AMBUSH MARKETING

Presented by:

Felix HoferHofer Lösch Torricelli

fhofer@hltlaw.it www.hltlaw.it

THE CONTEXT

THE CONTEXT

• Top entertainment & sporting (and other) events– receive broad (frequently global)

media coverage*– target unimaginable audiences**– result in unique showcases for global

brand exposure– attract marketers and move

enormous business interests– exercise irresistible appeal towards

smart guys (eager to take advantage of the events' resonance without big sponsorship spending)

*Soccer WC 1974 TV audience for the final game: 600 mln. - in 2006: 1,2 bln. -**Broadcasting rights in 1974: 11,8 mln. $ - in 2006: 1,3 bln. $ Soccer European Championship 2004: global TV audience 9 bln. FIFA Soccer WC 2006: global audience 30 bln. - final match, 1 bln.

THE FIGURES

PAST EVENTS

Seoul 1988 $338 million

Barcelona 1992 $700 million

Turin 2006 Main sponsor: $52 million each

NBC – Exclusive broadcast rights:$613 million

FIFA World CupGermany

2006 Official Partner:$59 million each

National Sponsor: $16.9 million each

FUTURE EVENTS

• Beijing (2008) – Summer Olympic Games– OC has already taken in $1 billion in

sponsorship fees, $1 billion to follow• 10 Beijing partners• 5 Beijing sponsors• 30 Beijing Suppliers & Licensing program

• Vancouver (2010) – Winter Olympic Games– expects $1.345 billion in revenue

• TV: $600 million• Local sponsors: $396 million• Tickets: $218 million• Slice of TOP: $131 million

THE DILEMMA

• Those figures irresistibly attract companies not involved as Official Sponsors

• Everybody wants to benefit from broad interest and extensive media coverage around the major sports events.

• Organizers and Official Sponsors of those events try to defend their economic interests and prevent ambushers from getting a free footboard ride.

The Smart Guysand some of their tricks….

Soccer European Championship 2000

Athletics World Championship 2001

WHY?

MORE FIGURES

Brand Perception

Official Sponsors

Smart Guys

US Survey among TV viewers of 1992 Olympic Games

McDonald’s37%

Wendy’s57%

FIFA Soccer WC 1998

Adidas35%

Nike32%

UK Survey among adults on Euro 2004 Tournament

Official Sponsors’ brands: (£10 million

each) – Canon, Carlsberg, Coca-

Cola, Hyundai, JVC, Mastercard, McD’s,

T-MobileSlightly over 1%

THE REACTION

The Atlanta Games: A watershed

• Official Sponsors furious about ROI

• Organizers’ and International Associations’ credibility questioned

• The system’s future in danger• Strict Rules, Specific Laws,

Sanctions for closing loopholes• Official Sponsors benefit from

special rights

THE 2006 EXPERIENCE

“The periodical Winter Sports main event, organized every four years and recently held in a City

in Northern Italy”

i.e.The 2..6 W..t..r O..py.s in T.r.n

The Specific law No. 167 of August 17th, 2005

• The Law:– Prohibits:

• publication, commercial distribution & sales of products or services with distinctive signs likely to suggest the existence of a licence, authorization or other form of association,

• explicitly bans “ambush marketing” (i.e. “activities for profit performed in parallel to those properly licensed or authorized).

The Specific law No. 167 of August 17th, 2005

• The Law:– Provides (aside from ordinary

remedies available for TM infringement, unfair competition and misleading advertising):

• administrative sanctions (fines) from Euro 1.000 up to Euro 100.000,

• enforcement through Financial & State Police and competent Legal Authorities,

• possibility of obtaining seizure of all infringing products,

• protection coverage until December 31st, 2006.

How did it work?

• At sports venues:– Special sponsor brand protection

teams asked reporters:• to cover the logos on their laptops with

black electrical tape,• to strip of logos from their beverage

bottles, or• to put them under the desk.

• Logos on porcelain in venues’ restrooms were also tape covered

How did it work?

Despite huge efforts some teams run afoul

• Logo on the helmet, duly covered•Logo on the jacket of the new women downhill

Champ is infringing.

What about the Smart Guys?

