Ambush Marketing in Sport

Over the years marketers have found several innovative ways to advertize their brands. Ambush Marketing is one of these unique and creative ways of marketing. In general an ambush means an attack from a hidden position”. In Ambush Marketing, a company launches an opportunistic ad campaign hoping to capitalize upon events ( such as sports tournaments), in which it’s not an official sponsor. There have been numerous examples in which companies have grabbed the limelight, without being an official sponsor. Some of the prominent examples are:

FIFA World Cup 2010: Adidas was one of the official sponsors of 2010 FIFA World Cup held in South Africa. Adidas bagged the sponsorship by beating their closest rival Nike.

Nike chose the Ambush Marketing route and launched the “Write the Future Campaign”. The campaign, consisting of TV commercials featuring football stars like Rooney and Ronaldo, was launched three weeks before the start of the FIFA World Cup. As a result, Nike was successful in creating a lot of buzz, even before start of World Cup. In a survey published by The Nielsen Company, it was claimed that Nike benefitted more from the event in comparison to official sponsor Adidas. The campaign was so successful that several people thought Nike was the official sponsor of the World Cup.

Wills World Cup 1996: Pepsi was unsuccessful in obtaining sponsorship rights for the 1996 World Cup. But the company used Ambush Marketing to capitalize on the event by launching a campaign called “There is nothing official about it”. This campaign was targeted to steal the show from Coca-Cola which was official sponsor of the World Cup.

Boston Marathon 2002: Despite the 2002 Boston Marathon being sponsored by Adidas, Nike supplied the 

runners with spray painted swooshes that commemorated the day of the race, but not the race itself (clever).

Sydney Olympics 2000: In the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the slogan for the games was “Share the Spirit.” Qantas airlines adopted a slogan “The Spirit of Australia” despite the fact that Ansett Air was the official airline sponsor.

Though ambush marketing is one of the most cost effective and creative ways of marketing, it has faced a lot of criticism. This criticism mainly comes from the official sponsors, who have spent millions of dollar to get sponsorship. It has been thought increasing use of Ambush Marketing during big events could reduce the value of official sponsorship, which in turn may hinder sponsorship funding.

Future Sports Events

Rugby World Cup 2011: The Rugby World Cup 2011 is one of the most awaited events starting from 9th September in New Zealand. Even before starting of World Cup, sponsors are worried that some companies may use Ambush Marketing to capitalize upon the event at the expense of the official sponsors. As a result of increasing pressure from sponsors to safeguard their sponsorship rights, the government of New Zealand has introduced Anti-Ambush Marketing Legislation as a part of a major Events Management Bill. How effective such legislation is remains to be seen.