What is Ambush Marketing?
In the 1980s, Jerry welsh coined the term Ambush Marketing. He was working as the manager of global marketing for American express. Ambush Marketing is one of the unique marketing tactics in which companies/brands tend to advertise their product on the place where the same product is already being advertised by another company or by their competitors. Ambush marketing tactics mostly take place in some big events like Football, cricket, Olympic, Basketball, etc where advertisers don’t pay any kind of sponsorship to the event organizers but they try to grab people’s attention on the same event by promoting their product against their competitors. But it requires creative marketing strategies to make your ambush advertising successful.
Let me explain with you an imaginary example on how big brands adopt unique marketing tactics to highlight their product on the TV screen as well in the stadium. Suppose there is a company called A, who is the official sponsor of a football game and trying to advertise their product men shoes but in the same football game company B has the same product, B is not the sponsor of the game but trying to advertise their product indirectly by making a banner or by shouting out the company name in a group or by getting camera attention. This type of advertising is called ambush advertising. Generally, ambush means “An attack from a hidden position”.
Types of Ambush Marketing
1. Direct Ambush Marketing
In direct Ambush Marketing, brands or company intends to make themselves associated with the event for which they have no right or sponsorship.
In 1994 FIFA football world cup Sprint communication co. used event logo without any permission from the official sponsor MasterCard and FIFA.
There are various marketing tactics in Direct ambush marketing.
Coattail Ambushing
Coattail ambushing is all about advertising a brand and products by sponsoring an individual or related event without obtaining an official sponsorship of the main even or larger event. It happened in the 1996 Olympic Atlanta, Michael Johnson posed by wearing his gold medal and his gold Nike shoe that attracted many people’s attention. Reebok was the official sponsor of the Atlanta Olympic.
Property or trademark Infringement
Property or trademark infringement is all about a brand or local business using the same logos, symbols, tagline words, or phrases referring to a competitor to confuse the consumer or to dilute the marketing space. In the London Olympics organizer and sponsor hired hundreds of officers to watch and observe other brands and local businesses. Local Business or brands could be fined for using words like gold, bronze or summer in their advertisement and campaign.
Self-Ambushing
In Self – ambushing sponsors try to breach or violate their agreement terms and condition of advertisement with the event by performing activities that are beyond the terms that were decided before signing the agreement. In 2008 UEFA champions league official sponsor Carlsberg distributed headbands and t-shirt with their logo which was not part of their sponsorship advertisement agreement.
Predatory Ambush Marketing
In predatory ambushing, Brands and organizations try to confuse consumers over which company or organization is the official sponsor of the main event. Predatory ambushing happened in 1994 winter games where the VISA was the official sponsor of the game but Amex dominated visa by advertising a tagline “ If you are traveling to Norway, you’ll need a passport, but you don’t need a VISA.
Read More: Guerrilla Marketing Series: Ambush Marketing Tactics And Examples
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