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_Philip Gross addresses a new opportunity for growing brands that may reside within a sponsorship alliance. Typically, brands vie for image transfer from an event or other property when entering a sponsorship engagement. Yet this practice leaves a valuable part of a sponsorship alliance unexploited. Specifically, the author infers from theories of social and cognitive psychology to propose and test a research model that accounts for a sponsor to also gain from brand attitude and personality traits innately tied to a co_sponsor of the same event. The results provide evidence for direct image transfer between two sponsor brands. Hence, pairing with a co_sponsor might fortify or dilute a sponsor brand´s image depending on the expediency of the image conveyed by that ally.

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_Brands and Identity-Based Brand Management.- Sponsorship Alliance.- Brand Image Transfer: Attitude and Personality.

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Dr. Philip Gross obtained his doctoral degree from the Institute of Marketing and Management at the University of Hanover where he works with Prof. Dr. Klaus-Peter Wiedmann. As a founding partner and academic advisor to "Axonalliance - Bright Strategies" he engages with clients on issues of brand leadership and strategic marketing.

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