SMB.

Are professional sports a good place to put your ad dollars, at least during winter? Depends. f your company sells beer, office supplies or insurance, the answer is a resounding yes. Cars or airline service? Sure, but your money is just as well spent elsewhere. And if your business is fast food or credit cards, forget it--unless you're AMEX.

That´s the conclusion of a Forbes analysis of a study by Ithink. The study measured the effectiveness of advertising and sponsorships for the just completed NBA and NHL seasons.

The company decided to investigate, looking at 36 major sports advertisers across 11 product categories and measuring the degree of "lift" each got from its sports advertising and sponsorship programs. It asked 3,500 sports fans whether they found a brand distinctive, whether they felt loyal toward it and, most important, what percentage of their recent purchases in a given product category came from that brand. The more sports fans were pulled to a product over non-fans, the higher the product scored as a good match for sports advertising.

The study was confined to the core demographics in both groups (fans and non-fans), dominated by the 25- to -54-year-old educated consumer. It also found that promoting through the NBA, with its larger audience and frequent stops in play that advertisers love, brings about 3.5 times more recognition and loyalty than promoting through the NHL.

A company that wasn´t at top 10 but looks promising: Kia, the small Korean auto company that is the NBA's official automotive partner. With 12% growth in unit sales during the first quarter of 2008, Kia stands as the world's fastest-growing car company.

Here you can find top 10 most effective sports advertisers