Lifestyle Sponsorship and Player Lifestyle Breach: Opportunity, Not Loss?

Dr Stephen Dann and Dr Susan Dann

Abstract
In 2005, the Victorian Transport Accident Commission (TAC) ended their 16 year
sponsorship of the Richmond Tigers after a player was found guilty of speeding, drink driving
and associated reckless driving behaviours. At the time of the termination of the agreement,
the TAC cited the incompatibility of their message, and the player's behaviour. Whilst TAC
felt the driving incident created an incompatibility between the club and the TAC's message,
this paper argues that the TAC missed an opportunity to capitalise on the incident to
strengthen their campaign, and their sponsorship through the use of an intentional schema
mismatch. Schema mismatch theory, part of sponsorship and celebrity endorsement theory,
allows for stronger message association where a mild discrepancy between endorser and the
endorsement exists. Continued support of the club where the player engaged in a breach of
the TAC road safety message would have created the mismatch. This mismatch could have
been leveraged into demonstrable evidence of the continued need for the campaign message.
Further, the player in breach presents an opportunity for "celebrity" endorsement of the
lifestyle sponsorship message by using the breach to demonstrate a high profile and conscious
“adoption” of a specific campaign and message.

Sponsorship

Sponsorship has been defined as the provision of assistance either financial or in-kind to an
activity by a commercial organisation for the purpose of achieving commercial objectives
(Meenaghan, 1983). The act of sponsorship is seen as two parts: (1) an exchange between a
sponsor and a sponsee whereby the latter receives a fee and the former receives rights to
associate itself with the activity sponsored, and (2) the marketing of the association by the
sponsor. Rifon et al (2004) presents a comprehensive literature summary of the expectations
and purpose of sponsorship, repeated here briefly in table format (Table 1).

Table 1: Sponsorship Expectations and Purposes

Influence
attitude toward the sponsor
awareness of sponsors
influence consumer recall
purchase intentions
sponsor image
Authors
McDaniel 1999; Speed and Thompson 2000; Stipp 1998
Bennett 1999; Bloxham 1998; Pham and Joliar 2001
Bennett 1999; Hansen and Scotwin 1995; Nicholls, Roslow,
and Dublish 1999
Madrigal 2001; McDaniel 1999
D'Astous and Blitz 1995; Otker and Hayes 1987

Sponsorship success depends on the direct or indirect relevance between the sponsor’s
message, and the event being sponsored. Gwinner (1997) clarifies this match as direct
relevance where the there is a functional based similarity as occurs where the sponsors
products are used in the event (eg Falken Tyres and the Gold Coast Indy 300). Indirect
relevance is where the “image-based similarity” of the match between the core values of the
consumer and the values represented by the sponsors and sponsorship event (Gillette and
Gold Coast Indy 300).

Lifestyle Sponsorship
Lifestyle sponsorships are those sponsorships where the aim of the arrangement is to promote
an attitude, behavioural or lifestyle change, such as reduced smoking, anti-speeding or anti-
drink driving campaigns. In recent years, more NGO and social causes have come to use
sponsorship of sports and the arts as a mechanism to deliver their social change message, due
to the intangible nature of the sponsorship and the lifestyle message.

For the purpose of this paper, “lifestyle sponsorship” is defined as “the provision of financial
assistance, or in-kind assistance to an activity by an organisation for the purpose of promoting
lifestyle or behavioural change objectives”. The core identifier of a lifestyle sponsorship is
the product being promoted by the sponsorship is not a commercial product (eg Bundaberg
Rum), or service (eg QANTAS) and is instead a behaviour (Wipe off 5), lifestyle change
(QUIT campaigns) or attitude change (Bloody Idiot Campaign). The purpose of this paper is
to develop an alternative view of how to handle a lifestyle sponsorship breach.

Understanding Lifestyle Sponsorship I: Purpose of Social Message Endorsement

Lifestyle sponsors are frequently looking for reductions in levels of behaviour as a measure of
success. In theory, this would indicate that lifestyle sponsorships operate from a reverse set
of objectives to commercial campaigns. In commercial campaigning, success is determined
by increased ROI and sales based on the sponsorship. Successful sponsorships which result in
ongoing sales should be continued to maintain commercial momentum. Lifestyle campaigns
which are based on behavioural change goals (Wipe off 5) or attitude change (If you drink
and drive you're a bloody idiot) which are successful in achieving their outcomes (reduction
in speeding, repositioning drink driving as irresponsible) would then be able to withdraw their
sponsorship once the campaign goals have been met.

Consequently, lifestyle sponsorships are targeted where a problem exists to be solved, rather
than where a demand exists to be fulfilled or expanded. As a result, what constitutes
"functional similarity" for lifestyle sponsorship under Gwinner's (1997) model of sponsorship
relevance?

