What is Ambush Marketing?

What is Ambush Marketing? “Without wanting to”

Ambush Marketing

Ambush marketing is a parasitic situation, where a brand benefits without being an official sponsor.

How many types of ambush marketing are there?

We can distinguish several types of Ambush marketing, they can be direct, indirect, distracting, insurgent and incidental. Below we will tell you a little about each one, so that you understand clearly and simply what each of them is based on.

Ambush Direct Marketing

·        Predatory Ambushing:

It is aggressive marketing, where the true sponsor of an event is attacked, confusing consumers with a false claim, making them believe that they are the sponsors of the event; In this way, a market share is gained from the competition who are the true official sponsors.

·        Ambushing Coattail:

This type of marketing plays to create some kind of connection between the brand and the event, not being the main sponsors of the event. but in reality, they have not paid anything to be sponsors. This activity is not considered a legitimate action.

At the World Cup held in 2010, 36 girls in miniskirts dressed in orange (the color of the Dutch national team) during a match between Denmark and the Netherlands, were evicted from the stadium accused of being models for Dutch beer Bavaria; Budweiser being an aggrieved company official sponsor of the World Cup. The media echoed the news

·        Ambushing of trademark or image infringement:

Unauthorized and intentional use of the event’s logo, referencing symbols, words, or anything related to the event. This is one of the most commonly used strategies to sell non-sponsored products without too much effort confusing users.

During the World Cup in South Africa, the low-cost company Kukula used the slogan “unofficial airline of what you already know” along with images related to the World Cup such as balls or photographs of the Cape Town stadium, which decorated the company’s planes. The company was sued in court.

·        Ambushing by degree or self-ambush:

This type of marketing occurs when the official sponsor breaks a clause of the sponsorship contract. The sponsor carries out any non-agreed activity without the necessary permits granted by the person conducting the event. An example would be that the sponsor gave away their products to reach more people inside and outside the event, without any notice to the organizer.

Ambush Indirect Marketing

·        Ambushing by association:

It is similar to the Ambushing coattail, but in this case, there are no intellectual property rights over the image or terminologies that are used, since they use a similar one to create an illusion and maintain a link with the event.

·        Values – based on Ambushing:

The non-sponsor copies the same marketing strategy of the real sponsor, thus attracting more users and greater visibility. This is one of the most unfair practices.

Ambushing due to distraction:

It is a type of advertising where no reference is made to the event itself, using its image, name or themes, but the attention of the public is captured with something alluding to the important event.

Insurgent Ambushing:

Advertising or promotions are carried out near the place where the event is held. They do not invade the area, but they do benefit from the visibility they will have at the time of the event, with the arrival of potential customers to the place.

Incidental Ambushing Marketing:

·        Intentional Ambush:

These are not official sponsors, but in a way, they are brands that help the event to be carried out effectively, an example of this would be the manufacturer of the clothing or equipment used by the athletes in the competitions, or the technical staff that works in the event. Although the media does not mention it, the people who attend the event relate to it in a positive way if everything goes correctly and generate a certain type of trust. In this way they create positive free publicity for themselves.

·        Saturation Ambush:

This is done by the media since they generate great publicity and marketing of their products while the event is taking place; they allude to an associative image or general reference, but they do not mention the event itself. It ends as soon as the organization closes the activity.

Impacts of conducting this type of marketing

When we talk about the realization of Ambush marketing we must specify its consequences at the business level, since as the years go by, the practices are a little more aggressive and the sponsors are more harmed.

Nowadays you must pay more to be an official sponsor: events need to ensure that it will be worth the effort to carry out the event, although interested companies lose a little interest when they see that others gain by applying ambush marketing, if they want to be official and have exclusivity, they must pay much more, at least that ensures that they safely reach thousands of users and be named in advertising campaigns. On the other hand, those who apply parasitic marketing techniques have a high percentage that their unethical game will have positive consequences for their business.