Prioritizing the associative consequences of old sports brands

Abstract
Today's competitive environment has become extremely turbulent and one of the ways to deal with the environmental disturbances is to emphasize the historical components and show the stability and stability of the brand. Appealing to the past has become a common thing for consumers today, and brands with images that have components such as credibility, heritage, and stability are gaining popularity. Brand age is defined as consumers' perception of the brand's long existence and is part of the concept of brand heritage. Therefore, the effect of brand antiquity on consumer-brand relationships is well established. However, brand oldness is a general concept with positive implications, but there is no study on the underlying process and especially the set of connections that consumers feel when facing old brands; it is not focused. The associative approach is important because it focuses on the spontaneous activation of learned sets of associations or responses developed by consumers through repeated activation in memory. This activation starts automatically with the presence of environmental stimuli. For example, an indication of the product's country of origin activates associations stored in memory and stereotypes about countries. Therefore, emotions are one of the topics that motivate customers to choose and communicate with a product or service. An emotional connection between the brand and the customer is formed gradually. We live in a world full of emotions; where emotions influence our decisions. For this reason, marketers often try to create an emotional connection between their brand and their customers; this becomes possible when the consumer develops an emotional connection with the brand. Attachment is considered as the strength of the emotional and cognitive relationship between the consumer and the brand. The current research was conducted with the aim of prioritizing the associative consequences of old sports brands. The research method is descriptive and of the type of correlational studies. The statistical population of this research was all buyers of Iranian sports brands. The sampling method is accessible, which was selected from the customers of sports brands in the virtual space. Since the number of the community cannot be counted and it takes a high amount. Therefore, the sample size is based on an unlimited population. Since the number of the population is not known, Cohen's formula was used to estimate the sample size. To be sure, 400 questionnaires were distributed and out of this number, 391 questionnaires were returned correctly and were used in the analysis. In this research, the standard questionnaire of Richard and White (2020) was used. This questionnaire contains 15 questions, which are categorized in the form of 5 components and measures the consequences of association of old brands in the range of 5 Likert options. Form and content validity was confirmed using the opinion of 8 sports management professors. The validity of the structure was confirmed by using the confirmatory factor analysis test and the reliability of the variables was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha test. In this research, SPSS and LISREL software were used for data analysis to present the model. According to the findings, brand association is effective at 0.90 on experience and expertise, at 0.95 at 0.96 on reminiscence, at 0.96 at timelessness and at 0.85 at tradition. Also, the significant coefficient shows that the indicators are more than 1.96 and it can be concluded that brand association has a positive and significant effect on the mentioned factors. Also, based on the findings, reminiscence, timelessness, maintenance, experience, expertise, and tradition are among the most important consequences of brand association. Therefore, in order to associate the brand, the desired indicators should be emphasized by the marketers. The effect of brand longevity on consumer-brand relationships is well established. However, brand oldness is a general concept with positive implications, but there is no study on the underlying process and especially the set of connections that consumers feel when facing old brands; It is not focused. Consumers are likely to make associations linking aging cues to inferences about brand attributes. For example, if the brand name is old, it may be associated with expertise. Association refers to the connection between the brand and the use (user), including consumers' desire to buy and recommend to others. The force that makes the brand sit in the minds of consumers and influence it is more than the experience of use. In this way, in addition to the value of consumer goods, brands provide meanings for brands that consumers like. Therefore, it can be concluded that experience and expertise in building relationships with customers and maintaining them are essential for any sports brand and will create brand associations. In general, it can be concluded that investigating the consequences of the association of old brands with sports authenticity is necessary for sports organizations that seek to gain popularity and improve the overall status of the organization, because paying attention to these consequences can be an advantage for sports organizations. Create a competition with other organizations and help the organization to attract more people through building a successful brand. Therefore, in order to build a successful brand, managers of sports organizations should focus on the categories identified in this research, so that they can identify the needs of customers and take basic steps to solve them with appropriate measures. Produce appropriate products to retain customers and attract new customers. Therefore, having an original and old brand can put the organization on the path of growth and development. Therefore, it is suggested to use sports brand loyalty programs. The basic branding process starts with the creation of an essence, this essence acts as a rosary thread and connects all the components of the brand together. It is also suggested to pay attention to the characteristics of a brand. The characteristics of a brand are all those things that are conveyed to the audience through a specific instruction through the communication points of the brand. These features can include product packaging, presentation, brand coloring, advertising style.