How do you measure sponsorship recall?
The BoxBoxd Brand Recall Index shows a blurred sponsor logo with no name attached and asks three questions in order. Grid averages in 2026: 94 percent, 81.8 percent and 42.7 percent.
Recall is measured by taking the name away and asking the audience to supply it. Everything else in sponsorship measurement counts exposure and calls it memory.
The BoxBoxd Brand Recall Index runs on the motorsport audience through the season. A sponsor logo appears blurred with no name attached and the audience answers three questions in order: name the brand, name the team it belongs to, then say where the branding appears on the car. A fourth question covers the era the branding ran in.
The questions are deliberately ordered from cheapest to hardest. Across 6,391 tests on eleven brands in the 2026 season the audience named the brand 94 percent of the time, named the team 81.8 percent of the time and placed the branding 42.7 percent of the time.
What each question is for
Recognition asks whether the logo is familiar at all. It is close to saturated at the top of the market, so it separates almost nobody and it is the number the industry has quoted for twenty years.
Attribution asks whether the partnership belongs to the brand paying for it. This is the number that decides renewal arguments, because two deals with identical exposure can be forty points apart on it.
Placement asks where the branding appears. It separates a logo that was seen from a logo that was read and it is the question nobody asks.
Every reading is cut by the team each respondent supports, so a brand can see whether its association holds across rival audiences or only inside the fanbase of the team it pays.
Frequently asked questions
How do you measure sponsorship recall?
By removing the name. The BoxBoxd Brand Recall Index shows a blurred sponsor logo with no name attached and asks the audience to name the brand, name the team it belongs to and say where the branding appears on the car.
What is the difference between recognition and attribution?
Recognition is whether the audience can name the brand. Attribution is whether it can name the team the brand pays. A partnership can be recognised by almost everyone and attributed correctly by half of them.
What is a good sponsorship recall score?
Against the 2026 grid averages of 94 percent recognition, 81.8 percent attribution and 42.7 percent placement, the readings worth defending are the second and the third, where the spread between brands is widest.
The full report behind this article, with the split by team audience, market composition and movement across the season, is available to teams, brands and agencies.
Get the full report at partnerships@boxboxd.fun
Source: BoxBoxd, the motorsport social network. The Brand Recall Index is measured on the BoxBoxd audience through the 2026 season, where a blurred sponsor logo is shown with no name attached and three questions follow: name the brand, name the team, place the branding on the car. Full data at boxboxd.fun/data.