Influence of perceived and effective congruence on recall and purchase intention in sponsored printed sports advertising An eye-tracking application

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of congruence (perceived and effective) and the level of visual attention towards sponsors on recall and purchase intention in sports sponsorship by applying neurophysiological measures. Design/methodology/approach This study is part of neuromarketing research applied to sports. The experiment entails eye tracking with 111 men and 129 women (n=24) with 24 sports posters of three different disciplines (sailing, tennis and F1), varying the congruence, the number of sponsors and the position (2x2x2). The data are analyzed via analysis of covariance and regression using ordinary least squares. Findings Brand recall is influenced by the number of sponsors present on the poster and by the time of fixation. Effective and perceived congruence covariance the purchase intention, but the full time of fixation on the sponsor does not. The latter only, purchase intention indirectly. Originality/value There are few studies that analyze print media in sponsorship using neurophysiological techniques. This research is a pioneer in considering attention to sports posters to examine recall and purchase intention.