Impact of Sponsorship and Publicity on Brand Equity

Abstract

This paper discusses the impact of Publicity and Sponsorship on Brand Equity. Data were collected via a questionnaire distributed to almost all big cities of Pakistan among educated persons/university students. Hierarchical regression analysis of data from 200 respondents was used to test two hypotheses. The results show that Publicity and Sponsorship has a positive relationship with Brand Equity. When Publicity and Sponsorship is favorable, there is positive effect on Brand Equity. Further research should examine the role of public relations and advertisement in building Brand equity. INTRODUCTION: In consumer marketing, brands are the first point of competitive advantage, so that they can be most important part for success of organization. It is important to manage brands by a well-planned method (wood, 2000). Brand equity, support the customer's value and indirectly increases the value of company or organization. Brand equity and customer value through increasing: effectiveness and efficiency of brand loyalty, brand development and profit margin, business power and competitive advantage that give value/increase the value to company/ organization (Aaker, 1996). According to behavioral point of view, brand equity is very important in making difference points which is resulted in a source of competitive advantage in industries (Aaker, 1991). Brand equity is suggested of possessions which expected it to increase customer's value and their purpose for buying and enhance market performance as well as performance of a Brand (Balduaf et al, 2003). Belief in this principle incited a wave of mergers and acquisitions in which strong branded companies were protected at six and more times their book value in the industries (Aaker 1991). Brand equity is a term used in the marketing industry which describes the overall value of a brand which has a named that is well-known, a well-known brand name can be a cause of more profit from their products with a less well-known name of a brand. It can be said that brand equity is brand worth or the image of the Brand. Publicity is the purposeful effort to manage the public's awareness of a topic. The subjects of publicity include people, services, and organizations of all kinds. Sponsorship is a cash or fee paid to a property in return for access to the utilizable profitable possible linked with that property or the event. As there is no previous research is available on the particular topic that's why this research is very helpful to understand the impact of publicity and sponsorship on brand equity. After publishing this paper we will be able to understand the important of