Somebody got away with ambush tactics….

The TARGET Express Train

• A moving billboard• Spectators approaching the sports

venues travelled on trains:– depicted all over with red and white bull’s-eye

logos– were welcomed on board of the “Target

Express” by young, not unattractive Italian men

– when leaving at stations connecting to Olympic locations, were provided with special gadgets (logoed wooden train whistles, small airhorns, large r&w foam gloves shaped as hands)

– were greeted with the slogan “Target helps you express your passion. Get ready to make some noise!"

FIFA SOCCER WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2006

GERMANY

Strong legal protection through:

• no specific law, but strict application of ordinary rules:– TM protection– Copyright provisions– Civil law (unfair competition Act)

• constant monitoring• special legal action team (18 FIFA

lawyers + UEFA squad + outsourcing):– 2500 infringements registered worldwide

(since program's start)– 1000 violations in 2006 (600 of them in

Germany)

• event venues surveillance.

Protection thought to cover:

• Logos• Mascots• Ball• Cup• FIFA Soccer World Championship

Germany 2006• FIFA Soccer World Championship 2006• FIFA Soccer World Championship• FIFA WC Germany 2006• FIFA WC 2006

and their German equivalents

HOW DID IT WORK?

• Ad ban in a certain zone around stadiums for non sponsors

• Temporarily abandon of usual sponsors' names (e.g. AOL Arena, Frankfurt, Allianz Arena, Munich)

• First instance court in Stuttgart blocked use of “Soccer 2006”

• First instance court in Leipzig halted use of “WC 2006”

• Identical decisions issued by courts in Hamburg and Nuremberg

• Special Teams carefully monitored people heading to the stadiums

HOW DID IT WORK?

• Berlin Tourism Marketing was told by FIFA not to decorate its booth at an international conference with the 32 WC finalists flags.

• But FIFA received a major legal set back by a decision of the German Federal Supreme Court (BGH) stating that “WC 2006” and “Soccer WC 2006” were not covered by TM protection.

BEER COMPANY

• 1000 Dutch team fans blocked outside the stadium and forced to remove orange clothes featuring the logo of a beer company (not sponsor). Some of them assisted in underwear.

THE SMART GUYS MADE SOME HOME RUNS AS

WELL…

Sunset Apparel

KOREAN ELECTRONICS COMPANY

• A Korean electronics maker succeeded in sponsoring a special WC supplement in a men's weekly magazine.

• None of FIFA's official TMs was shown, nevertheless the company's logo associated to pictures of international top football players easily may have induced readers to assume a sponsorship relation between the Korean company and the World Cup.

LUFTHANSA• National carrier Lufthansa invited passengers to

share its passion for the Soccer WC and depicted a football on the nose of a significant number of its planes.

• Emirates (official sponsor) was not exactly happy, but LH got away with it.

AMBUSHING IN A HYPERMARKET IN BANGKOK?

CHIPS

Chips associated with German sausages and a football,

definitely Yes!

SMARTEST OF SMARTS

SWISS TOURISM BOARD

• Targeted a female public (the so-called “Soccer widows”) through 35 second commercials intended to attract them to Switzerland while their male partners indulge in Soccer madness.

• The “Get Natural” campaign– invited the targeted female public “Dear

girls. Why not escape during the summer’s World Cup to a country where men spend less time on football and more time on you?”

– featured:

The “Get Natural” Campaign

A bare-chested farm boy moving hay

Mr. Switzerland milking a cow

A gondola operator, two lumberjacks, a mountain climber & a ferry sailor

UPCOMING OPPORTUNITIES

FOR THE SMART GUYS..

2006: 15th Asian Games in Doha2007: Cricket World Cup West Indies2008: Beijing Olympic Games2008: UEFA Soccer European

Championship (jointly organized by Austria & Switzerland)2010: Winter Olympic Games, Vancouver2010: Soccer WC in South Africa2010: Commonwealth Games, New Delhi2011: Rugby World Cup, New Zealand2012: Olympic Games in London2015: Cricket World Cup, New Zealand

Felix HoferHofer Lösch Torricelli

Florencefhofer@hltlaw.it

www.hltlaw.it