Figure 1: Relevance of Lifestyle Sponsorship

Event Non Event

Functional ? Sponsee's
Similarity personal life

Relevance

Image Event Image / Celebrity

Similarity Team Image Association

Gwinner (1997) sets out functional based similarity as occurring where the sponsor's products
are used in the event. Within the context and confines of the sports sponsorship arena, barring
motorsport, there is limited opportunity for most lifestyle sponsor messages to occur within
the parameters of the game event. Even in motorsport, whilst drink driving is prohibited by
the rules of motorsport, the Indy 300 is not the ideal opportunity for functional based
endorsement of "Wipe off 5" or "Every K over is a killer". In order for functional similarity
to be used by a lifestyle sponsor, the sponsees must engage in the appropriate lifestyle outside
of the context of the sporting event.

Understanding Lifestyle Sponsorship II: The Lifestyle Sponsorship Burden

Given their nature, lifestyle sponsorships directly impact on the personal life of the sponsee
(usually players in the sponsored team, less so coaching staff, club officials and
administrators). The sponsorship arrangement may carry the expectation that the lifestyle
message be adopted and enforced in private activities. This creates an intrusive burden as the
players, usually the staff most directly impacted by such deals, are not responsible for the
recruitment and signing of the sponsor, nor are they usually consulted in such negotiations.
Failure to adhere to the sponsor mandated lifestyle can result, and has resulted, in the
termination of the sponsorship arrangement and sanctions beyond the law for individual
employees. Whilst a home loan sponsorship does not result in mandatory debt for the players,
lifestyle sponsors will often insist on the mandatory observation of the sponsor message such
as giving up smoking. A car sponsor may give cars to the players they sponsor, but it would
not be seen as reasonable to terminate the sponsor-club relationship if a single player drove a
different make of car to church. Breach of a lifestyle sponsor mandated behaviour, even in a
private capacity, however can result and has resulted in the termination of the contract.

Lifestyle sponsorships are also restricted by the nature of the sponsor product – a road safety
speed reduction campaign can only offer education sessions for players, they cannot provide
reduced speed driving for the team. Related problems arise for other physical goods based
lifestyle sponsorships – whilst a skin cancer awareness campaign can provide sun cream, hats
and the ancillary physical materials of the campaign, they cannot guarantee skin cancer free
players. As a result, whilst sponsees are required to behave in a restricted manner, they are not
guaranteed an outcome from this behaviour.

The TAC Case Study: Lifestyle in Breach

At the core of the lifestyle sponsorship proposal is the assumption that society, as it stands,
has a current problem which requires addressing. For example, the TAC “Wipe off 5”
campaign with Collingwood is based on the notion that there exists a problem with drivers
continuing to exceed the speed limit by five kilometres an hour. Consequently, sponsorship
would continue until the social goals of the campaign have been meet (reduction in “5 over”
speeding).

The Richmond/TAC sponsorship agreement was based on the assumption that drink driving
was a social problem, and that this problem could be addressed through raising awareness and
profile with the associated sponsorship. When the Richmond player committed the lifestyle
breach it was demonstrable proof that the campaign was still necessary. In 16 years of
sponsorship, the club had two incidents of road safety lifestyle breaches (2001, 2005)
involving drink driving. If the objective of the TAC campaign was to address road safety
lifestyle choices of drink driving, then the act of the player committing a drink driving offence
was an opportunity to demonstrate functional similarity in the continuation of the
sponsorship.

A question of message
However, what message did the TAC send by terminating the association with Richmond?
The lifestyle breach was a clear failure of the sponsor message to get through to a sponsee, let
alone the target market. Yet, at the point of lifestyle breach, the TAC elected to walk away
from their remaining months of sponsorship and exposure. Presumably, either the campaign
had met its goals (reduce drink driving), or was failing to deliver outcomes (awareness of
anti-drink driving message) based on investment.
How different was this message failure to any other drink driving incident recorded in
Victoria in 2005? In the event of a lifestyle sponsorship breach, such as drink driving or
speeding with a road safety sponsorship, the breach would result in an immediate mismatch
between the actions of the individual(s) and the lifestyle messages. However, the nature of a
lifestyle sponsorship creates an unusual sponsorship schema dynamic, since the purpose of a
lifestyle sponsorship is to promote an attitude or behavioural change where the sponsor
perceives a need for a change. Where a campaign is targeted at addressing a social problem
(drink driving), the continuation of the campaign is based on demonstrating the continued
existence of the problem. The high profile breach of the lifestyle message by the Richmond
player was demonstrable proof of the need to continue promoting the TAC lifestyle message.

Repairing the lifestyle breach

Sponsorship and celebrity endorsement are both heavily dependent on schema congruence for
success in message transfer. Schema congruity is based on the principle of the individual
having a schema, or organized structure of associations and expectations, against which the
message from the advertising can be matched (Bettman, 1979 in Martin, 1996). Where there
is a good fit between the expectation and the message, the schema is congruent and positive
attitudes towards the product are formed (Martin, 1996, Cornwell and Maignan, 1998,
McDaniel 1999). The need for congruity between endorser, product and message in the area
of schema congruity theory has been heavily researched (Fiske, 1982; Fiske & Taylor, 1991;
Myers-Levy & Tybout, 1989; Sujan & Bettman, 1989; Martin, 1996, Rifon et al, 2004).

