AMBUSH MARKETING

What is Ambush Marketing?

 Ambush marketing is a newly popular marketing technique that raises awareness of a brand in
covert ways. In fact, the term “ambush marketing” landed sixth in the Global Language
Monitor’s “Top Words of 2010,” solidifying its reputation as an emerging marketing method.
Ambush marketing methods come in myriad forms, but have one common element: It aligns a
brand with an event or property without having paid for the right to be a sponsor.
 Ambush marketing – also known as coat-tail marketing or predatory ambushing – is the practice
of hijacking or coopting another advertiser’s campaign to raise awareness of another company or
brand, often in the context of event sponsorships.
 Eg . Mastercard and Visa during 1992 Winter Olympics
Direct Vs Indirect Ambush Marketing

Direct ambush marketing is an approach where a brand works aggressively to associate itself with an
event or property, when that brand has not purchased rights as the official sponsor. Indirect ambush
marketing, on the other hand, doesn’t force the association, but seeks to align a brand through
suggestion or reference to an event or property.

Types of Direct Ambush Types of Indirect

Marketing: Ambush Marketing:
• Predatory Ambushing •Associative Ambushing
• Coattail Ambushing •Distractive Ambushing
• Property Infringement •Values Ambushing
• Self-Ambushing •Insurgent Ambushing
•Parallel Property
Ambushing
Predatory Ambushing

 It refers to a marketing that that attacks a competitor's sponsorship of an event,

athlete, or organization, while simultaneously confusing consumers over which
company is the official sponsor.
 American Express during 1994 winter Olympics aired a commercial with the
tagline - “If travelling to Norway, you'll need a passport, not a Visa”.
Coattail Ambushing

 It involves gaining exposure through sponsoring an individual or related event

without being an official sponsor of the larger event.
 Although Reebok was the official sponsor of Atlanta Olympic Games, Puma got
a major audience when athlete Lindford Christie wore a pair of contact lenses to
a press conference that contained the iconic Puma logo in the pupil.
Property or Trademark Infringement

 Property or trademark infringement intentionally misuses or violates the

trademark of an advertiser for the purpose of diluting the marketing space or
confusing consumers.
 During London Olympics, Local businesses could be fined for including words
like "gold," "bronze," or "summer" in their advertising, as the London Olympics
believed this was an infringement on the trademark of its brand.
Self-Ambushing

 It is the practice of breaching the limits of a company's sponsorship parameters

in a way that infringes on another sponsor's marketing or advertising.
 In 2008 the official sponsor of the UEFA European Championships, Carlsberg,
gave out headbands and t-shirts with the Carlsberg logo at the tournament. These
forms of advertising were not included in its sponsorship agreement, and
violated the sponsorship of another company that was permitted to hand out
these items.
 Indirect Ambush Marketing
 Indirect ambush marketing refers to situations where a brand tries to indirectly take advantage of the
marketing efforts of another brand or the buzz generated by an event.
 With indirect ambush marketing, the brand’s intention is not to attack the other brand or steal its shine,
but simply to gain some exposure from the event or marketing efforts of the other brand.
 Following are the types of Indirect Ambush Marketing-
1. Associative
2. Distractive
3. Values
4. Insurgent
5. Parallel Property
 Associative Distractive

