The Art of Ambush Marketing:Indian Perspective

Abstract

Ambush marketing, a term first coined by marketing guru Jerry Welsh, has not really been rigorously defined. However, it broadly refers a situation in which a company or product seeks ride on the publicity value of a major event without having contributed the financing of the event through sponsorship. It is typically targeted at major sporting events - like the Olympic Games or the world cups in various games - and is a strategy adopted by rivals of the official sponsors. Ambush Marketing is a marketing technique which involves riding on the coattails of a major event or campaign without actually paying for or participating in the sponsorship or event .It is a tactic that many vendors use get free promotion and compete with those vendors actually paying for the sponsorships and/or event without having dish out the big bucks themselves. Ambush marketing, a term first coined by marketing guru Jerry Welsh. The word ambush comes from French verb embuschier which means to place in a wood. However, it broadly refers a situation in which a company or product seeks ride on the publicity value of a major event without having contributed the financing of the event through sponsorship. It is typically targeted at major sporting events - like the Olympic Games or the world cups in various games - and is a strategy adopted by rivals of the official sponsors. The objectives of ambush marketing are two. First, get maximum returns on the marketing buck. Official sponsorship costs are forbiddingly high, even for deep-pocketed marketers, and simply unaffordable for others. The first instance where ambush marketing is believed have first occurred is at Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 where Fuji was the official sponsor of the games but Kodak sponsored the ABC broadcasting of the event and the official film of the US track team, thus ambushing Fuji .The second and more common reason: undermine the branding efforts of rivals by stealing the attention, increasing the clutter and confusing the viewers. The Pepsi hot air balloon flying above Sharjah, on the day of the Coca-Cola Cup final, is one such example. More recently, there is, for instance, the straight fight between Hero Honda, a global sponsor of the Champions Trophy which took place in Sri Lanka, and its rival TVS. TVS has, according industry experts, paid Rs 12 crore rope in cricketer Sachin Tendulkar as its brand ambassador for three years.