Lesson 8.4 –
Ambush Marketing
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
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LESSON 8.4
"Ambush marketing is a
transparent attempt to
cash in on the passion of
our fans"
- NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
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LESSON 8.4
Ambush Marketing
Ambush marketing occurs when one brand pays
to become an official sponsor of an event and other
competing brands attempt to connect itself with
the same event, without paying direct sponsorship
fees
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
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LESSON 8.4
Ambush Marketing
 It is a legal tactic
 Often referred to as “guerilla” marketing
 Has proven to be very successful
 Presents many challenges for those hosting the
event
 Results in the perception that companies are
affiliated with an event when they actually are not
 Allows for penetration into events in which a
competitor may have exclusivity rights
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
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LESSON 8.4
Ambush Marketing
When Does Ambush Marketing Occur?
 Super Bowl
 Olympic Games
 FIFA Soccer World Cup
 Boston Marathon
 Tour de France
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
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LESSON 8.4
Ambush Marketing
Notable Sports Marketing Ambushes
1992 Olympics
Michael Jordan (sponsored by
Nike), covered the Reebok
logo on his apparel with the
American flag during the gold
medal ceremonies
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
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LESSON 8.4
Ambush Marketing
Notable Sports Marketing Ambushes
2000 Olympics
Adidas 'thorpedoed' Nike at the 2000
Sydney Olympics. Nike was the official
clothing supplier while Adidas
sponsored the swimming super-hero,
Ian Thorpe. At the medal presentation,
Thorpe “accidentally” draped his
Adidas towel over the Nike logo on his
official team tracksuit. Thus Nike was
nowhere in the famous photograph
that was seen by millions of people in
Australia and all over the world.
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
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LESSON 8.4
Ambush Marketing
Notable Sports Marketing Ambushes
2002 Boston Marathon
As Adidas-sponsored runners
crossed the finish line under full
coverage of cameras, they were
treated to spray painted Nike
'swooshes' honoring the day of
the event without mentioning
the race itself
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
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LESSON 8.4
Ambush Marketing
Notable Sports Marketing Ambushes
2002 Boston Marathon
More than 300 college students sporting
Reebok-branded tattoos on their foreheads
were seeded into the crowd along the Marathon route.
Reebok-endorsed “office linebacker” Terry Tate (featured
in prominent Reebok television spots) led the charge
along the running route. The ambush was effective, with
Reebok forming a sea of red (via more than 2,500
consumers turned into walking billboards) along the
route and creating its own “unofficial” sponsorship of the
Marathon, much to the chagrin of Adidas.
Copyright
© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
Sponsorship & Endorsements
LESSON 8.4
Ambush Marketing
Notable Sports Marketing Ambushes
2006 FIFA World Cup
Hundreds of Dutch fans had to
watch their team's 2-1 win over
the Ivory Coast in their
underwear at the 2006 World
Cup in Germany after security
at entry points to the stadium
caught wind of an ambush
marketing ploy
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
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LESSON 8.4
Ambush Marketing
Notable Sports Marketing Ambushes
2006 FIFA World Cup
The fans arrived at the
game wearing orange
lederhosen displaying the
name of Dutch brewery
Bavaria and were ordered
to remove them by
stewards before being
allowed to stadium.
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
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LESSON 8.4
Ambush Marketing
Notable Sports Marketing Ambushes
2006 FIFA World Cup
Anheuser Busch's Budweiser
was the official beer for the
tournament and FIFA has a
reputation for fiercely protecting
its sponsors from brands which
are not event or organization
partners
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
Sponsorship & Endorsements
LESSON 8.4
Ambush Marketing
Notable Sports Marketing Ambushes
2008 Olympic Games
Chinese sportswear maker Li
Ning signed an agreement
with Olympic Sports Channel,
affiliated with State-owned
China Central Television
(CCTV).
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
Sponsorship & Endorsements
LESSON 8.4
Ambush Marketing
Notable Sports Marketing Ambushes
2008 Olympic Games
Under the deal, journalists,
presenters and guests
appearing in the studio would
wear Ling Ning's clothes with
visible logo throughout the
Olympic coverage, despite
adidas’ presence as official
sponsor of the Games.
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
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LESSON 8.4
Ambush Marketing
Ambush marketing tactics
 Sponsorship of sub-categories in an event
 Sponsorship of the broadcast of the event
 Purchasing advertisements at a competitor’s event
 Engaging in non-sponsorship promotions that coincide
with the event
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
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LESSON 8.4
Ambush Marketing
Sponsorship of the broadcast of the event
In the 1984 Olympic Games, Kodak sponsored
the TV broadcast of the games as the USA
track team’s sponsor despite Fuji being the
official sponsor of the games
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
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LESSON 8.4
Ambush Marketing
Sponsorship of the broadcast of the event
In 2012, a British company (Virgin Media whose interests
include airlines and broadband service) launched a
multimillion dollar ad campaign featuring Jamaican gold
medal winner Usain Bolt sporting a silver goatee identical
to that of company founder Richard Branson. The
campaign was promoting Virgin's "super fast" broadband
service, despite the fact that BT was the official broadband
partner of the 2013 Olympic Games.
