Slides-Ambush Marketing

Lesson 8.4 –

Ambush Marketing

Copyright © 2011 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC

"Ambush marketing is a transparent attempt to

cash in on the passion of our fans"

- NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy

LESSON 8.4

Sponsorship & Endorsements


Ambush MarketingLESSON 8.4


Ambush marketing occurs when one brand pays to become an official sponsor of an event and other competing brands attempt to connect itself with the same event, without paying direct sponsorship fees


Ambush Marketing It is a legal tactic

Often referred to as “guerilla” marketing

Has proven to be very successful

Presents many challenges for those hosting the event Results in the perception that companies are affiliated with an event when they actually are not

Allows for penetration into events in which a competitor may have exclusivity rights

LESSON 8.4



When Does Ambush Marketing Occur?

Ambush Marketing

Super Bowl

Olympics

Soccer World Cup

Boston Marathon

Tour de France

LESSON 8.4



Notable Sports Marketing Ambushes

Ambush Marketing

1992 Olympics

Michael Jordan (sponsored by Nike), covered the Reebok logo on his apparel with the American flag during the gold medal ceremonies

LESSON 8.4



Ambush Marketing

2000 Olympics

Adidas 'thorpedoed' Nike at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Nike was the official clothing supplier while Adidas sponsored the swimming super-hero, Ian Thorpe. At the medal presentation, Thorpe “accidentally” draped his Adidas towel over the Nike logo on his official team tracksuit. Thus Nike was nowhere in the famous photograph that was seen by millions of people in Australia and all over the world.

LESSON 8.4




Ambush Marketing

2002 Boston Marathon

As Adidas-sponsored runners crossed the finish line under full coverage of cameras, they were treated to spray painted Nike 'swooshes' honoring the day of the event without mentioning the race itself

LESSON 8.4




Ambush Marketing

2002 Boston Marathon

More than 300 college students sporting Reebok-branded tattoos on their foreheads were seeded into the crowd along the Marathon route. Reebok-endorsed “office linebacker” Terry Tate (featured in prominent Reebok television spots) led the charge along the running route. The ambush was effective, with Reebok forming a sea of red (via more than 2,500 consumers turned into walking billboards) along the route and creating its own “unofficial” sponsorship of the Marathon, much to the chagrin of Adidas.

LESSON 8.4




Ambush Marketing

2006 FIFA World Cup

Hundreds of Dutch fans had to watch their team's 2-1 win over the Ivory Coast in their underwear at the 2006 World Cup in Germany after security at entry points to the stadium caught wind of an ambush marketing ploy

LESSON 8.4




Ambush Marketing

2006 FIFA World Cup

The fans arrived at the game wearing orange lederhosen displaying the name of Dutch brewery Bavaria and were ordered to remove them by stewards before being allowed to stadium.

LESSON 8.4




Ambush Marketing

2006 FIFA World Cup

Anheuser Busch's Budweiser was the official beer for the tournament and FIFA has a reputation for fiercely protecting its sponsors from brands which are not event or organization partners

LESSON 8.4




Ambush Marketing

2008 Olympic Games

Chinese sportswear maker Li Ning signed an agreement with Olympic Sports Channel, affiliated with State-owned China Central Television (CCTV).

LESSON 8.4




Ambush Marketing

2008 Olympic Games

Under the deal, journalists, presenters and guests appearing in the studio would wear Ling Ning's clothes with visible logo throughout the Olympic coverage, despite adidas’ presence as official sponsor of the Games.

LESSON 8.4




Ambush Marketing

• Legal• “Guerilla”

Marketing• Very successful• Challenging• Perception• Allows for

penetration

Ambush marketing tactics

Ambush Marketing

Sponsorship of sub-categories in an event

Sponsorship of the broadcast of the event

Purchasing advertisements at a competitor’s event

Engaging in non-sponsorship promotions that coincide with the event

LESSON 8.4



Ambush Marketing

In the 1984 Olympic Games, Kodak sponsored the TV broadcast of the games as the USA track team’s sponsor despite Fuji being the official sponsor of the games

LESSON 8.4



Sponsorship of the broadcast of the event

Purchasing advertisements at a competitor’s event

Ambush Marketing

For the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Nike went to the extreme of purchasing all the outdoor poster sites in Atlanta in an effort to ambush Adidas, the official sponsor of the 1996 Games

LESSON 8.4



Engage in non-sponsorship promotions that coincide with the event

Ambush Marketing

Pizza chain Papa John's ambushed rival Domino's Pizza's product placement campaign in an episode of popular television show The Apprentice. In the episode, Apprentice teams were tasked with creating a new flavored pizza. Concurrently, Domino's launched spots for its new American Classic Cheeseburger Pizza during the show. A new pizza flavor was created by the marketer itself, not by any of the teams on The Apprentice.

