Ambush marketing Boon or Bane?

Ambush marketing is a marketing campaign that takes place around an event but does not involve payment of a sponsorship fee to the event. For most events of any significance, one brand will pay to become the exclusive and official sponsor of the event in a particular category or categories and this exclusivity creates a problem for the other brands. The other brands then find ways to promote themselves in connection with the same event, without paying the sponsorship fee and without breaking any laws. Ambush, or guerilla, marketing is as undeniably effective as it is, attracting consumers at the expense of competitors. There is a lot of ambush marketing happening, the HUL and P&G the shampoo ambush marketing campaign, then the RIN and TIDE campaign, and many, but lately the instances are becoming more with lot of Ambush marketing happening This is not a new concept for India. It all started with The Pepsi-Coke war which began with the 1996 cricket World Cup is still considered by many as the most famous example of ambush marketing. Though Coca-Cola was the official sponsor of the event, Pepsi stole the limelight with its Nothing official about it tagline. A decade later, the war continues. After changing its identity, Jet Airways put up a hoarding that read: Weve changed. Kingfisher Airlines, which was fighting for the numero uno position, placed a cheeky billboard just above Jets hoarding, screaming: We made them change!. Taking the fight a step further, GoAir placed a hoarding higher than Kingfishers, with a line pompously saying, Weve not changed. We are still the smartest way to fly. Theres no debating that these campaigns were highly noticed. A bill board battle between Idea & BSNL. Idea was still patting its back for coming up with Walk and Talk message that pushed India to stay fit when BSNL tripped it by displaying this ideas fatal facet on this hoarding. After PepsiCo and Coca-Cola India, chocolate majors Cadbury India and Nestle India are now at loggerheads in the ad mad world. Nestle Munch has challenged Cadbury Dairy Milks campaign Aaj pehli tarikh hai with its tagline Sirf pehli tarikh ko nahin, kabhi bhi kha sakte hai. The witty ad achieved both: tickling its viewers and stealing the sweetness from Dairy Milk.

Last October, viewers witnessed a 10-second TV commercial of this luxurious red sofa, with a collage and voice-over saying See you at home. The campaign was rumoured to be a teaser released by Bharti Airtel for its DTH (direct-tohome) service. Big TV hijacked the idea by showing the same red sofa with the same voice-over and with a Big TV logo. Airtel could not make any copyright claims as the teaser ads ran with no brand logo or name. Aamir Khan got almost 1,500 ushers at Mumbai multiplexes which was screening Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, to sport the Ghajini look. Anyone who came to watch SRK would end up seeing numerous lookalikes of Aamir Khan for even the men behind the ticket counters and in food courts had turned shaved off their hair. The companies are getting aggressive on the advertising front because consumer spends on relatively discretionary purchases have been subdued due to food inflation. The marketing and advertising wars are expected to intensify as neither company wants to lose market share in emerging markets, which are still recording growth and have untapped potential. Ambush marketing is good for Brands, its better for consumers as they consider it exciting and radical. The benefits of ambush marketing to the company are obvious, more business. The benefits of ambush marketing to consumer are that it increases competition. When competition increases, prices go down. Marketing is bold; with immediate profits to be won there is no waiting and watching. If an organization is not considering ambush some other organization will ambush their brand. However organization should always have a sound marketing plan. Building a brand is a long time vision with relevant short time milestones. Ambush marketing is one of the tactical initiative and not a full blown strategy.