Dirty Trix at Euro 2008: Brand Protection, Ambush Marketing and Intellectual Property Theft at the European Football Championships

Dr Geoff Pearson

doi:10.16997/eslj.21

Abstract

This article examines the strategies utilised by UEFA to protect its ‘European Football Championships 2008’ brand from intellectual property theft. In order to protect and maximise the value of the brand, UEFA restricted access to its intellectual property to a number of ‘Official Partners’, and introduced legal and practical strategies to prevent the sale of unofficial merchandise and ‘ambush marketing’ by other companies. However, despite these strategies, unofficial products were produced in vast numbers and ambush marketing campaigns meant that considerable confusion remained as to which companies were ‘official’ partners to the tournament. Additionally, conflicts between official UEFA partners and those connected with the competing teams resulted in all parties engaging in ambush marketing activity. This article details the conflicts and also revisits previous theory on ambush marketing. It concludes that rather than pursuing event-specific anti-ambush legislation, event organisers and competitors need to find consensual solutions to prevent disputes and consumer confusion which may reduce the value of commercial rights for sporting mega-events in the future.

Highlights

Introduction ExpectEmotions! Protecting the Euro 2008 Brand Football Emotions! Unofficial Merchandise at Euro 2008 ‘Power to the Fans!’ Ambush Marketing at Euro 2008 Greek Villages and Viennese Beaches: Unofficial ‘Fan Zones’ Expect Confusion! UEFA and its Partners Ambush Back Conclusions and Recommendations ReferencesDirty Trix at Euro 2008: Brand Protection, Ambush Marketing and Intellectual Property Theft at the European Football Championships Dr Geoff PearsonManagement School, University of Liverpool, AbstractThis article examines the strategies utilised by UEFA to protect its ‘European Football Championships 2008’ brand from intellectual property theft
It will investigate the issues of counterfeiting, unofficial merchandise, ambush marketing and the conflicts between the official UEFA-endorsed brands and those of the partners of the teams competing in the tournament
The findings suggest that occasionally the official UEFA partners were themselves involved in ambush marketing at the expense of rivals sponsoring participating teams or players

Summary

Contents Abstract

Introduction Expect Emotions! Protecting the Euro 2008 Brand Football Emotions! Unofficial Merchandise at Euro 2008 ‘Power to the Fans!’ Ambush Marketing at Euro 2008 Greek Villages and Viennese Beaches: Unofficial ‘Fan Zones’ Expect Confusion! UEFA and its Partners Ambush Back Conclusions and Recommendations References. Protecting the Euro 2008 Brand Football Emotions! Unofficial Merchandise at Euro 2008 ‘Power to the Fans!’ Ambush Marketing at Euro 2008 Greek Villages and Viennese Beaches: Unofficial ‘Fan Zones’ Expect Confusion! UEFA and its Partners Ambush Back Conclusions and Recommendations References. Dirty Trix at Euro 2008: Brand Protection, Ambush Marketing and Intellectual Property Theft at the European Football Championships

Introduction

Findings

Conclusions and Recommendations