Host or Sponsor? Consumer Responses to Event Origins and Brand-related Event Leveraging

Companies can engage in event marketing either by creating and hosting an event or by sponsoring a preexisting event. Although these are well-established event marketing strategies, consumer responses to event origin (hosting vs. sponsoring) have received limited scholarly attention. This article presents an experimental study of event origin and brand-related event leveraging. The first purpose was to investigate consumers' evaluations of hosted versus sponsored events and hosting versus sponsoring companies, and to test mechanisms that may explain these differences. The second purpose was to test consumer responses to brand-related leveraging activities for both types of events. Results show that consumers' evaluation of the event and the company differs significantly depending on the event origin, and that both types of events have much to gain from brand-related leveraging. Key explanatory mechanisms for these effects are perceived sincerity of company motives, company–event fit, and perceived amount of resources invested in the event.