The Role of Sport Events in Spectator Sponsor/Brand Attitudes: A Case Study of the Quiksilver Pro

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Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Griffith Business School
Griffith Business School
Sport events are frequently used as a marketing tool by sponsoring organisations. However, the effectiveness of this strategy towards future purchase intentions and behaviour has received limited theoretical/empirical research attention. Using an established sport event as a case study (2012 Quiksilver Pro), this thesis seeks to address this gap by investigating spectator’s attitudes towards brands of key public and private event sponsors based on: 1) motivations to attend events; 2) identification with brands; 3) satisfaction with event; and the consequent impact this has on purchasing decisions. This is significant as previous studies on attitudes, identification and intentions to purchase have mainly been focused on sport teams and not on sponsors’ brands. Research has also been abundant on destination-event fit and even sponsor-event fit; however a case triangulating the destination-event-sponsor fit has not been examined. The Gold Coast Surfing Industry is one such case where there is a clear destination-event-sponsor fit between Gold Coast as a destination, Quiksilver Pro as an event and Gold Coast City Council (public) and Quiksilver (private) as sponsors. Surprisingly, little academic research attention, especially within an event context, has focussed on the surfing industry despite major market players investing significant marketing budgets in costly surfing events. There also appears within the surfing industry limited understanding of the impact of surfing events on future revenue generation.