Abstract

Purpose The objective is to examine the influence of articulation on the effectiveness of sports sponsorship. Design/methodology/approach This research uses an experimental design with the following factors: articulation (articulated vs unarticulated), congruence (congruent and incongruent) and sporting discipline (tennis,F1 and sailing). Findings Even though the academic literature argues that articulation improves the indicators of performance, the authors have been unable to demonstrate that articulated sports posters have an influence on visual attention, congruence or recall. The results show that articulation diverts visual attention from the brand to the text, diminishing recall. Originality/value This is the first manuscript to use neurophysiological measures of the articulation effect. This is also the first manuscript that examines the differences in attention between articulated sponsorships based on their congruence.