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It’s risky. It’s not for every brand. And it’s inevitable.
This past Monday, more than 30 women showed up at the Netherlands-Denmark match wearing orange mini-dresses emblazoned with the name of a Dutch brewery – earning them a red card from World Cup officials who acted to quash what they called ambush marketing.
The women went to the Netherlands-Denmark game dressed as Danish supporters. But, in the 25th minute of the match, they stripped off their red-and-white gear to reveal the bright orange dresses.
Much PR for the Dutch brewer ensued. Much derision and outrage from FIFA as well. The latter, of course, is because this kind of ambush levers the spectacle of World Cup to garner huge awareness without paying hefty sponsorship fees.
Ambush marketing isn’t merely a tactic for niche and challenger brands either. One classic example occurred at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, when the iconic Nike brand covered the city in ads, benefiting from the focus on the city for the Olympics. The official sponsor that year? Adidas.
Ambush marketing is a source of frustration for the governing bodies like FIFA, and of course for the companies who pay the millions in sponsorship fees associated with legitimate marketing rights.
Me? I enjoy a bit of mischief.
Tweets that mention Ambush! « Big Orange Slide -- Topsy.com
June 28, 2010 @ 10:58 am
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jason Chesebrough and Grip Limited, miranda. miranda said: Today on the Slide: Ambush marketing! It’s risky. It’s not for every brand. And it’s inevitable. http://bit.ly/cUsc1Z [...]
Afshin
June 28, 2010 @ 5:28 pm
hah, this reminds me of what Pepsi is doing in Argentina. Basically promising to ship their products without the label for 1 week if Argentia wins. This was inspired by Maradona’s promise to run naked in Buenos Aires if Argentina wins the World Cup.
Now we know that Coke is sponsoring the World Cup, but Pepsi is using this strategy to get their foot in the door.
More on this at http://adage.com/globalnews/article?article_id=144488 via @adage