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The aim of this paper is to gain a deeper understanding of fashion events marketing from a sponsor’s perspective and its influence on customers and society. We firstly seek to investigate what are the main marketing objectives of brands when they decide to sponsor fashion events; secondly, what are the main factors to enhance customer engagement with sponsoring brands; and finally, what are the most effective pathways to generate e-WOM in this context of fashion events. In order to answer these research questions, we conducted four studies: two Online Focus Groups, in-depth interviews and a fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA). Main findings show that the chief objectives of brands in sponsoring fashion events are: a) customer engagement with the sponsoring firm and, in particular, e-WOM, b) brand presence and c) brand positioning with fashion industry values. The conditions that enhance customer engagement are a) enjoyment, b) fashion values, c) sustainability and d) product knowledge. Fashion values are found to be a necessary condition to generate e-WOM. There are two conditions sufficient to produce e-WOM: a) the lack of enjoyment and fashion values or b) fashion values and sustainability.

PurposeThis research serves to determine causal configurations of corporate social responsibility (CSR) conditions that best influences grassroots football club stakeholders to meet a sponsor's goals through promotional activity.Design/methodology/approachThe research uses a case study of the Essex Alliance League, a local amateur football league in England. Firstly, semi-structured interviews were held with multiple stakeholders to understand the ecosystem of grassroots football. From here, further semi-structured interviews were held with club sponsors to identify the conditions of CSR. This allowed the research to then issue a survey from which results were analysed and discussed using fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA).FindingsThe ecosystem of grassroots football is formed by a myriad of stakeholders operating at a national level, all the way to more local governance structures within which the business-club relationship exists. Sponsors identified three main conditions of CSR: shared values, self-congruity, and happiness. However, following fsQCA, two pathways were found: (1) presence of shared values, and (2) presence of happiness with the absence of self-congruity.Practical implicationsFor practitioners, adaptations can be made for clubs to attract and maintain sponsorship as businesses seek to use grassroots sport as a channel for their own CSR objectives. To attract long term sponsorship, club managers are recommended to maintain long-term relationships with business owners especially in relation to personal values, fit, and happiness. As such, the responsibility of the club to ensure its stakeholders engage in promotional activity on behalf of their sponsor will help in maximising the financial value over multiple seasons.Originality/valueWhere fertile ground for academic analysis in grassroots football is present, this research investigates CSR activity at this level of football, where most research is more concerned with professional levels of the game. Furthermore, this research reaches into the sport ecosystem through an understanding of co-created values between organisations in this exchange of shared values to meet common objectives.

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