IntroductionAmbush Marketing is:

‘A company’s attempt to capitalize on the goodwill, reputation and popularity of a particular event by creating association without the authorization or consent of the necessary parties’

To make ambush marketing work and be successful, brands usually illicit this type of behaviour at large events such as:

FIFA World Cup, Summer Olympics, Winter Olympics & Special Olympics

It is done by large brands as official sponsorship fee for these events is so large, the company’s could not sustain it and so they have to find other means of getting their brands out there

Ambush marketers have three objectives:

1.‘Divert attention away from the event towards the pseudo sponsor’

2.‘Attenuate the effectiveness of the official sponsor’s operations’

3.‘Modify the reaction of audiences for the benefit of the audiences’

These objectives can be met in three ways:

‘Ambush by association’

‘Ambush by intrusion’

‘Opportunistic ambush marketing’

Causes of Ambush Marketing

oCompanies not having the funds to afford to be official sponsors of these large events

oEnables brands to be seen by millions of potential customers in a short few hours or days

oIf event organisers were to take action against these ambushers, the costs and time consumed would be so high none of them rarely take any action

oThe high success rate of ambush marketers in the past has caused brands to be attracted to this type of marketing

Brands that perform Ambush marketing

Paddy Power @ London Olympics 2012

oThey erected Billboards outside the Main stadiums in London

oThese posters would led onlookers to believe that Paddy

Power were the official sponsors of the event.

oBut according to small print (as seen in image), they had

Actual sponsored a small egg and spoon race event

In a small town in France called London

o Olympic organisers ordered Paddy Power to take these posters down as they said they were breaching strict rules, Paddy power sought court action and won as they managed to keep their posters in public view

Brands that perform Ambush marketingDre Dre Beat Headphones @ London Olympics 2012

oApple the makers of Dre Dre Beat Headphones ambushed the official sponsors Panasonic (whom also make headphones)

They done this by:

oGiving Olympics athletes free Beat headphones to wear on Olympic grounds

This caused:

oAn influx of athletes wearing these headphones before and after their sporting events

which were seen by million of consumers worldwide

oThen they consequently shared their love of the product on social media

oThis sparked outrage by the main sponsors Panasonic and Athletes were banned from

Wearing the headphones, and were only allowed wear the main sponsor Panasonic's

Earphones for the duration of the Olympics

Brands that perform Ambush MarketingNike @ FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014

oJust before the FIFA world cup in Brazil, Nike released a five minute animated

Movie as part of their ‘risk everything’ campaign

oThis promotional video starred cloned versions of some of the most famous

Footballers from around the world (Inc. Wayne Rooney, Neymar & Ronaldo)

oBecause of the content of the video and the various celebrities included In it,

Consumers would be led to believe that Nike were the official sponsors of the event

oThe official sponsors of the event was actually Adidas

oAs a result of this campaign Nike was ‘more frequently linked to the world cup than any

oOf the tournaments official partners’

Brands that perform Ambush marketing Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC)

oKFC tried to ambush official sponsors of FIFA world cup Brazil ‘Mc Donald’s’

oTheir campaign ‘Share the taste, share the passion’ Included one of the

Biggest footballing stars Cristiano Ronaldo

oThis ambush included Ronaldo as their brand ambassador in posters and

Also included a promotional video of him enjoying KFC and also

Supporters at the world cup in the audience enjoying KFC food

oThis ambush was very successful for KFC as they managed to achieve a

Higher brand recognition than the official sponsors Mc Donald’s

Advantages & Disadvantages of Ambush Marketing

Advantages

oLead to increased Brand Awareness

oCompetitive pricing – while there is high competition among brands, the prices will become much lower and competitive as they try to out do each other

Disadvantages

oDecreases revenue earned by the event

oMay cause an increase in ambushing events in future as ambush becomes ever more successful and affect official sponsorship of events

oCreates unhealthy competitive environment

BibliographyoLee Pelanda, Brian Hastings, (2012), ‘Ambush Marketing: Dissecting the Discourse’, Communications and entertainment Law Journal, Vol. 34, Issue 3, pp341-362. 22p

oNicholas Chavanat, Michel Desbordes (2014), ‘Towards the Regulation and Restriction of ambush marketing, the first truly digital mega sports event: Olympic Games, London 2012’, International Journal of Sports marketing and sponsorship

oScott Phillips (July 2014), ‘Ambush marketers win big during FIFA World Cup’, Businessofsoccer.com

Available at : www.businessofsoccer.com/2014/07/02/ambush-marketers-win-big-during-world-cup/