Sponsorship that works...sort of

[RS]

I think sponsorship is most effective for lesser known companies who wish to build brand awareness rather than straight "X company sponsors X team therefore I will buy their product" type of thinking.

I think a good example would be Medion sponsoring Sutil/Force India in F1. I would probably not have heard of them otherwise and just maybe it makes me trust them a little more now that I have heard their name and more likely to consider their products next time I have to chose a computer.

[rjbetty]

I think sponsorship is most effective for lesser known companies who wish to build brand awareness rather than straight "X company sponsors X team therefore I will buy their product" type of thinking.

I think a good example would be Medion sponsoring Sutil/Force India in F1. I would probably not have heard of them otherwise and just maybe it makes me trust them a little more now that I have heard their name and more likely to consider their products next time I have to chose a computer.

I exactly agree. I can't list how many products I first heard of through sponsorship in F1/WRC etc.

Acer
Red Bull
Yeah, Medion too
Even Johnnie Walker and West

Too many to list. In the past in particular I paid great attention to the details of the cars, including every little sponsor, including (and especially) on the smaller teams cars. I'm very influenced to get any products that have sponsored small teams if it's suitable to do so, as a way of appreciating their input.

[BDunnell]

Never once, even — as far as I know — subconsciously, have I been influenced in my product-buying choices by sponsorship.

[Iain]

I was idly cleaning my teeth the other day and it occured to me that I happened to have chosen a specific brand of mouthwash based on a sponsorship from 20 years ago (Listerine's sponsorship of BMW in the BTCC if you're interested). This probably isn't the sort of slow burn that the advertisment was intended to attract but it did get me wondering if other people have found themselves falling for marketing years after the actually advert was around.

Certain items and brand names remind me of (mainly) motorsport sponsorships from before, but I can't say I've been influenced by them. For instance I often look at the bottles of Warsteiner in Tesco as I pass, because it brings up images of Joachim Winkelhock sliding a BMW 318i around a BTCC track, but it doesn't make me want to buy it.

[rjbetty]

Just out of curiousity, is anyone aware of any case of anyone being influenced to start smoking due to the presence of Marlboro etc? I can't say any of that ever had an effect on me, and they seemed to spend a ton of money on the teams.

[Gregor-y]

I still use Castrol oil but only because my father did when I was growing up and I don't want to upset any balances in my car that have kept it running for nine years. There was a period of experimenting with Mobil 1 when I bought this one but the stuff would just vanish at an alarming rate. I think my father got hooked on Castrol since he had a BMW coupe in the early 70s and some of their racing cars were sponsored by them.

I never smoked though there were a few people in the early era of Chicago Subaru club meetings that went out of their way to find 555 cigarettes.

[MrJan]

Just out of curiousity, is anyone aware of any case of anyone being influenced to start smoking due to the presence of Marlboro etc? I can't say any of that ever had an effect on me, and they seemed to spend a ton of money on the teams.

It didn't make him take up smoking but I know that, when he did start smoking, my brother went through a long list of brands that sponsored motorsport until he found his favourite. This including JPS, Lucky Strike, Camel, 555, Malboro etc. etc.

[D-Type]

Just out of curiousity, is anyone aware of any case of anyone being influenced to start smoking due to the presence of Marlboro etc? I can't say any of that ever had an effect on me, and they seemed to spend a ton of money on the teams.

I honestly don't think so. Cigarette sponsorship will influence which brand a confirmed smoker will smoke. But I doubt whether on its own sponsorship of a motor racing team, a race, or, for that matter, a cricket match will induce someone to start smoking. But, given how widespread tobacco advertising was, it is feasible that constant exposure to advertising of all the different brands might make an impressionable youngser think it's 'cool' to smoke and once they're hooked ...

Written by an ex-smoker who smoked for about 40 years until an Allen Carr clinic cured me.

[BDunnell]

I honestly don't think so. Cigarette sponsorship will influence which brand a confirmed smoker will smoke. But I doubt whether on its own sponsorship of a motor racing team, a race, or, for that matter, a cricket match will induce someone to start smoking. But, given how widespread tobacco advertising was, it is feasible that constant exposure to advertising of all the different brands might make an impressionable youngser think it's 'cool' to smoke and once they're hooked ...

Well, I should imagine it did, otherwise the very concept of advertising begins to be called into question.