Recall vs. Recognition: How the Strength of Sponsor Awareness Influences the Perceived Brand Personality

Aim: The aim of this paper is to investigate whether remembering a sponsor actively (recall) or passively (recognition) has an influence on the perceived brand image. Because brand personality is a psychological and multi-dimensional construct, it is worthwhile to investigate the influence of information retrieval from the long-term memory.

Study design: The study contains two independent samples. On the one hand spectators were interviewed at different sports events that were sponsored by the same brand (field sample). Additionally, a representative sample of the population was drawn and questioned about the same brand outside the environment of sports events (online sample).

Place and Duration of Study: Both samples were collected in the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany within a period of four months.

Methodology: In total, 2761 questionnaires from spectators and 1000 questionnaires from representative online sample of the population in the same region were collected. Regression analyses were conducted to compare the influence of sponsor awareness on brand image with other drivers of image transfer found in literature.

Results: Both tests (recall and recognition) show a significant influence on brand image, but they defer in the extent and the addressed dimensions of brand personality. Logistic regressions show that a low sponsor awareness is sufficient to strengthen some general positive brand associations, whereas it requires a higher sponsor awareness to raise intended associations successfully.

Conclusion: The strength of sponsor awareness should be considered when selecting the test procedure (recall or recognition test) for measuring image outcomes – both in marketing research and sponsorship controlling. Depending on the type of objectives the sponsor wants to achieve, this can be crucial for a sponsor in strategic management.