 The use of imagery or terminology to  This refers to situations where a

create an allusion that an organization brand puts up a promotional presence
has links to a sporting event or within the vicinity of an event without
property. making any attempt at creating an
association between the brand and
 Example- In the summer of 2008, for
the event.
example, marketing campaigns by
Nike Inc. made frequent use of the  Example- The Open Championship
number 8—a symbol of luck and 2008- Lexus & Bentley
fortune in China, as well as a symbol
for the Games. Nike was not a
sponsor of the Beijing Games.
 Values
  The use of an event or property's
central value or theme to imply an
association with the property in the
mind of the consumer. 
 Example- Germany's Puma AG
included the slogan "June 2008:
Together Everywhere." The European
soccer championships were played
that month, and the tournament's own
marketing was emphasizing themes
of unity and anti-racism.
Insurgent
 The use of surprise street-style
promotions at or near an event. 
 Example- On a major road leading to
the 2008 French Open tennis
tournament in Paris, sports-shoe and
apparel-maker K-Swiss Inc. parked a
car that appeared to have been
squashed by a giant K-Swiss-branded
tennis ball. Across the street, a K-
Swiss van distributed gifts and
marketing materials highlighting the
brand and its involvement with tennis.
 Parallel
Property
 The creation or sponsorship of an event
or property that is somehow related to the
ambush target and competes with it for
the public's attention.
 For instance, seven days after the Beijing
Olympics ended, Nike launched an
annual, one-day global running event
held in cities across the world.
 Incidental Ambush Marketing

 This is when consumers think that a brand is a sponsor or is associated with an

event or property without any attempt on the brand's part to establish such a
connection.
 Even if it's not intentional, this kind of ambushing can be an issue for the host
organization and for other sponsors because it clutters the marketing environment.
 Following are the types of Incidental Ambush Marketing-
1. Unintentional
2. Saturation
 Incidental
 Sometimes media coverage will
mention equipment or clothing used
by an athlete, or a company that is
providing a service in support of an
event. Consumers can come away
thinking the company is an official
sponsor of the event.
 Example- Speedo was mentioned
frequently during the Beijing Games
due to the success of swimmers
wearing its LZR Racer swimsuits.  World Cup
Saturation
 Saturation ambushers increase their
advertising and marketing at the time
of an event, but make no reference to
the event itself and avoid any
associative imagery or suggestion.
Their goal seems to be simply to
capitalize on the increased broadcast
media attention and television
audiences surrounding the event.
 Example- Uber during the 2019 ICC
Some Common Ambush Tactics
Putting in place advertisements and flying branded blimps around venues –
these are then seen by spectators and picked up by television coverage

Handing out free/paid branded merchandise to spectators, which is then

carried into venues: Pringles distributed around 24,000 of these cans outside Wimbledon and this ambush
marketing stunt certainly caught a lot of attention.

Running ads wishing teams “good luck” or “congratulations”

Using event tickets as prizes in consumer sweepstakes: In 2003 ICC World Cup held in
South Africa, Philips (a non-sponsor) ran a marketing campaign offering its customers the chance to win travel to
South Africa and tickets to watch matches, thereby suggesting that it was associated with the event.

Sponsoring a player participating in an event sponsored by Competitor: Puma,

which sponsors Usain Bolt, flooded the media with images of the athlete holding his golden Puma shoes after he won
gold medals in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and filled social media with the post “When you are @Usain Bolt, you
are #ForeverFaster,” which tied Usain Bolt’s gold medal performance with Puma’s Forever Faster slogan.
 In the year 2015, Flipkart launched a
marketing campaign by asking one simple
question to the Indian customers, just ahead
of the festive season- Nahi Khareeda? and
run a hash tag- #Acchakiya. They ran a long
campaign on TV, billboards and Twitter
across the India to allure more customers. 

 One of its rival- Snapdeal found it very

interesting and came up with a very
interesting idea. On about 100 billboards
across 20 cities, Snapdeal take a humorous
jibe at its rival Flipkart. What Snapdeal did
was- they hired billboards close to Flipkart’s
billboard with a popular Hindi phrase- ‘Accha
kiya Bata Diya’ and a counter hash
tag- ‘YahaSeKharido’ Therefore, what started
by Flipkart was ultimately influenced by
Snapdeal towards their side.
Examples
London 2012 (Official sponsor: Adidas)
 With London, that's Adidas, which paid about $60 million for its official status. Nike generally avoids official Olympic sponsorships, although it
always makes a big effort to get its shoes on Olympian feet.
 For its long–standing relationship with Olympics ambushes, Nike deserves a lifetime achievement award. They would be proud as it fits with the
bad boy image they want to project .

