Brand governance practices in Canadian national sport organizations: an exploratory study

Abstract

Research Questions: We explored if and how decision-makers of different types of national sport organizations (NSOs) govern their brand, considering the changing landscape and the role of stakeholders and social media. The three research questions were: (RQ1) Do leaders of NSOs include brand governance in their overall governance?; (RQ2) How important is the relationship between the NSOs and their stakeholders for NSOs' brand governance?; (RQ3) How does social media contribute to NSOs' brand governance?Research methods: Thirty-two chief executive officers (CEOs) and/or board members of 58 Canadian NSOs (RR=55%) participated in an online survey. Data were collected about brand governance in the organization (8 questions), the interrelationship with stakeholders (4 questions), and the role of social media in brand governance (4 questions). Results and findings:Brand governance is absent in small NSOs, and in early stages of application by larger NSOs. NSOs deal with their brand primarily internally, with no operational involvement of stakeholders, missing opportunities for possible knowledge transfer and co-creation to help NSOs govern their brand. Social media is a cost-efficient way to brand the organization, but a lack of control and consistency indicates a need for brand governance related to social media. Implications: NSOs would benefit from actively involving stakeholders to co-create and strengthen their brand. Social media offers opportunities for branding, but governance regulations should help overcome major challenges. Future research should include

Branding governance in international recurring sports events: the World Rugby ‘Sevens’ Series

“…Recent work on branding in sports (e.g. Hoye et al, 2020;Parent et al, 2021;Taks et al, 2020) acknowledges that the process of co-creation should involve all stakeholders and not just fans. Informed by Freeman (1994), Parent et al (2012, p. 146) define stakeholders as 'individuals or groups who can affect the organisation or be affected by its actions'.…”

“…Kunkel & Biscaia, 2020;Manoli, 2020a;Ströbel & Germelmann, 2020) indicate that an understanding of brand management in sport is incomplete. Hatch and Schultz (2010), Helm and Jones (2010), Ind and Bjerke (2007), Merrilees (2017) and Taks et al (2020) propose the externally focused concept of brand governance as a new approach to strategic brand management. Brand governance refers to 'a system of building a brand that is guided by the vision, mission and values of an organisation and that systematically nurtures a brand value to become and remain a long-term strategic asset' (Séguin & Abeza, 2019, p. 368).…”

“…Renton and Richard's (2019) work on SMEs provides early evidence of the role of brand governance in protecting brand values, brand distinctiveness, strong positioning and value co-creation. However, there remains a paucity of research on brand governance in the context of sport (Taks et al, 2020) and whether leaders of sports organisations apply brand governance (Parent et al, 2012).…”

“…Against this backdrop and responding to calls for research on brand governance in sport organisations (Séguin & Abeza, 2019;Taks et al, 2020), our study examines the brand governance practices in a major international recurring sports event. While rugby commands the same research attention as soccer (e.g.…”

“…Second, we contribute to the small but growing literature on brand governance in sports (Manoli, 2020a(Manoli, , 2020bParent et al, 2012;Taks et al, 2020) by examining how brand governance is used by the WRSS to build brand equity as a long-term strategic asset. Given the nature of international recurring sport events in different cities and destinations, branding must be sustained to accommodate the diversity of international markets and venues (Harrison & Davies, 2016;Richelieu, 2014).…”