Quantifying the impact and ROI of sponsorship programmes helps brands to improve and optimise their activations, says Kantar.

The sports sponsorship market was valued at USD57 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach USD89 billion by 2027, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 6.72% between 2021 and 2027. Despite these huge numbers, most marketers concede that they have little understanding of whether sponsorships actually work. Only 19% of sponsorship professionals are confident that they can actually measure the business value return on the sponsorship they undertake and only a third of businesses have a standardised process of measuring sponsorship initiatives.

A frequently asked question by marketers is how to demonstrate the value of sponsorships – and whether they really work?

“Sponsorships do work – and in a variety of ways,” said Sagar Ramsinghani, Analytics Director for MEA Insights Division at Kantar. “Dynamic sponsorship partnerships drive ongoing engagement with customers; build connections with consumers that help build and shift brand perceptions; and help to develop a strong platform for recruitment and to drive consumption, usage and sales.”

Ramsinghani was speaking at a recent Kantar webinar focused on measuring sponsorship effectiveness and return on investment (ROI). The webinar unpacked how companies can define their sponsorship effectiveness, how to decide which sponsorships are best for your brand and arguably most important, how to measure the impact and contribution of the sponsorship on your business.