LESSON 8.4



Ambush Marketing

Papa John’s then one-upped Domino's by purchasing local ad time during "The Apprentice" touting a meatball pizza, which "coincidentally" was the flavor pizza made by both Apprentice teams. The spot showed Papa John's Founder John Schnatter in a boardroom encouraging people to tell the competition "they're fired” and asking "why get a pizza made by the apprentice when you can get a pizza made by the pros at Papa John's."

LESSON 8.4



Engage in non-sponsorship promotions that coincide with the event

Create visibility without “official” affiliation with an event in non-traditional ways

Ambush Marketing

In 2009, Geico paid several lower-ranked men's and women's tennis players up to $5,000 to wear "ambush advertising patches during high-visibility matches" at Wimbledon. Because lower ranked players earn only minimal wages, many were willing to slap the Geico logo on their uniform, in part to help pay for travel expenses.

LESSON 8.4



During live television coverage of the 2009 British Open, Hugo Boss effectively ambushed the PGA. The high-end menswear apparel company parked a sailboat prominently adorned in company logos in the waters off Turnberry, Scotland which appeared in the tournament's worldwide television coverage. The sailboat's extensive branding was easily picked up on camera, providing signifcant media value for the Hugo Boss brand as their target demographic watched from around the globe. While some companies paid large sums of dollars to advertise through ABC's coverage of the tournament, Hugo Boss found a sneaky way to effectively incorporate its brand into the coverage.

LESSON 8.4



Is Ambush Marketing an Effective Strategy?

Ambush Marketing

Ambush marketing has proven to be particularly successful in the shoe and apparel market. The official footwear and apparel of the NBA is Adidas. However, many of their competitors have individual NBA stars contracted to promote their respective brands (it should be noted that Adidas has several individual players under contract as well, such as Derrick Rose and Dwight Howard).

LESSON 8.4



How does Ambush Marketing Affect the Hosting Organization?

Ambush Marketing

Ambush marketing threatens the ability to sell event sponsorships, ultimately cutting into profitability

The Sydney Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG) had a staff of 60 individuals with legal backgrounds to protect themselves against ambush marketing

LESSON 8.4



How do companies combat ambush marketing?

Ambush Marketing

Reebok attempts to protect the investment in its brand by specifically stating in their advertisements that they are the exclusive supplier of athletic gear for all athletes within their respective league associations (NBA, NFL). To promote this message, they include taglines like “The NBA Wears Reebok: Are You Authentic?” and “Peyton Manning wears Reebok. The Only Brand In Every NFL Locker”.

LESSON 8.4






From the VANOC website: “VANOC is legally obligated to the IOC and to its marketing partners to protect against unauthorized use of the Olympic Brand and ambush marketing in Canada. Similarly, VANOC is obligated to protect the exclusive rights it has granted to its marketing partners related to the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games. But there are other reasons why it is important that VANOC must protect and strengthen the Olympic/Paralympic Brand.





As Yankees’ star shortstop Derek Jeter approached his milestone of 3,000 hits in 2011, his management team sent an aggressive message to those companies for which Jeter did not have an affiliation by sending messages to companies not aligned with Jeter to pressure them not to run any advertising attached to the event. Jeter’s team is calling “anything more than the blandest of congratulatory print or TV ads an attempt at (ambush) marketing.”





Excel Sports Marketing's Casey Close, who represents Jeter, said, “If we have to protect, or if we have to make phone calls, or if we have to send letters, or if we have to do whatever is necessary, we will.” Close said that he and his marketing team would "'do what is necessary' to protect Jeter's name from being hijacked by companies attempting to portray themselves as sponsors over the 3,000th hit.”



1) Illustrate the concept of ambush marketing

Ambush marketing occurs when one brand pays to become an official sponsor

of an event and other competing brands attempt to connect with the same event, without paying direct sponsorship fees.

It is a legal strategy used frequently when the event is on a grand stage, such as the Super Bowl or Olympic Games.


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Slides-Ambush Marketing