Atlanta 1996 (official sponsor: Reebok)

Nike bought extensive amount of out-of-home adverting in the city of Atlanta. The large Nike banners on city buildings could be seen on the TV
broadcast. A brand new Nike store was built near the Olympic village, becoming a major attraction. Michael Johnson's famous gold shoes were another
of Nike's many attempts to ambush Reebok's 1996 Olympic sponsorship.

Barcelona 1992 (Actual sponsor: Reebok)

Nike, the world’s largest sportswear manufacturer by market share held a sponsors’ press conference with the US basketball team at the 1992 Olympic
Games in Barcelona, despite rival Reebok being the event’s official sponsor. Nike’s audacity was compounded when team stars and brand ambassadors
Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley accepted the gold medal for basketball and covered up the Reebok logos on their kits.
Examples contd…
Bavaria – 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa (Actual sponsor: Budweiser)
 Bavaria was successful, not for the action itself but for the storm that followed. Thanks to the FIFA itself, the incident is now renowned as
one of the most effective pieces of ambush marketing in sporting history. Round one occurred during the 2006 World Cup in Germany,
when dozens of Dutch men watched the Netherlands play in a Stuttgart stadium in their underwear after stewards ordered them to remove
orange lederhosen bearing Bavaria's name. Professor Simon Chadwick, who heads up the Centre for the International Business of Sport at
Coventry University, explains: “The world’s press went barmy over this because a large number of Dutch fans watched the game in their
underwear in the stadium because they had nothing else to wear. Clearly the ambush failed because they didn’t get into the stadium. But in
another sense it worked perfectly because suddenly everyone across the world was talking about it. I’d never heard of the Bavaria Beer
company and now I have, so even though it failed the fact it was so brazen resulted in many people across the world getting to hear about
the brand.
 36 female fans were ejected from a game by Fifa's officials (along with the arrest of two, later released, accused of violating the
"Contravention of Merchandise Marks Act", a law passed in South Africa for the World Cup making ambush marketing illegal) for wearing
unbranded orange miniskirts that were provided by Bavaria
Examples contd…

 American Express and the Olympics (Actual sponsor: Visa)

The credit cards deserve a close second place next to the proverbial cola war. A few fierce battles happened on the Olympic
front between Amex and Visa. In the most memorable episode, during the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, sponsorship was used to
fuel comparative advertising campaigns. Visa’s tagline was ‘the Olympics don’t take American Express’, with images of ticket
windows being slammed shut in the faces of American Express cardholders. The US$20 million they had paid to the IOC for
their official sponsorship ensured they received no complaints about the campaign. However, American Express responded
with more style, pointing out in its own ad campaigns that ‘to visit Spain, you don’t need a visa.’
 Beats London 2012 Olympics (Official sponsor: Panasonic)
Beats, the US business, founded by rapper Dr. Dre and music executive Jimmy Iovine, tried an approach that had been used in the past for
sporting apparel. However, the company did not pay the athletes to endorse the product! Special edition headphones were distributed for free to
the athletes by a carefully trained armada whose mission was to cross paths with athletes. Some athletes used their new toy while making their
way to the competition, providing valuable airtime coverage and appreciative Tweets from several well-followed athletes, all without the hefty
price tag of a sponsorship
Examples contd…

 Burger King during 2012 Olympics(Actual sponsor: MC Donalds)

