New Brands: Contextual Differences and Development of Brand Associations Over Time

Greek sport fans' evaluation of football leagues' brand associations and their influence on brand loyalty. The case of UEFA champions league

“…As seen in Table 2, the factor structure is very clear, with no significant cross-loadings. This factor structural partially confirms those proposed by Kunkel et al (2014; Daniels et al , 2019) and Gladden and Funk (2001, 2002). However, new brand associations and elements were revealed in this research such as elite-sportsmanship participants and elite refereeing associations .…”

“…This research was based on a review of literature from previous studies that identified brand associations present in consumers' minds for other sports brands such as teams, leagues and competitions (Daniels et al , 2019; Maderer et al , 2016; Yildiz, 2016; Kunkel et al , 2014; Bauer et al , 2008; Ross et al , 2008; Ross et al , 2006; Gladden and Funk 2001, 2002). Initially, 19 items related to brand associations for the UCL emerged and also nine items to examine brand loyalty.…”

“…Daniels et al (2019) examined consumer perceptions of new sport brands over time, and findings demonstrate the impact of star players on teams within sport-brand architecture. Star Players have been found to contribute to the overall attractiveness of teams from an early stage (Baimbridge et al , 1995, 1996; Schofield, 1983; Wilson and Sim, 1995; Gothelf, 1999; King, 1998, 1999; Fisher and Wakefield, 1998) i.e., if the teams do not have successes, marketing and promotion of Star Players can offset the negative associations developed.…”

“…It was also used by Kunkel's et al (2014) in the domestic leagues setting, using team brand associations. In the current research the model was used to: (1) identify new league-specific consumer-based brand associations concerning continental club leagues and competitions in Europe such as the UEFA Champions League for Greek sport fans in specific, (2) to examine already existing associations in the sport branding literature for sport teams (Gladden and Funk, 2001, 2002) and sport leagues (Kunkel et al , 2014; Daniels et al , 2019) and (3) to test their influence on brand loyalty of Greek sport fans for UEFA Champions League through behaviour loyalty and attitudinal attachment , which are important elements of Keller's Brand Resonance model (2008). A two-factor loyalty scale (attitudinal attachment and behavioural loyalty) as proposed by Keller (2008) was tested and finally used.…”

“…Brand associations research in the sports industry over the few last decades has mainly focused on sports teams (Gladden and Funk, 2002; Ross et al , 2006; Ferrand and Pages, 1999), so far not much attention has been put onto football leagues, especially in Europe (Maderer et al , 2016). As a result, only a small number of empirical research studies have examined brand associations of leagues (Kunkel et al , 2014; Daniels et al , 2019; Maderer et al , 2016) or international competitions (Papadimitriou et al , 2016). Brand association research is very limited in the context of the sports leagues and exclusively in the domestic-national league level in Australia (Kunkel et al , 2014).…”