GUERRILLA MARKETING SERIES: AMBUSH MARKETING TACTICS AND EXAMPLES

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GUERRILLA MARKETING SERIES AMBUSH MARKETING
TACTICS AND EXAMPLES
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Welcome to the series of the article on guerrilla
marketing. In my previous blog, I have explained
what is guerrilla marketing and different types
involved in guerrilla marketing. In our upcoming
article, Ill be giving you a detailed
explanation about types of guerrilla marketing
strategies. If you are looking for in-depth
knowledge of guerrilla marketing then dont
forget to read our previous article on Guerrilla
Marketing. In this article, I have given a brief
explanation about how big brands pick ambush
marketing tactics as their creative marketing
strategies to create a buzz about their product.
Ill be explaining to you, what are ambush
marketing strategies and different types of
ambush marketing tactics with examples. What is
Ambush Marketing? In the 1980s, Jerry welsh
coined the term Ambush Marketing. He was working
as the manager of global marketing for American
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express. Ambush Marketing is one of the unique
marketing tactics in which companies/brands tend
to advertise their product on the place where
the same product is already being advertised by
another company or by their competitors. Ambush
marketing tactics mostly take place in some big
events like Football, cricket, Olympic,
Basketball, etc where advertisers dont pay any
kind of sponsorship to the event organizers but
they try to grab peoples attention on the same
event by promoting their product against their
competitors. But it requires creative marketing
strategies to make your ambush advertising
successful. Let me explain with you an imaginary
example on how big brands adopt unique marketing
tactics to highlight their product on the TV
screen as well in the stadium. Suppose there is a
company called A, who is the official sponsor of
a football game and trying to advertise their
product men shoes but in the same football game
company B has the same product, B is not the
sponsor of the game but trying to advertise
their product indirectly by making a banner or by
shouting out the company name in a group or by
getting camera attention. This type of
advertising is called ambush advertising. Generall
y, ambush means An attack from a hidden
position.
Types of Ambush Marketing 1. Direct Ambush
Marketing In direct Ambush Marketing, brands or
company intends to make themselves associated
with the event for which they have no right or
sponsorship. In 1994 FIFA football world cup
Sprint communication co. used event logo without
any permission from the official sponsor
MasterCard and FIFA.
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There are various marketing tactics in Direct
ambush marketing. Coattail Ambushing Coattail
ambushing is all about advertising a brand and
products by sponsoring an individual or related
event without obtaining an official sponsorship
of the main even or larger event. It happened in
the 1996 Olympic Atlanta, Michael Johnson posed
by wearing his gold medal and his gold Nike shoe
that attracted many peoples attention. Reebok
was the official sponsor of the Atlanta Olympic.
Property or trademark Infringement Property or
trademark infringement is all about a brand or
local business using the same logos, symbols,
tagline words, or phrases referring to a
competitor to confuse the consumer or to dilute
the marketing space. In the London Olympics
organizer and sponsor hired hundreds of officers
to watch and observe other brands and local
businesses. Local Business or brands could be
fined for using words like gold, bronze or
summer in their advertisement and
campaign. Self-Ambushing In Self ambushing
sponsors try to breach or violate their
agreement terms and condition of advertisement
with the event by performing activities that are
beyond the terms that were decided before
signing the agreement. In 2008 UEFA champions
league official sponsor Carlsberg distributed
headbands and t-shirt with their logo which was
not part of their sponsorship advertisement
agreement. Predatory Ambush Marketing In
predatory ambushing, Brands and organizations try
to confuse consumers over which company or
organization is the official sponsor of the main
event. Predatory ambushing happened in 1994
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winter games where the VISA was the official
sponsor of the game but Amex dominated visa by
advertising a tagline If you are traveling to
Norway, youll need a passport, but you dont
need a VISA. 2. Indirect Ambush Marketing In
indirect ambush marketing tactics, brands
affiliate with events indirectly to promote
their product by seeking peoples attention.
Generally, brands try to showcase their presence
in the event by creating some unconventional
activity that can become eye-catchy.
Examples of Ambush Marketing There are different
marketing strategies and tactics used by big
brands to subvert the official sponsor of the
events. Kodak vs Fuji (Ambush Marketing
strategies, Creative marketing ideas)
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In 1984 Olympic kodak used various marketing
tactics and ran a series of marketing campaigns
stating that they were the official sponsor of
the game but in reality, Fuji films were the
official sponsor of the game.
1996 Olympic Atlanta (Ambush Marketing
strategies, Creative marketing ideas) In 1996
Olympics help in Atlanta. Nike didnt pay for
Olympic sponsorship but chose to advertise its
brand and product using ambush marketing
tactics. Nike created the most memorable moment
in Olympic. By lining the street of the city of
Atlanta with Olympic themed advertisements.
Michael Johnson posed by wearing his gold medal
and his gold Nike shoe that also created a buzz
around the city. Reebok was the official sponsor
of that Olympic and no one remembers Reeboks
advertisement during the Olympics.
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Nike Vs Adidas (Ambush Marketing strategies,
Creative marketing ideas) In 2010, ambush
marketing took place in the FIFA world cup
between Adidas and Nike. Nike created different
types of business strategies to promote its
product in the FIFA world cup. Adidas was the
official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup. Nike was
running TV commercials and advertising its
product through football stars like RONALDO,
Rooney. Lastly, Nike successfully created a lot
of buzz for its products around the globe in
2010. Like this, there are a lot of examples of
ambush marketing strategies in day to day life.
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image
source-101greatgoals.com Bavaria Beer vs
Budweiser (Ambush Marketing Example, Creative
marketing ideas)
In Fifa world cup Bavaria beer tried to use
unique marketing tactics to market their
product. It was stated in a report that 36 dutch
female fans were dressed with cute little
mini-dress. Bavarias publicity stunt caught
media attention and soon they were highlighted.
Later, All 36 dutch female fans were arrested by
police. Officials of FIFA stopped the media
coverage for the protection of their official
sponsor Budweiser.
image source - news.bbc.co.uk
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Coca-Cola Vs PepsiCo (Ambush Marketing
strategies, Creative marketing ideas) By
spending 400 million on marketing and 85
million in the 2006 Beijing Olympic. Coca-Cola
was the official sponsor of the Olympics.
Interestingly, 60 of the crowd believed that
PepsiCo was the official sponsor of the game.
PepsiCo started an online competition in which
160 million voters from mainland China ranked
mugshots sent in by fans. Later, Pepsi also
replaced their blue cans with red ones to show
respect to the year of China.
In case you want a creative edge for your
business and looking for a creative agency, you
can reach out to us to make your online business
stand out from the crowd.