Why Is Sponsorship Important To Michelin's Success?

According to Harvey (2001), sponsorship does not only influence a consumer's perception of a product but it also increases brand awareness by exposing it to as many potential customers as possible. The altering of the brand arises when the product is linked to a sport team or even, said Gwinner (1997). The image of the brand rests essentially on the representations which are made for it, that’s why sponsorship appears to offer important fallouts. Indeed, companies has the purpose to attract the sympathy of their prospects but also to be capable to keep their customers. In France, sport sponsorship appears for the first time in 1881. Michelin makes its debuts as a supplier of tires by sponsoring the cyclist Charles Terront. It is then since the 21st century that sponsorship began to be used as a real tool of promotion by worldwide firms such as Nike, Adidas, and Coca-Cola. In 1896, Kodak and Coca Cola signed the first international sponsorship for a sport event with the Olympics in Athens and insert

It is thus important that the company identifies them and ranks them clearly, to determine its priorities and retain sport activities which correspond best to its overall strategy. Thus, the resources dedicated to this activity will be optimized. The increase of the visibility and, consequently, the fame is with no doubt the first objective looked for by the company: it is a question of highlighting the brand. This visibility supposes that the sport, the event or the concerned sportsman, is not the object of a too much diversified sponsorship, what can damage the memorization of each sponsor. The company should rather limit at the most the number of sponsors connected to the same operation. Every sport contains its own characteristics and every company aims at its own targets. The company has to choose to sponsor the sport activity which corresponds the closest to the profile of its