Ambush marketing in sports: an attack on sponsorship or innovative marketing?

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to comprehensively characterise the interdisciplinary phenomenon of ambush marketing in sports, structure its manifestations, illustrate the consequences associated with ambush marketing and provide a critical evaluation from an objective perspective. Design/methodology/approach Various approaches to the definition of ambush marketing are presented and the objectives pursued with ambush marketing are identified. In this paper a new approach has been developed to structure the strategies and manifestations of ambush marketing. Findings It is a fine line between creative marketing and infringing on sponsorship rights. So the interdisciplinary phenomenon ambush marketing is discussed controversially. Ambush marketing is situated at the intersection of two opposing spheres of interest conducting a battle for shares of the marketing potential of a sports event. On one side there is the disparaging view of ambush marketing founded on legal and/or ethical considerations. On the other, the author has the respectful assessment of ambushers characterised by their innovative, creative marketing. Practical implications The analysis conducted in this paper leads to the conclusion that a general evaluation or condemnation of ambush marketing is not feasible. A four-field matrix emerges from the combination of a legal-statutory consideration on one hand and an ethical-moral assessment on the other. Originality/value The paper describes and structures ambush marketing in a novel form and discusses illustrating examples from major sporting events. Ambush marketing is evaluated from a neutral perspective by summarising the opportunities and threats of ambush marketing which leads to a nuanced contemplation of ambush marketing.

An Empirical Exploration of Sports Sponsorship: Activation of Experiential Marketing, Sponsorship Satisfaction, Brand Equity, and Purchase Intention

“…Sponsorship is often used as a marketing tool in international or large-scale events to create a positive brand image transferred from the sports events, because effective sponsorship can marginally increase public awareness (Meenaghan, 2013 ; Nufer, 2016 ). This is commonly true for well-known companies that have products with high levels of awareness (Crompton, 1996 ).…”

Sports sponsorship: scientific coverage in academic journals

“…It is important to mention that within the study of the marketing and sponsorship relationship, the so-called "Ambush Marketing" are also addressed, which are used to achieve marketing objectives through non-conventional methods (Nufer, 2016). This type of marketing consists in the unauthorized use of the logo of the entity organizing the event (direct ambush marketing), in addition to carrying out commercial actions whose objective is to distract from the attention of the consumer public toward a product that is related to the event giving Official Sponsorship appearance, when it is not (indirect ambush marketing) (Crompton, 2004a).…”

Commercial rights management in post-legislative Olympic sponsorship

“…The ambush literature has offered a number of recommendations for sponsors and events to better limit ambush marketing or mitigate its effects; however, those suggestions made by scholars, and counter-ambush measures practiced by commercial rights managers, have yet to be evaluated in any depth in order to better ascertain their value and effectiveness. Moreover, ambush marketing research – and those measures proposed by scholars to protect official sponsors – continues to uphold and maintain ethical biases founded upon the IOC’s earliest conceptualisations of ambush marketing and initial tactics employed to combat offending campaigns (Burton and Bradish, 2018; Nufer, 2016). The continued reliance on ethically based legislation and intellectual property rights protections risk consumer and commercial backlash (Louw, 2012; McKelvey and Longley, 2015), and have to date proven unsuccessful in restricting ambush marketers’ efforts.…”