Octagon launches tool to measure sponsorship

Octagon Marketing, a division of the IPG-owned sports marketing and entertainment group, is launching what it claims is the first research tool to accurately measure the complete effectiveness of sponsorship.

The company has linked with research specialist Millward Brown and evaluation company Sponsorship Science (SSI) to launch “The Sponsorship Effect” which isolates the impact of sponsorship campaigns on brands.

The launch may spark a major debate in the sponsorship sector, as other agencies will be forced to qualify their own research methods.

Measuring sponsorship effectiveness is a major hurdle for clients attempting to justify expenditure. Industry critics claim the most popular methods – measuring volume of media output and brand awareness – are flawed because they do not measure efficiency.

Brands which already have a high profile, for instance, are always likely to do well in awareness studies.

Octagon Marketing claims its scheme – which will be run independently by Millward Brown and SSI – is the first to combine qualitative and quantitative data with the measurement of media efficiency. It says this allows brand owners to direct activities to reach their target audiences more effectively.

Alasdair Ritchie, president of Octagon Marketing for Europe, Africa, Australia and Asia, comments: “Media can now be analysed in terms of efficiency, not volume, and communication in terms of effectiveness.”

SSI director Ian Thompson says: “Finally, one of the world’s biggest sponsorship agencies has recognised the system is flawed. Many businesses believe they are already carrying out this sort of evaluation – but they are not.”