Congruence effects in sports marketing

In sports marketing, congruence often arises as a magical concept, able to induce stronger and more positive impacts on consumer reactions than incongruent pairings. For example, an athlete endorser should have a stronger influence than an actor on the evaluation of an energy bar but not on the evaluation of a candy bar (Till and Busler, 2000). Even athletes such as Tiger Woods or Michael Phelps, who transgress social norms, might enjoy commercial success if they endorse "rebellious" products (Pokrywczynski and Brinker, 2012). Similarly, a sports team brand should anticipate greater success by leveraging its brand equity in a sports clothing line rather than a cosmetics line (Papadimitriou et al., 2004). In contrast, misfitsbrands and sports entities not going well together-might damage brand equity by prompting negative reactions among consumers. It is questionable whether the sponsorship of the soccer team, Atletico Madrid, by the country of Azerbaijan is well understood by sports spectators, albeit some recent studies propose that a well-chosen misfit could benefit sponsors and sports marketing brands (for example, Trendel and Warlop, 2013).