European Football Championship: How the Swiss perceived the sponsorship

Numerous companies and brands supported the European Championship in Germany. For example, Engelbert Strauss, BYD, Adidas, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, Lidl and AliExpress were among the official sponsors of UEFA Euro 2024, including brands that are measured in YouGov Switzerland's continuous brand tracking, the Swiss Brand Observer.

Every week, YouGov surveys a sample of around 250 people who are representative of the Swiss population aged 15-79. Since April 2024, interviewees have also been asked whether they have noticed sponsorship activities by various brands in the past seven days. This continuous measurement covers the time before (zero measurement), after (post measurement) and during the European Championship (interim measurement) perfectly.

National team main sponsor UBS most strongly perceived

The analysis from the Swiss Brand Observer includes official UEFA sponsors such as AliExpress, Lidl, Coca Cola Zero and Swissquote, as well as other national team and TV sponsors such as UBS and Ochsner Sport. Even though UBS was not visible on the banners on the sidelines, the sponsorship awareness of UBS was greater than that of other brands. Lidl, Swissquote, AliExpress and Coca Cola Zero were among the official advertising partners - but were all less visible. UBS was less present on the match days themselves - but the big bank was depicted twice on the training jerseys - clearly legible above the chest, not to mention as the only sponsor. Of course, the European Football Championship was not the only event at which the corresponding brands were visible during the same period. UBS also sponsored the Kids Cup in Lucerne at the end of June during the European Championships.

AliExpress with strong increase in sponsorship awareness

Even though UBS recorded the strongest absolute sponsorship perception in Switzerland, there were other brands that had an even stronger effect in terms of the relative difference in brand perception during this period. The average sponsorship awareness of Chinese online retailer AliExpress between April and mid-June 2024 averaged 0.2% - practically zero. During the European Championships, sponsorship awareness of the brand then averaged 6%, which corresponds to a 30-fold increase. AliExpress reached its peak in calendar weeks 26 and 27 - in the middle of the European Championships. During the European Championships, supported awareness amounted to around 60% and was therefore not significantly different from before the tournament. This means that people who were already familiar with the brand suddenly became aware of the sponsorship. Although awareness of AliExpress at the end of July reached its highest level since measurements began in September 2021, it remains to be seen whether an actual change in awareness has occurred. According to YouGov, the proportion of current customers has not yet changed significantly.

Four times greater brand awareness for Lidl

However, brands that are still better known in this country also showed a significant and clear increase in brand awareness. This applies in particular to Lidl. In the run-up to the tournament, just under 3% registered the discounter's sponsorship. In the last two weeks of the tournament, this figure rose to 10%. The peak value was thus four times higher than the average sponsorship perception between April and mid-June.

However, Lidl's telecommunications brand did not benefit from a spill-over effect. The sponsorship perception of Lidl Connect remained at a maximum noise level of 2% during the European Championships.

No effect on image facets

According to YouGov, the increased perception of sponsorship among the brands observed did not lead to any significant changes in image. This also applies to image facets such as corporate social responsibility, in which the efforts of sponsorship or brand appearances at events and other occasions are likely to manifest themselves the most. According to YouGov, sponsorship was simply too short-lived for this. Because the image of brands is constant, it takes patience and a lot of time to change it - especially for positive changes in terms of image shaping.

However, even negative influences in the form of negative reporting, for example, do not necessarily lead directly to a change in image. Repeated scandals that stick and jeopardize trust in the brand's performance are particularly dangerous. YouGov cites Volkswagen's emissions scandal in 2015 as an example: this was not quite as problematic for the brand itself, as ecology is not a core brand value of VW or is not something that people associate with VW per se.

Sponsoring as a drop in the ocean?

The data from the Swiss Brand Observer shows that one-off or stand-alone sponsorships only have a short-term effect on brand perception. It is important that brands know what they stand for and what their core brand values are - and then communicate these confidently and actively to the outside world. Feedback from the target group is also important in order to control perception. The success and strength of a campaign's impact on brand perception depends on this and the appropriate fit of the sponsorship.

In order to bring about long-term changes, sponsorships of major events such as the European Championships should be embedded in campaigns lasting several months and their success should be continuously tracked in order to consolidate and strengthen effects and enable targeted follow-up. This helps to ensure that the success of the sponsorship and the momentum generated for the European Championship sponsors does not simply fizzle out afterwards and that the commitment pays off for the brand in the medium and long term.

Information on the Swiss Brand Observer

• Type of study: continuous brand tracking (365 days per year)
• Survey excerpt/time for this article: April 1 to July 28, 2024
• Population: Swiss resident population aged 15 to 79 years
• Sample size: approx. n = 4,000
• Research method: online interviews
• Quotation/weighting: interlocked by age, gender and language region