Date of Award

Spring 2023

Document Type

Thesis

College

Jannetides College of Business & Entrepreneurial Leadership

Primary Advisor

Dr. Kevin Weaver

Abstract

Marketing trends have recently seen an increase in the use of athlete endorsements. While celebrity endorsements are not a new practice, the use of athletes as endorsers is still relatively new to the field. This thesis investigates the effect of athlete endorsements on brand equity. Using the Aaker’s model, brand equity is split into the categories of brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality, and brand loyalty for thorough exploration. A quantitative, non-experimental research approach was designed to examine consumers’ perceptions of these four elements of brand equity. The resulting survey was administered online to 117 participants. The data revealed 4 statistically significant correlations between consumer perceptions and brand equity elements – as well as a predictive relationship between social media usage and likelihood to perceive products endorsed by athletes as more environmentally friendly and sustainable than most other brands.

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