Schema Mismatch: The Lifestyle Sponsorship Get-out-of-jail-free card.

Where the sponsorship, message and sponsee do not match the schema, the incongruity
causes a negative response (Martin, 1996). However, where there is a moderate incongruity,
or a partial match, this increases the amount of thought the individual puts into assessing the
sponsorship message. Hastie (1984 in Rifon et al 2004) argues the mismatch increases the
recall of the sponsor message due to the stronger, more elaborate schema that is created by the
additional interpretation. Rifon et al (2004) is slightly less optimistic, illustrating that the
schema theory only confirms the increased amount of thought, not the actual outcome.
Indeed, Martin (1996) cautions that where additional processing leads the respondent to
conclude that there has been a mismatch, it will result in far stronger negative feelings than an
immediately recognised mismatch.

Hypothetically Speaking: Resolving a Lifestyle Breach

There are three key assumptions to resolving a lifestyle breach. First, the purpose of the
lifestyle sponsorship was to address a social change need whereby a social problem was to be
solved, limited or have attitudes toward it changed. Second, that the sponsorship arrangement
is predicated on sponsees following mandated sponsor approved lifestyle choices. Third, a
breach of the lifestyle sponsor mandated behaviour can be rectified by some component of the
sponsor's social change product. There are four steps to resolving the lifestyle breach as a
positive outcome for the lifestyle sponsor.

Step 1: Assessing the impact of the breach.

For example, the TAC had two instances of lifestyle breach during the 16 years. On the first
instance, they elected to warn the club, and on the second instance they terminated the
relationship. Damage control for the lifestyle sponsor is based on the breadth of coverage,
and the confusion between the sponsor message and the message sent by the action. In the
TAC case, the media coverage of the incident emphasised the incongruity between the TAC
sponsorship message and the actions of a sponsee employee.

Step 2: Reaffirm the purpose of the Lifestyle Sponsorship Message

In the case of the TAC sponsorship of Richmond, the message of "If you drink and drive
you're a bloody idiot" was based on the need to change attitudes relating to drink driving, and
those who engage in the behaviour. When the Richmond player was charged with drink
driving and speeding, it indicates a current need/demand in the market for continued
reinforcement of the message. It did not demonstrate an opportunity for TAC to withdraw
from the propagation of the message, since one of their own sponsees had breached the
lifestyle, thus indicating the campaign had not fulfilled its target objectives.

Step 3: Use schema mismatch as a basis for continuing the sponsorship in breach
The initial reaction to a lifestyle breach is to withdraw the sponsorship as the image based
similarity is immediately tainted by the actions of the sponsee in breach. However, relevance
in the campaign is a twofold factor, and the breach presents an opportunity to capitalise on
functional based similarity by demonstrating the new use of the sponsor endorsed lifestyle in
the life of the sponsee who was in breach. In the case of the TAC, continuing to support
Richmond and the player involved would have demonstrated functional based similarity (eg
the education about drinking and driving could be demonstrated as having an impact if the
player continued to not drink drive). It also produces an opportunity for the player in breach
to demonstrate a high profile and public dis-adoption of their inappropriate behaviour with a
positive publicity generating conscious adoption of the lifestyle message.

Step 4: Endorse the lifestyle message with the sponsee who was in breach.
The fourth step is dependent on the relationship between the sponsor and sponsee, and what
arrangements govern the use of employees of the sponsee organisation. In addition, this
should be a voluntary process whereby the individual in breach is given the opportunity to
"redeem" themselves by involvement in the campaign. Dann (1998) endorsed the concept of
"dead celebrity endorsement" whereby celebrities for whom a social campaign failed (in this
case, Princess Diana) should be used for endorsing the message of the campaign.

In the TAC case, by the nature of their sponsorship arrangement (naming rights), they would
also have access to the individual players. The opportunity presented by a sponsored player in
lifestyle breach was to capitalise on the event, and make use of celebrity endorsement schema
mismatch to have the individual subsequently endorse the road safety message that had failed
him. By endorsing a modified version of the campaign, the sponsee in breach demonstrates
credibility (having engaged in the negative behaviour), expertise (has experienced the breach),
trustworthiness (voluntary admission of breach and involvement) and empathy (has felt the
emotional consequences of the breach). These factors have been identified as key influences
the effectiveness of a celebrity endorsement of product or message (Walker, Langmeyer &
Langmeyer, 1992; Ohanian, 1990, 1991, Gwinner and Eaton, 1999). Having the sponsee who
breached the lifestyle step admit the breach, admit remorse, and endorse the campaign
message should strengthen the brand and product.

Conclusion
Having the Richmond player front the campaign where they admitted to being "a bloody
idiot" for drink driving would enhance the credibility of the message the celebrity
endorsement as a real person (credibility) in a real scenario (expertise) admitting error
(empathy) and owning up to their actions (trustworthiness) would have greater credibility than
an artificially constructed commercial. Rather than a lifestyle sponsorship breach being a
negative event for the campaign, it remains an opportunity, not a threat, for the proactive
lifestyle sponsor willing to stick to their core business – addressing a social need.
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