Product details

Over the years, as the effect of traditional methods of marketing communications has become questionable, marketers have adopted a range of alternative marketing strategies to effectively reach their target segment. One such popular tactic is sponsorship, which has significantly grown through the 1990s. Companies tout sponsorship as a means to transfer an event''s positive value to their brand. Some marketers, however, have found an alternative marketing technique that is seen as the biggest risk to sponsorship. Known as ''Ambush marketing'' the tactic is most commonly used in association with major sporting events that attract large sponsorship fees. However, even as the corporate sponsorship has grown, so too has the practice of ambush marketing. The term ''Ambush'' signifies an ''attack from a hidden position''. It works in a way that for major sporting events, one brand will pay to become the exclusive and official sponsor of the event in a particular category, while a competing brand attracts the attention without paying any fees through ambush marketing tactics. While supporters of ambush marketing defend the tactic as clever marketing, critics brush it away as an unfair tactic. The case study investigates the concept of ambush marketing by focusing on the real world examples and aids a discussion as to whether ambush marketing is a creative activity or an unfair practice? How can official sponsors counteract the effects of an ambusher also forms part of the debate.