Leah Donlan

Dr Leah Donlan gained a BSc(hons) International Business (French) from Loughborough University and a PhD from Sheffield Hallam University, for her thesis entitled “The Contribution of Sports Sponsorship to Consumer-Based Brand Equity.” Prior to taking up her role at Manchester Business School, Leah held the roles of Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Sports Marketing at the University of Central Lancashire. Leah’s current research focuses on the areas of experiential and digital sponsorship activation and she has had her work published in peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Marketing Management, the Journal of Marketing Communications and the Journal of Promotion Management. In 2008, Leah won 2nd prize in the European Association of Sport Management New Researcher award for her PhD research.

Dr Leah Donlan’s current research interests lie in the use of experiential, digital and social media sponsorship activation strategies by sports sponsors. Within these areas, Leah is particularly interested in how sponsorship can be used as a tool for customer relationship marketing and value co-creation. Following on from her PhD research on the contribution of sports sponsorship to consumer-based brand equity, Leah is also interested in the notion of brand image transfer in sponsorship, notably the nature and extent of image transfer from the sponsor to the sponsored property.