Finally a management topic-- Ambush Marketing

Well, its time I prove that I actually am doing an MBA rather than as a general purveyor of random information. So today, lets have a short little piece on Ambush Marketing....now that the world cup of cricket is around the corner.

Ambush marketing is a term that has been bandied around before, usually just before any big sporting event. So what exactly is Ambush marketing, and how does it work? And is it really quite as bad as everyone makes it out? I will try to answer these questions, and pose a few more as well in the coming paragraphs.

First, what is Ambush Marketing?

"A deliberate attempt by a business or brand to associate itself with an event (often a sporting event) in order to gain some of the benefits associated with being an official sponsor without incurring the costs of sponsorship. For example by advertising during television coverage of the event."

This wonderful definition was given by www.tutor2u.net/. But I can't resist adding my 2 cents worth, so here goes.

Ambush Marketing is an attempt to give the customer the impression that an event is to be associated with a competitor firm, rather than a firm that has paid for the sponsorship.

Now, there are several examples that can be quoted. But there are precious few examples that can be found in India. But the one that I do have, sure was a perfect example. Those of you who remember the 1996 world cup (the one held in India), had the mother of all cola wars. Coke was the Official Sponsor of the world cup. But Pepsi completely took over the world cup with its "Nothing Official About it it" Advertising campaign.

The advertising campaign had everyone from Sachin Tendulkar, to Dominik Cork plugging for Pepsi. Heck, even Dickie Bird (for the uninitiated, the most capped umpire at one time) was doing a Pepsi ad. And that wasn't enough. There was a huge amount of airtime on the TV. A massive hoarding campaign. Even Balloons, with Giant Pepsi signs over the grounds! Everywhere you looked, Pepsi was screaming its message at you.

Now, I can feel sorry for Coke...but back then...it was awesome. Nobody remembered the Coke Campaign at all. And the Pepsi adverts were funny, and were great fun! (Now I would gag if I was forced to watch them all!)

So that is how ambush marketing is done. Now, I love to relate marketing to military strategy, so here is another attempt. An ambush marketing strategy is to be attempted when you have lost the advantage of control of territory. Your only advantage is the knowledge of the local terrain, and mobility. Only if you have these two strengths can you attempt an Ambush. I am stealing this from somewhere (I think Wheel of Time, but am not sure), but here goes.

"In war, you must be where your enemy thinks you are not. Fight where he thinks you will flee. Retreat where he expects you to fight, and be where he cannot imagine you to be. Speed is life. An army that moves quickly can surprise the enemy. A surprised enemy makes mistakes that you use to gain victory. Speed is the key to a successful strategy"

Pepsi did a great job of it because, all said and done, it seemed to be more aware of the Indian mind at that time. In time, it lost this advantage, as Coke became more aware of the Indian Customer. I think things came full circle, when in the last world cup, Pepsi was the official sponsor, and Coke was using Aamir Khan to counter Pepsi!

Well, next question. Is Ambush Marketing Ethical?

Companies that sponsor events spend a huge amount of money in acquiring these rights. Surely they expect some return on this huge investment. And some competitor stealing their valuable brand equity is surely not going to have corporate heads amused. There have been complaints galore about how ambush marketers are ruining the image of the marketing industry as a whole, and are acting unethically.

Here, I would beg to disagree. Companies have bought the rights to the words that an event is using. They certainly have not bought the right to the mind of the customer (ie: ME!). If their ad campaign cannot use their own sponsorship, and some chap is able to associate himself with the event without even using words like ICC Cricket World cup...surely I should applaud his creativity, and reward him with my valuable attention. (After all, my attention span is severely limited). It is sheer incompetence on the part of the official sponsor to allow itself to be ambushed. After all, there are significant protections already built into the contract which restrict any ambush marketer.

So in conclusion, the ethical argument does not hold water (in my opinion). You have every advantage as an official sponsor. Its up to you to exercise that, and take advantage of it.

I promised a question or two in conclusion. And I do like economics. Its known that the sponsorship is mostly handled in an auction manner. And one of the things that we learn in economics is that in a bidding process, its almost inevitable that only the optimistic bid succeeds. So the losing company actually would be using its ad spend more efficiently by building a good alternative (or ambush marketing) campaign. And considering the exorbitant current rates of sponsorship, surely it makes business sense to run a good alternate campaign! So, why do we have official sponsors, and companies queuing up for them?

Interesting one, neh?