AMBUSH MARKETING

INTRODUCTIONAmbush marketing is the planned effort by an organization to associate themselves indirectly with an event in order to gain at least some of the recognition and benefits that are associated with being an official sponsor. Ambush marketing is a marketing campaign that takes place around an event but does not involve payment of a sponsorship fee to the event.

Ambush marketing takes place when a trader seeks to utilize the publicity value of an event, for instance - a major sports tournament or a concert, to gain a benefit from it despite, not having any involvement or connection with that event and more particularly, having made no financial contribution to entitle him to derive benefit from it.

NEED OF THE STUDY Increased use of Ambush Marketing by most of the

companies The companies are trying to create the awareness of

their brands with less capital investment Are the companies really getting benefits from

Ambush marketing What will be the pros and cons, if a company goes

for Ambush Marketing.

TYPES OF AMBUSH MARKETING

Ambush Marketing is of two types.-

1. Forging 2. Intrusion

The Second form of Ambush Marketing (Intrusion) is more popular with marketers than the First Form (Forging) due to the legal implications of the First Form (Forging) of Ambush Marketing.

FORGING Often a major event has a name, logo, or other insignia identifying it. Unauthorized persons use these insignia, or insignia, which are sufficiently similar to the authentic insignia to cause confusion. In this form of ambush marketing the ambush marketer misleads the public into thinking that he is an authorized sponsor or contributor associated with the event. Example. During the Football World Cup Collins, a beer company used the marks associated with the World Cup and was promoting tickets. FIFA fought the case in an Irish court and won the case against Collins.

INTRUSION In this form of ambush marketing, the ambush marketer seeks not to suggest a connection with the event but rather to give his own name, trademark, or other insignia exposure through the medium of the publicity attracted by the event; this is done without any authorization of the event organizer. In this type of Ambush Marketing the Ambush Marketer strives to use the event and the attention gained via the event to promote his product.

Example. Pepsi during the 2002 FIFA World Cup did not claim that they were supporting the World Cup. However, it used the event to promote their product. "They don’t support football the way it should be supported, and yet they are promoting an association with it, for example, by having a very nice and clever ad with Sumo wrestlers also involving famous Football stars."

HOW TO GO FOR AMBUSH MARKETING

Ambush Marketing does not have a set procedure. However, there is a standard set of procedures followed by companies in the past.

STEP I Establishing Marketing Objectives

STEP II Establishing Promotional Strategy

STEP III Selection of an Event

STEP IV Why that Event?

STEP V Willingness to Spend

STEP VI Implementing

THE ESSENTIALS OF AMBUSH MARKETING

Though Ambush Marketing does not have a set procedure, there are a few essential things that form part of a successful Ambush Marketing Campaign.

Catch your competitor unawares Creativity Rope in the Players Capture media time Don’t play against the law. Play with it

WHEN SHOULD AMBUSH MARKETING BE CONSIDERED ???

When a firm is doing a poor job supporting its official sponsorship.

When there is a good fit with the target market. When adequate resources are available. When there is companywide support for the strategy. When it does not conflict with the ambusher’s

existing sponsorships. When the ambusher is prepared for controversy. When it is aware of the legal restrictions.

EXAMPLES OF AMBUSH MARKETING

VODAFONE

COMPANY PROFILE.Vodafone Group is a global telecommunications company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest mobile telecommunications company measured by revenues and the world's second-largest measured by subscribers (behind China Mobile), with around 332 million proportionate subscribers as of 30 September 2010. It operates networks in over 30 countries and has partner networks in over 40 additional countries. It owns 45% of Verizon Wireless, the largest mobile telecommunications company in the United States measured by subscribers.

COMPANY’S VISION.Company’s vision is to be the world's mobile communications leader enriching customer’s lives, helping individuals, businesses and communities to be more connected in a mobile world, to help customers use mobile communications to make their lives richer, more fulfilled, more connected.

AMBUSH MARKETING BY VODAFONE Two streakers running nude in the middle

of an exciting Rugby Match. That's exactly what Vodafone did to try and attract audience's attention.

The streakers ran upto and around New Zealand (All Blacks) player Andrew Mehrtens as he was preparing for a crucial penalty kick.

Though Australia won the match 16-14 the real winner in terms of capturing public Attention was VODAFONE.

This is a case of Ambush Marketing, as the official Sponsor of the event was TELSTRA an Australian Telecom company, which is in direct competition with Vodafone.

COCA COLA VS PEPSI

• Ambush marketing was first witnessed in India during 1996 cricket world cup held in the Indian Sub-continent.

• Coca Cola was the official sponsor of the event and they paid INR 40 crores as sponsorship fees.

• Pepsi single-handedly countered their world cup campaign by releasing an ad campaign with the tagline ‘Nothing official about it’.

• Pepsi also signed a string of cricketers for this campaign and as part of their contracts told them not to approach coke advertised trolleys during the drinks break.

• Thus, thanks to ambush marketing, Pepsi outshone the official sponsors and emerged the ‘official’ winner.

INDIAN AIRLINE INDUSTRY

• Jet Airways put up a hoarding that read, “We have changed”,

• Kingfisher Airlines countered that by adding a hoarding above which read, “We made them change”

• Finally Go Air put a banner above these two which read, “We’ve not changed!”

Hindustan Unilever and Procter & Gamble (P&G)

Another example of ambush marketing is what happened between Hindustan Unilever and Procter & Gamble (P&G). P&G launched an advertising campaign for the re-launch of Pantene with the tagline that read, ‘A mystery shampoo. Eighty percent women say it is better than anything else they’ve used.’A few days after the release of this campaign and before P&G could unveil this ‘new’ shampoo, Hindustan Unilever ambushed the ad by placing an adjacent hoarding with the tagline ‘There is no mystery, Dove is the No. 1 shampoo’. Brilliant, eh?

PROS. OF AMBUSH MARKETING Gives a Level Playing Field

Ambush Marketer opens up an Avenue for Non Sponsors to promote their brand awareness and identity thus giving them a level playing field against their rivals

Competitive Marketing It keeps the sponsors on their toes and allows for the Consumer to get a complete picture.

Benefits not meeting price The benefits derived out of such sponsorships are not matched by the benefits derived which are limited in number.

CONS. OF AMBUSH MARKETING Ethical issue

It is against ethical norms to ambush someone who has paid millions of Dollars for recognition.

Financially Detrimental That Ambush Marketing will make finding sponsorship difficult in the future and this will be detrimental to the holding of such event in the future.

Confusion Ambush Marketers confuse the audience about the Sponsors of the event.

Not good for Image of t he firm Ambush marketing could do more worse than good to the image of the Ambush Marketer if the audience perceives it as an anti-event activity.

COUNTERING AMBUSH MARKETING

Control Media Advertising. Control placement of hoardings and booths in and

around the event location. Stop the players from promoting the ambushers

brand. Take action. Create an anti ambush campaign. No representation of competitors whatsoever. Spectacular ticketing policy.

CONCLUSIONThrough ambush marketing company can enhance their brand awareness.

Companies can invest less capital with high returns.   In case of forging Ambush Marketing company can

face legal issues, so it is better for a company to go for Intrusion Ambush Marketing.  

It was also found that company can generate great business by adopting Ambush Marketing.