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Disclaimer
Ambush Marketing
Recently, Ambush marketing has received a lot of
publicity in the Indian and international marketing arena.
Here, we make an attempt to explain what ambush
marketing is, and why it is causing such uproar.
Simply put, Ambush marketing occurs when a company
signs on to sponsor an event as official sponsor, and a
rival hijacks the mind space through backdoor means. It
is a concept that describes the actions of companies who
seek to associate themselves with a sponsored event
without paying the organizers. The ambush consists of
giving the impression to consumers that the ambusher is
somehow affiliated with the event. Ambush marketing
can provide some, if not most, of the benefits of a
legitimate, paid-for sponsorship at relatively little cost.
For example, In 1996, soft drinks giant Coke paid a
fortune for the right to call itself the official sponsor of the
World Cup. Rival Pepsi promptly launched a massive
advertising blitz, based on the catch-line: Nothing Official
About It. The Pepsi campaign captured the public
imagination - and Coke, the official sponsor, lost out.
The above incident highlights the subtlety & potential of
ambush marketing hijacking the consumers mind.
Contexts
The myriad contexts in which ambush marketing can
arise include tangential actions ranging from the
placement of competitive advertising on television
broadcasts of the event to the underwriting of promotions
to send to participants of the event. Some examples of
ambush marketing include:
l Placement of competitive advertising on Media in
an advantageous position- first break on TV or
back cover of the event magazine.
l Organize contests to send consumers to the
event.




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Page 1 of 4 Ambush Marketing
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l Sponsoring contestants (Teams or individual
participants)
l Placement of hoarding or booths at strategic
locations during the event.
l Promotional items using the mascots/ Logos of the
events.
l Commercial time on TV shows or specials during
or before the event.
Why sponsorships
It would be pertinent to review why exactly companies do
sponsorships as a part of their marketing programs
because this will help explain the implications of ambush
marketing.

l Audience awareness: When people are relaxing
they can imbibe information faster. This helps the
brand message penetrate effectively into the
consumer psyche.

l Image: Sponsorship leads to the brands image
enhancement by virtue of association with a high
profile event.

l Segment targeting: Sponsorship enables the
marketers to target their consumers in an efficient
& relevant manner. So if Mercedes Benz wants to
reach CEOs, they can do so more efficiently by
sponsoring a golf tournament than by advertising
on TV.

l Other options: Sometimes companies have no
other avenue for reaching the masses due to
governmental restrictions on advertising etc. (for
example many tobacco & alcohol companies
cannot directly advertise).

l Public Relations: Finally, sponsorships give an
opportunity to get high visibility & Free PR.
Companies & event organizers understand the
importance of sponsorships & that is why commercial
sponsorship is big business. Not surprisingly, high-
visibility events attract aggressive competitors intent on
creating their own association with the event.


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Ethical issues
Is it ethical for a company to ambush an event? Why do
brands with excellent reputations get into this & are they
justified?
The roots of Ambush Marketing can be found in several
phenomena typical of modern sponsorships:
l Escalating (almost prohibitive) prices.
l Distressing imagery of sports & scandals (can lead
to negative image rub off by being associated with
the event)
l Increasing marketing competition (Many other
avenues of competition take away resources).
l Clutter in sponsorship (Too many brand
associated with event no benefit for anyone).
Given the above situation, those companies who want to
buy, or can afford to buy, do buy; others must consider
their marketing alternatives. In explaining the practice of
Ambush Marketing, and in noting its virtual necessity in
modern competitive business practice, and indeed its
inevitability -- there may actually be no issue of ethics or
morality.
The point to understand is that, in buying a sponsorship,
a company buys only that specific event. In sponsoring,
the company does not purchase the rights to all avenues
leading to the public's awareness of a property; and
neither does it buy the rights to the entire consumer
mind space in which the sponsorship is one resident.
(e.g. in the thematic space of cricket World Cup is one
resident).
The mind space here refers to the various associations
(ideas, images, and events) that occur in the consumers
minds when they think of the sponsored space. This
thematic space is not "created" by anyone, & hence no
one "owns" it.
Non-sponsors want their product or service to be a part
of the thematic space without sponsoring the event. So
long as they do nothing to claim that they are indeed a
sponsor, they are free to pursue other event-related
activities (e.g., television advertising on the event
broadcasts, onsite events, and other such activities), to
underscore their company's support of, and dedication to,
the thematic space which the event occupies.
The contrary notion, put forward by event organizers, that
non-sponsors have a moral or ethical obligation to market
themselves totally away from the thematic space of a
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sponsored property, is absurd because sponsors have
bought a specific property; they have not bought a
thematic space.
Given the above then, the real marketing game begins
once a sponsorship has been undertaken. Ambush
marketing can be "parasitic" only to those who have not
sufficiently covered their sponsorships with adequate,
anti-competitive protection. A sponsors competitor does
not have an ethical obligation to make sure that their
sponsorship is successful.
Conclusion
Ambush Marketing should be understood as a marketing
strategy occupying the consumer mind space for an
event. What Ambush Marketing is not, is some
underhanded attempt to take advantage of sponsored
properties without paying the associated fees. The
marketing decision around sponsorships is really a
question of whether or not the sponsorship, as currently
offered, is really commercially viable.
Successful ambush strategies feed on ill-conceived
sponsorships and inept sponsors; in that regard, Ambush
Marketing is the natural result of healthy competition and
has the long-range effect of making sponsored properties
more valuable, not less, in that successful ambushes,
over time, help to weed out inferior sponsorship
propositions.
Priyadarshini Sharma
IIM Indore
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