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Event sponsorship has become a multibillion dollar industry (Levin, 1993), yet little theory-driven research exists exploring sponsorship effects (Cunningham & Taylor, 1994), Keller (1993) noted that customer-based brand equity is the appropriate goal of all elements of the marketing mix, including promotions such as sponsorship. The effectiveness of these promotions may be observed through what Keller terms “direct measures pitting known brands against unknown or fictitious brands.” This study uses an experimental design employing attitude-toward-the-ad (AAD) as a direct measure of sponsorship support, advertising impact on attitude-toward-the-brand (AH), and purchase intention (PI) for official sponsors and ambush marketers in the fast food and credit card product categories of the 1994 Winter Olympic Games. Ambush marketers are those companies that use advertising to make it appear as if they are associated with the Games without purchasing official sponsorship rights (Sandier & Shani, 1989). Based on these results, there appeared to be no competitive advantage for official sponsors in terms of AAD's influence on PL These findings suggest that leveraging a sponsorship with advertising does not always ensure competitive advantage in terms of building customer-based brand equity.

Perhaps no other sport has been as closely allied to its sponsors as automobile racing, with $1.76 billion of expenditures in 2005. The most dominant auto racing league in the U.S. is NASCAR. Sponsor brands are involved with the NASCAR league, NASCAR racing teams and drivers in all imaginable product categories. The NASCAR league alone boasts 55 sponsors. NASCAR has more than 200 licensees retailing merchandise exceeding $2.1 billion in sales (US) annually. Despite primary NASCAR sponsorships running as high as $15 million, brands still seek opportunities to be involved with NASCAR. NASCAR touts its fans to potential sponsors and media partners as being among the most fervent, loyal fans in all of sports. NASCAR data cited in the marketing kit of Brewco Motorsports, Inc. reports the league's 75 million fans are 60% male and 40% female.

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The study examines consumer response to event sponsorship, focusing on the effects of demographics, personal interests and values. Although these variables are generally regarded as the strategic rationale behind using a sponsorship strategy, little is known about their role.The corporate practice of sponsoring sporting events has existed since the turn of the century and has recently become one of the fastest growing areas of advertising and promotion. The research reported here attempts to replicate and extend previous sponsorship effects research efforts using data from a two-stage random phone survey to examine audience characteristics impacting consumers' ability, motivation and opportunity (AMO) to process and respond to event sponsorship advertising regarding official sponsors in two product categories from the 1996 Summer Olympic Games.Despite often being classified as non-traditional media, in terms of certain strategic elements, it seems likely that sponsorship operates like traditional advertising in terms of persuading and informing consumers. Consequently, it seems important to use consumer demographic data, in conjunction with information on their personal interests and Audience Characteristics and Sponsorship Respon I n t e r n a t i o n a l J o u r n a l o f S p o r t s M a r k e t i n g & S p o n s o r s h i p • Vo l u m e 1 N u m b e r 2