Double Fries, Offered on Day After a Brazilian Athlete Medals, Resemble Olympic Torch in Ad.
 Nike - World Cup (Actual sponsor: Adidas)
Nike ambush of the World Cup
The famous Nike “Find your greatness” advertising that aired during the World Cup used a football theme and real players
endorsed by Nike. By watching both Nike and Adidas campaigns one after the other, one could not tell who the official
sponsor actually was. This ambush campaign saw an extensive use of the web and the originality of the Nike video made them
win the battle for the number of views. Plus, the introduction of Nike soccer apps is designed to reinforce the brand’s
association with the sport, without having to pay rights fees.
Burger King -Never Trust a Clown
Burger King used the return of the clown in the horror film IT to its own advantage at the German pre-
premiere last month
Fast food giant Burger King found an classic  way to Ambush rival McDonald’s , by “hi-jacking” a
horror film.
The Moment was the return of the clown in the horror film IT at the German pre-premiere last month.
After viewers had their share of horror, BK projected on the screen the simple message: “The moral is ..
never trust a clown,” followed by the Burger King logo taking a dig at their rival Ronald Mcdonald.
BK says the film, based on Stephen King’s novel, has become their longest ever ad, and has used it to
take a swipe at McDonald’s in the process.
Puma ambushes IOC with a pair of golden shoes

Shortly after winning gold medal in 100m sprint in 2016 Rio Olympics.Bolt jolted IOC with
his golden shoe
Usain Bolt is the most important sportsman in Puma’s portfolio. And at the 2016 Rio
Olympics,  the  Jamaican once again won the gold medal in the 100m sprint. As soon as he
had done this he took his golden boot & flashed at media making it one of  Ambush
Marketing examples of the highest level
Puma changes its slogan for Bolt
Shortly afterwards Puma’s social media team started came out with posts on the sports
brand’s Twitter and Instagram accounts which read: “When you are @Usain Bolt, you are
#ForeverFastest”, an alteration of the Puma slogan “Forever Faster”. There was no reference
to the Olympics, thereby avoiding problems with IOC lawyers. So no #Rio2016 and
absolutely no #Olympics.
Advantages of Ambush Marketing
 
Ambush Marketing Campaigns Can Be Very Clever 
Something to notice about ambush marketing campaigns is how cheeky they can be and the creative flexibility these
campaigns offer.
Since most ambush marketing campaigns directly respond to or otherwise leverage an existing campaign by a close
competitor, ambush campaigns can – and often, have to – be extremely creative. This includes everything from visual
trickery to witty wordplay. As a result, ambush marketing campaigns are often a lot more memorable than a typical ad
precisely because they’re unusually entertaining or clever.

BMW vs. Audi 

Santa Monica, California is the affluent coastal city which became the battlefield upon which two of the world’s
largest car manufacturers waged a war for billboard dominance.
The spat began soon after BMW hosted a rally in Wisconsin, an event that was publicized through an accompanying
campaign. The slogan of the campaign was “A BMW rally with two nearby service centers. What’s next, paramedics
at a chess tournament?”
Nonsensical slogans aside, Audi saw an opportunity to capitalize upon BMW’s campaign. In response to BMW’s ads,
Audi purchased a billboard in Santa Monica advertising its new A4 sedan and mocking BMW’s slogan:
 Not long after the
billboard above
appeared in Santa
Monica, Audi doubled
down and erected
another giant roadside
provocation to BMW,
while cleverly sticking
to BMW’s regrettable
chess theme:

BMW didn’t take this attack lying After BMW erected its “Checkmate” billboard
down. In response, BMW purchased an response, Audi upped its game again by
enormous billboard across the street launching yet another billboard ad with yet
from Audi’s billboard: another witty chess-related dialogue

Oh, and to really

twist the knife,
BMW actually
tethered the blimp
to Audi’s R8
billboard.
Advantages of Ambush Marketing
So,ambush campaigns often respond directly to one another, which can turn visual humor into a vital competitive edge.
Even if one ad is “better” than another, the funnier or cleverer ad will often be much more memorable.

Ambush Marketing Campaigns Can Go Off-Script

 
When it comes to display advertising, everything should be very organized. So, brands have to ensure that their
campaigns look, feel, and sound the same across all platforms.
Ambush campaigns, however, can get a little more creative.

