Ambush marketing.

Ambush marketing.

Ambush marketing refers to the association of products by a competitor company event without necessarily paying any expense in terms of sponsorship. This marketing practice by companies is common in sporting events example, football, Olympics, and cricket. In such sporting activities, a brand officially pays to become a sponsor in an event, and another brand connects itself without payment of sponsorship fees in the same game. The sponsorship rights are purchased legitimately without breaking any law (Meneghan, 1998). It’s also a way of advertising one’s brand giving small businesses a chance of having more followers, which could later yield more profit.

Ambush marketing examples include the use of a logo without consent of the sponsors in an event to market its products i. e company manufacturing shoes can decide to use Word marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge to wear a specific brand shoe such as Adidas with its Logo without having to sponsor an event in question. Secondly, a firm can set up a camp outside the surrounding where the actual and official sponsors have set their music concert to market their brand by associating themselves with an event conducted by the main sponsors.

Ambush marketing has the advantage of creating more awareness of the brand in question at a lower cost as there is a free market for the brand and also the creation of a big audience. The money meant for sponsorship will later is used in other sectors relevant to an organization (Havadia, 2010).

This strategy is unethical as organizations pay a lot of money to be official sponsors for their brand and an ambush in marketing cuts into the event and the competitor making sponsors get low brand income from event publicity and brand awareness. If allowed, ambush marketing will result in fewer sponsors officially supporting an event.

Bavaria beer initiated an ambush during the 2010 FIFA World Cup in a match between Netherlands and Denmark, where crowd members dressed in orange offered by Bavaria company as a gift pack. In 2006, Bavaria beer had also given orange lederhosen to fans in a match between the Ivory Coast and the Netherlands, which heightened anticipation for occurring in consecutive events. The ambush generated more exposure of its brand, making the platform more robust and also increased the sales. Through this, the young ladies hoped to achieve a live diversion as they drew considerations to themselves, unlike others amid cheers. The 36 blonde women dressing code image remained in the minds of viewers.

The advertising system by Bavaria Beers ambush marketing was a competitive and aggressive strategy for there was no cost incurred in sponsorship and could comfortably deny this by referring to it as mere showcasing. Such an approach allows organizations that cannot cater to the sponsorship cost to enjoy an advantage in the exposure of its brand, which could results in more sales through awareness. There was more blog buzz (14% rises) by Bavaria than Budweiser outperforming partners (official) in the world blog. The brand also cultivated new values and attributes associated with the advertisers by allowing it to go off script in content, style, and tone through creative flexibility and freedom.

Ambush marketing can be both intentional and unintentional. A company uses this strategy intentionally when the approach recurs again as it happened with Bavaria beer in the year 2006 (Germany) and 2010 (South Africa) during the FIFA World cup, where the company purposely soughed to be against competition specifically in that. The market ambush carefully thought to gain more recognition, and people believe they were real sponsors. Ambush marketing is an unintentional as the trap is cleverly formulated only to promote their product and not outright destroy a competitor who is the original sponsor of that event. Example Bavaria beer ambush during World cup where FIFA mishandled the models cheering a team, making it a huge deal. Such harassment led to more publicity than it would have been if the models were left alone to enjoy the moments.

I would fully support Ambush marketing as a leader of an organization by ensuring the whole process is legal. Such a strategy will create awareness about our brand resulting in our name becoming widespread. It will be cost-effective where our organization is small and cannot afford a sponsorship fee in an event. Ambush marketing is worth a risk as a leader for the brand name will reach consumers out there that could have never heard the brand.

Conclusion

Ambush marketing is an undesirable strategy that ought to be discouraged in the modern world of marketing. There should be an embedded legal system to counter and eradicate the practice together with the association of marketers in coming up with a long-lasting solution through continuous nurturing until the trend blossoms. Such an attempt will attract more official sponsors in support of events example, in athletics and football.

Reference

Data monitor. (2010, July)Ambush marketing case study: successfully leveraging high-profile events to raise the brand profile.

O’sullivan, P., & Murphy, P. (1998). Ambush marketing: Ethical issues. Psychology & Marketing, 15(4), 349-366.

Payne, M. (1998). Ambush marketing: The undeserved advantage. Psychology & Marketing, 15(4), 323-331.