Perceptions of the effectiveness ofcorporate sponsorship of theperforming arts in South Africa

The Purpose of this research was to identify aspects of alignment betweenAbsa, a sponsor of theatre in South Africa, and Packed House Productions, theproducer and rights holder of theatre products sponsored by Absa, in terms ofcriteria that were identified as possible requirements for sponsorshipeffectiveness, and to measure the impact of sponsorship on consumerperceptions in terms of those criteria.During the course of the research four main criteria arose as strong commonthemes in the literature and were established as requirements to be met toensure sponsorship effectiveness, they being: sponsorship objectives,communication presence, leveraging the opportunity and return on investment.A mixed method approach was utilised: Qualitative interviews were directedtowards determining aspects of alignment between Absa and Packed HouseProductions with the criteria, and a quantitative survey using a questionnairewith answers based on a seven point Likert scale was directed towardsdetermining the impact of sponsorship on the theatre consumer.The study concluded that Absa and Packed House Productions are almostcompletely aligned in their recognition of the importance of the criteria requiredfor effective sponsorship. Two of the criteria were being met in full: sponsorshipobjectives and communication presence, it was found, however, that Absa didnot leverage the sponsorship opportunity and that no effective tools were shownto be used to adequately determine return on investment. The third and fourthcriteria were therefore not being met.The study revealed that the impact of sponsorship on the theatre consumer hasbeen largely successful in terms of increased brand awareness and thegeneration of goodwill in the mind of the consumer towards Absa as anorganisation. It was recommended that a greater focus on leveraging thesponsorship opportunity and the establishment of appropriate tools to measuresponsorship return on investment could increase sponsorship effectiveness.