One of the key advantages of ambush marketing is that it allows brands to go off-script from their regular advertising
campaigns, whether in style, tone, or content. Brands can and frequently do employ techniques that may be beyond the
scope of a company’s established brand or advertising guidelines, affording the ambusher a great deal more creative
freedom and flexibility.
Italian car manufacturer Fiat leveraged this principle to great effect in an impromptu ambush campaign back in 2013 when
Fiat somehow managed to park a red Fiat 500 hatchback car on the front steps of Volkswagen’s Swedish headquarters –
just in time for a Google Maps car to pass, which preserved Fiat’s little stunt for years in Google Maps results. (The
offending little red Fiat is no longer immortalized in Maps results, as Google refreshed the old image with a newer image
that was taken in June of 2017).
Advantages of Ambush Marketing
Ambush Marketing Can Change Consumer Perceptions
 
Another benefit of ambush marketing is that, done well, it can actually help brands
cultivate and exhibit new brand attributes and values that consumers may not
necessarily already associate with that advertiser.
Take South African airline Kulula, for example. To coincide with the 2010 World
Cup, Kulula launched an ad campaign branding itself as the “Unofficial National
Carrier of the You-Know-What,” a not-so-subtle reference to the forthcoming soccer
tournament. The World Cup’s governing body, FIFA, demanded that Kulula cease the
campaign immediately, claiming that the airline sought “to gain a promotional benefit
for the Kulula brand by creating an unauthorized association with the 2010 FIFA
World Cup.”

Though unhappy with FIFA’s decision, Kulula reluctantly complied with FIFA’s order.
However, the airline wasn’t done quite yet. Shortly after the ads were pulled, Kulula
said it would fly anyone named Sepp Blatter – the name of FIFA’s then-president – Sepp Blatter, the real MV
for free. Eventually, the airline located a Boston Terrier that shared a name with
FIFA’s former president, and made the pup an unofficial mascot.
This campaign serves as a great example of how ambush marketing can help brands
cultivate new brand values. Air travel is an insanely competitive industry, but
Kulula’s ambush campaign not only gained the airline some invaluable publicity, but
also advanced the idea that Kulula isn’t just another dry, boring airline.
Advantages of Ambush Marketing
Saving costs
 
These ambushing activities, in many cases, capitalize on the
resources and efforts of other (competitor) brands. So, it is a very
smart way to cut costs.
 
Samsung vs. Apple
 
In October of 2011, Apple was preparing to launch the then-latest
iteration of its flagship mobile device, the iPhone 4S.
The device launch was expected to be one of the most hotly
anticipated tech events of the year – so Samsung decided to crash
Apple’s party by erecting a pop-up store just a few feet away from
Apple’s prestigious storefront in Sydney, Australia.
Samsung proceeded to sell its Galaxy SII device for just $2 AUS – Plenty of people managed to resist
mere pocket change compared to Apple’s $850 iPhone. Samsung’s tempting offer, but many more still
chose to walk away with a brand-new
Samsung device rather than wait in line for
the iPhone 4S.
Disadvantages of Ambush Marketing

 It decreases the commercial value of the event.

 Its creates unhealthy competitive environment.
 It may adversely affect the funding of the event as it will be beneficial for the
company to be an ambusher.
 May has the bad association to the customers.
 It is against the ethical value and the rules of law.
 May cause an increase in ambushing events in future.
 Messages cant be controlled, Limited message and brand name
REFERECES
1. http://www.businessinsider.com/best-ambush-marketing-campaigns-2012-6#ambush-marketing-is-likely-to-b
e-a-problem-at-the-london-olympics-12

2. http://www.startupsmart.com.au/marketing/five-great-olympics-ambush-marketing-campaigns/201208027114
.html

3. http://www.cbc.ca/news/lululemon-scolded-for-linking-clothing-line-to-olympics-1.843999
4. http://www.theguardian.com/football/2010/jun/16/fifa-world-cup-ambush-marketing
THANK YOU