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
Sponsorship & Endorsements
LESSON 8.4
Ambush Marketing
Purchasing advertisements at a
competitor’s event
For the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Nike went to
the extreme of purchasing all the outdoor
poster sites in Atlanta in an effort to ambush
Adidas, the official sponsor of the 1996 Games
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
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LESSON 8.4
Ambush Marketing
Engage in non-sponsorship promotions
that coincide with the event
During broadcasts of the 2014 FIFA World Cup
matches, Volkswagen aired commercials showing fans
dressed in their country colors singing the traditional
soccer chant “Olé, Olé, Olé” on their way to a soccer
stadium while Hyundai spent millions as the official
partner of FIFA World Cup Brazil.
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
Sponsorship & Endorsements
LESSON 8.4
Ambush Marketing
Engage in non-sponsorship promotions
that coincide with the event
According to ad-age.com, Coca-Cola stole Pepsi's thunder
during the 2014 Oscars when Coke’s logos appeared on
three pizza boxes delivered to host Ellen DeGeneres during
a skit during the broadcast, despite the fact the Pepsi had
just taken over the sponsorship rights as the exclusive softdrink sponsor of the Academy Awards on ABC.
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
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LESSON 8.4
Ambush Marketing
Create visibility without “official” affiliation
with an event in non-traditional ways
Geico once paid several lower-ranked men's and
women's tennis players up to $5,000 to wear
"ambush advertising patches during high-visibility
matches" at Wimbledon. Because lower ranked
players earn only minimal wages, many were willing
to slap the Geico logo on their uniform, in part to help
pay for travel expenses.
Copyright
© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
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LESSON 8.4
Ambush Marketing
Social media now affords guerilla marketers with
another channel for which to deploy ambush
tactics, like Hormel’s “Sir Can A Lot” video posted
on YouTube, tying the Spam brand to the
“madness of March” despite the fact that Hormel
was in no way financially supporting or sponsoring
the event
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
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LESSON 8.4
Ambush Marketing
Is Ambush Marketing an Effective Strategy?
Ambush marketing has proven to be particularly
successful in the shoe and apparel market. The
official footwear and apparel of the NBA is
Adidas. However, many of their competitors
have individual NBA stars contracted to promote
their respective brands (it should be noted that
Adidas has several individual players under
contract as well, such as Derrick Rose, John Wall,
Dwight Howard, and this year’s number one NBA
draft pick, Andrew Wiggins).
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
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LESSON 8.4
Ambush Marketing
Is Ambush Marketing an Effective Strategy?
The brand most recognized by
consumers according to a as a
partner of the 2014 Winter
Olympics in Sochi was Red Bull
according to Global Language
Monitor (a company that
tracks brand perceptions), yet
the brand was in no way
affiliated as an official
Olympics sponsor.
Copyright
© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
VIDEO: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/blake-griffinendorser-turns-irony-sincerity-video-123522018.html
In 2009, Wade decided to part ways with Converse and signed a new deal with
Jordan Brand (Nike is the parent company to both shoe brands) and in 2013,
Wade signed with Chinese footwear brand, Li Ning
Sponsorship & Endorsements
LESSON 8.4
Ambush Marketing
How does Ambush Marketing Affect
the Hosting Organization?
Ambush marketing threatens the ability to sell event
sponsorships, ultimately cutting into profitability
The Sydney Organizing Committee for the Olympic
Games (SOCOG) had a staff of 60 individuals with
legal backgrounds to protect themselves against
ambush marketing
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
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LESSON 8.4
Ambush Marketing
How do companies and/or governing bodies
combat ambush marketing?
By early 2013, FIFA had already taken action against
100 ambush marketers as a means for letting those
considering ambush tactics that the practice would
not be permitted leading up to the 2014 World Cup
in Brazil (at which time they had already inked deals
with more than 20 official partners, generating more
than $1.4 billion in sponsorship revenue)
Copyright
© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
Sponsorship & Endorsements
LESSON 8.4
Ambush Marketing
How do companies and/or governing bodies
combat ambush marketing?
Just prior to the start of the
2014 World Cup, FIFA banned
players from wearing any
headphones that did not
feature the Sony name while at
the tournament because Sony
was an official tournament
sponsor (according to Reuters,
Sony sent every player a free
pair of headphones to wear).
Copyright
© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
Sponsorship & Endorsements
LESSON 8.4
Ambush Marketing
How do companies and/or governing bodies
combat ambush marketing?
Click here to learn more about how FIFA
attempted to thwart ambush attempts in Brazil
Copyright
© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
Sponsorship & Endorsements
LESSON 8.4
Ambush Marketing
How do companies combat ambush marketing?
Following the tournament, Global Language
Monitor published an “Ambush Marketing
Rankings World Cup 2014” study, polling
consumers to determine which brands were
recognized as partners of the 2014 World Cup
According to the study, Beats was a clear cut
winner as the most successful ambusher
even though FIFA banned players from
using the brand at the tournament.
Copyright
© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
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LESSON 8.4
Ambush Marketing
How do companies combat ambush marketing?
Johnson & Johnson (owner of
brands like Tylenol, Listerine,
Band-Aid and Rogaine) was
crushed by Procter & Gamble
(Scope, Gillette, PeptoBismol and Vicks), scoring
five times higher in the
brand recognition scorecard
among health care product
brands.
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
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LESSON 8.4
Blank Slide Available
for Teacher Edits
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
LESSON 8.4 REVIEW (ANSWERS)
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1) Illustrate the concept of ambush
marketing
Ambush marketing occurs when one
brand pays to become an official sponsor
of an event and other competing brands
attempt to connect with the same event,
without paying direct sponsorship fees.
It is a legal strategy used frequently
when the event is on a grand stage,
such as the Super Bowl or Olympic
Games.
Copyright
© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC