Ambush Marketing is a marketing strategy by Non-Sponsors who tries to take advantage from any Mega Event by giving a false impression that it is a sponsor. It is marketing campaign that happens around an event without paying the sponsorship fee. The term "ambush marketing" was coined by the famous marketing strategist Jerry Welsh.
It is also known as Parasite marketing, as a parasite attaches itself to an unwilling host and takes sustenance from it. Effective Ambush Marketing confuses the customers and urges them to associate the ambusher with the event, thereby reducing the effectiveness and attaining the benefits of the actual sponsors.
The basic technique of Ambush marketing is buying up billboard space around an event and ensuring the people who attend the event will see the promotion. Ambush marketers enhance their presence by involving themselves in doing things like passing out T-shirts and other promotional things to people who are attending the event. Ambushers focus mainly upon buying time to broadcast their ads through media as they can reach more people than venue audience.
Some of the ambushers utilize brand ambassadors of different product category for their product. In 2008 Olympics, Nike sponsored Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang( Adidas being the official sponsor), is also being sponsored by Coca-Cola, which is also an official Olympic sponsor.
Many brands involves in ambush marketing because of higher cost of right fees. Earning more profits with low investments is the ultimate objective. This type of marketing also confuses the consumers as to who is and who is not the official sponsor of an event.
In 1984 Olympics, Converse was a official sponsor. Nike executed an ambush strategy purchasing outdoor advertising space along the roads leading to the Olympic venues and displaying the Nike “swoosh”. It also used former Olympic athletes Mary Decker and Carl Lewis in many of its promotions. As a result of the ambushing campaign, a consumer poll revealed that most of the people identified Nike as an official sponsor than Converse.
To protect the official sponsors of the ongoing Cricket world cup 2011, International Cricket Council has asked the players to stop promoting companies and products not related to the World Cup. Recently Indian Cricket team Captain MS Dhoni was warned by ICC doing advertisements for Sony and Aircel.
Did you found any Ambush Marketing in Cricket World Cup 2011?
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