Visitor Responses to Sponsorships in a Science Museum

This study was commissioned by Intel Corporation to explore the ways in which corporate sponsorships of museum exhibitions influence visitor perceptions of both the corporation and of the museum exhibition. [Note: Intel was not one of the sponsoring companies studied during this research, and was not mentioned to visitors during the course of the study.] The overall implication of this study for museums is that carefully chosen and presented sponsorships, for a majority of visitors, have no impact on opinion of exhibits, but, in some cases, can lead to improvements. For companies, such carefully chosen and presented sponsorships lead to improvements in company image for most visitors. Four factors should be carefully assessed by both companies and museums when considering or implementing a sponsorship--Sponsor-content fit; Visibility of the sponsorship; Reputation of the sponsoring company and its products; Opinions of characteristics of the exhibit.