorship programs so as to boost their brand equity. Keywords: Brand equity, Sports sponsorship, Brand awareness, Brand loyalty, Perceived quality, Castle lager. 1. Introduction In recent times the traditional marketing elements of communication, like advertising, public relations and sales promotion are now faced with challenges of reaching fragmented consumer markets and cutting through a clutter ofmessages aimed at consumers (Cornwell and Roy, 2003). Therefore, sport sponsorship as apromotional and marketing tool has become increasingly a more popular marketing communication vehicle in any industry.According to International Events Group (2012), the leading source of information in the sport sponsorship industry, defines sponsorship ascash or in-kind fee paid, particularly for sports, non-profit event or any organization in return for the access to the exploitable commercial potential associated with that property.In the past decades expenditures for sport sponsorship have grown at faster rates than expenditures on mass media advertising and sales promotion (Cornwell and Roy, 2013). The linkage of the brand with an event via sport sponsorship enables companies to reach both potential and existing consumers interest and attention thereby associating with the events that hold great importance to them. There is a possibility for sport sponsorship to bypass media clutter and provide an environment where a brand can reach the target customersand communicate to the right target audience and differentiate itself from othercompeting brands. Nowadays companies seek return on investment by sponsoring soccer, but many of these companies do not know how to measure the effectiveness of their marketing activities or the impact of sport sponsorship on brand equity dimensions. Sports sponsorship allows the sponsors to communicate more directly and closely with their target market, but the effects of such marketing efforts on target markets and brand value are unidentified. It is important for the sponsor to measure sponsorship effectiveness. Enough research does not exist on measuring the effectiveness of sport sponsorship in Zimbabwe. In spite of the increasing importance of sponsorship as a marketing communication tool, little is known about how sport fans process this information in their brand assessment in Zimbabwe especially in the brewery industry. 2. Conceptual and theoretical Literature Yoo and Donthu Multidimensional Brand Equity model Yoo and Donthu (2001), proposed the multidimensional brand equity model. The model was developed to bridge the gap between Ehrenberg and Aaker‟s models.Yoo and Donthu (2001), argue that the dimensions of brand equity in Ehrenberg and Aaker‟s brand equity models may not be an appropriate way of developing a multidimensional brand equity index because there are not equally distributed among three majordimensions of brand equity. Therefore the multidimensional brand equity model proposed to use brand awareness, brand loyalty and perceived quality as the three appropriate brand equity dimensions index. Cornwell and Roy (2003) argue that three dimensions may contribute differently to brand equity. The multidimensional brand equity model is equivalent to the higher order model (ten dimensional models) because the inter correctional paths of the multidimensional brand equity model can be converted to causal paths of the higher order model without adding new paths or deleting the existing ones (Pappu, Quester and Cooksey 2005). Yoo and Donthu (2001), argue that in higher order model the three dimensions are related to the higher order factor which can be referred to the higher order brand equity. Therefore the current research is based on this model proposed by Yoo and Donthu because brand awareness, brand loyalty and perceived quality are the three brand equity dimensions which can be converted to a higher Paper ID: NOV163837 1958