Sports and social media dominate sponsorship according to ZHAW study

Increasing digitization and the changing media usage behavior of consumers are also reflected in sponsorship. 96 percent of Swiss companies integrate social media into their sponsorship strategy - especially to raise their profile. And every second company uses these activities to disseminate content relevant to its target group. This is shown by the "Sponsor Visions Switzerland" study, which was conducted for the third time by the ZHAW School of Management and Law in collaboration with the Swiss Advertising Contractors Association (SWA), the Professional Association for Sponsoring (FASPO), Sponsoring Switzerland and the Felten & Compagnie agency. More than 80 companies of all sectors and sizes from all over Switzerland took part in the survey in 2017.

Sponsorship investments on the rise

Companies are increasingly investing in sponsoring activities. Today, more than one fifth of the marketing budget is allocated to sponsoring activities on average. Most of the time, the sports sector is chosen. For years, this has accounted for the largest share of the sponsorship budget and was able to increase by another 15 percent compared to 2014: in 2017, it took up around 53 percent of the sponsorship pie, followed by culture with 17 percent. Not only does most sponsorship money flow into sports, it is also the area in which most companies are involved. Sport is favored by 80 percent of respondents. Culture and corporate responsibility (51 percent each) are also particularly popular, followed by media with 31 percent.

Football and ice hockey at the top

Wrestling, triathlon and floorball in particular are becoming increasingly popular with sponsors. "However, it will probably be a while before the newcomers catch up with soccer and ice hockey," says ZHAW researcher Leticia Labaronne. That's because these are each sponsored by 47 percent of companies, putting them at the top of the rankings, followed by alpine skiing (26 percent), running (23 percent), wrestling (21 percent), cross-country skiing and mountain biking (19 percent each). Sponsors see the greatest growth potential in the area of e-sports, which 5 percent have used for sponsorship to date. "While sports sponsorship money is distributed quite broadly in Switzerland, football enjoys a clear predominance in Germany and Austria," adds Labaronne.

Rock and pop music popular

When Swiss companies are active in cultural sponsorship, they frequently support rock and pop music events (44 percent). However, classical music (33 percent), museums and historic preservation, cabaret and comedy, drama and theater (all 31 percent each), film and jazz music (28 percent each) also often receive donations. The importance of most cultural sectors is forecast to remain more or less unchanged. Half of Swiss companies also support cultural institutions without receiving anything in return that is commensurate with the market. "Patronage is therefore still relevant in cultural promotion and is not being completely displaced by sponsorship," says the ZHAW researcher.

Increase image and awareness

But corporate social responsibility is also becoming more popular and now accounts for around 13 percent of the total budget. Although this is still only a small proportion of the budget in relative terms, more than half of all the companies surveyed are already involved in this area. Communicating social commitment is therefore an increasingly important goal for many sponsors. Nevertheless, increasing image and awareness is still the main motive for sponsors.