Ambush Marketing

- Avinah Chandra

- Ajay Patil

“ Ambush Means surprise attack or attack from hidden position “

What is Ambush Marketing ?

It 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 can be defined as an attempt by a company to cash in on the goodwill or popularity of a particular event by creating an association between itself and the event, without permission from the relevant organization and without paying the fees to become an official sponsor.

Ambush Marketing

EVENT

pay sponsorship fee BRAND A (Sponsor)

associate themselves w/o

paying

BRAND B (Non-Sponsor/

Ambusher)

Types of Ambush Marketing

Direct Ambush Marketing

It takes place in the situation, when non-sponsor gives an impression of being an official sponsor by using words, players and logo associated with the events.but can be defended by laws.

Indirect Ambush Marketing

There are several ways in which Indirect ambush marketing takes place; for example, by sponsoring the broadcast of an event or by sponsoring the subcategories of a major event.

Strategies for Ambush Marketing

Pourage Agreement The sale of products at event is a useful and high profile way for certain type of potential sponsors (soft drink and fast food suppliers) to raise their profile in association with a sport and also to sell their products.

Corporate Hospitality and Ticketing This method consists of buying of tickets for event and offering hospitality and touring packages, which are not being sanctioned by the right owners.

Engage in Major Non-sponsorship Promotions to Coincide with the event For example, organize contests to send consumers to the event, place hoardings or booths at strategic locations during the event etc.

Strategies for Ambush Marketing

Sponsor the Broadcast of Event The ‘ambusher’ sponsors the broadcast of the event. The benefits of this approach are obvious when one considers that the media audience for most events is much larger than the onsite audience

Sponsor Subcategories within the Major Event This is a very widespread and cost-effective method of association with an event of major public interest. Essentially, the ‘ambusher’ sponsor some lesser element attached to overall event and exploits this association through major promotional effort

Purchasing Advertisement time during the broadcast replay A company wishing to deny a competitor the full benefits of their event or broadcast sponsorship can engage in ambush marketing by buying advertising time in the slots of around repeat telecast of event.

First Ambushing Example

In 1984, Fuji Film won the sponsorship rights for the Los Angeles Olympic Games. Kodak responsed to it by “ambushing” Fuji by sponsored the TV broadcast of the games as the USA track team’s sponsor.

Fuji took revenge on Kodak, which won the sponsorship rights for the 1988 games.

2003 World Cup

• Official Sponsors:Hero Honda, Pepsi, LG Electronics,

South African Airlines

• “Other” Sponsors:TVS Victor, Coca Cola, Samsung, Sahara

• “Britannia Khao, World Cup Jao”

HUL and P&G

Pepsi and Coca-Cola

NIKE and ADIDAS

• 2002 World Cup – Adidas (Main Sponsor) Nike sponsored top teams like Brazil & in the same year sponsored the US hockey team at the 2002 Winter Olympics.

• This resulted in brilliant exposure for Nike despite not paying the Olympic Organizing Committee a penny!!!

You won’t need a “VISA”

•1994 Winter Olympics, American Express cards launched a campaign stating, ‘If you are traveling to Norway this winter you will need a passport but-you do not need a Visa.

•Around 66% of the respondents of a consumer poll identified American Express as the ‘official sponsor’ instead of Visa.

Benefits of Ambush Marketing Cost Effective With the increasing cost of Sponsorship , It

provides a Cheap & Effective way of reaching to the Consumer.

Competitive Edge Gives a competitive advantage my using

innovative & interesting ways of reaching to the Consumer.

Consumer Attention Grabs instant consumer attention. Be it ethical

or unethical , it hardly makes any difference to them.

THANK YOU