AmbushMarketing is a practice of hijacking another advertiser’s campaign. This ppt describes the benefits of doing it in an appropriate manner and why big brands doing this to outrun their competitors through their own current campaigns.
2. What Is Ambush
Marketing?
Ambush marketing is the practice of
hijacking another advertiser’s campaign
to raise awareness of another company or
brand, often in the context of event
sponsorships.
3. One of the earliest known examples of ambush
marketing is the between MasterCard and Visa during the 1992
Winter Olympics. Visa ran aggressive Ad campaign & TV
commercials advising American Express cardholders to leave
their AmEx at home as “the Olympics don’t take American
Express.”
In Reply AmEx soon launched its own series of TV
spots, which featured the slogan, “When you go to Spain, you’ll
need a passport – but you don’t need a Visa,” a sly reference to
the forthcoming Summer Games in Barcelona and a subtle dig at
the company’s rival.
How it’s All Started
4. Real-World Ambush Marketing
Examples
#1: BMW vs. Audi
The issue began soon after BMW hosted a rally in Wisconsin,
an event that was publicized through an accompanying
campaign. The slogan of the campaign was “A BMW rally
with two nearby service centers. What’s next, paramedics at a
chess tournament?”
Crappy, nonsensical slogans aside,
Audi saw an opportunity to capitalize upon BMW’s campaign.
In response to BMW’s ads, Audi purchased a billboard in
Santa Monica advertising its new A4 sedan and mocking
BMW’s slogan:
5.
6. Audi doubled down and erected another giant roadside provocation
to BMW, while cleverly sticking to BMW’s regrettable chess theme:
7. BMW didn’t take this attack lying down. In response, BMW
purchased an enormous billboard across the street from Audi’s
billboard:
8. After BMW erected its “Checkmate” billboard response, Audi
upped its game again by launching yet another billboard ad with yet
another witty chess-related quip. Ultimately, BMW won the day
with its final, withering response:
9. #2: Samsung vs. Apple
In October of 2011, Apple was preparing to launch the mobile
device, iPhone 4S. Which was most anticipated tech events of
the year – so Samsung decided to crash Apple’s party by
erecting a pop-up store just a few feet away from Apple’s
prestigious storefront in Sydney, Australia.
While people eagerly waited patiently
to get their hands on the new iPhone, Samsung proceeded to
sell its Galaxy SII device for just $2 AUS – mere pocket
change compared to Apple’s $850 iPhone.
Plenty of people managed to resist
Samsung’s tempting offer, but many more still chose to walk
away with a brand-new Samsung device rather than wait in
line for the iPhone 4S.
10. Although Samsung took an enormous financial hit with its iPhone
launch event stunt, the incident proved just how easy it can be to
ride the coat-tails of one of the world’s biggest brands.
11. #3: Rona and the iPods
Back in 2010, Apple’s colorful iPod Nano was among the
most popular MP3 players on the market. To advertise its iPod
Nano line, Apple erected a billboard ad in Montreal displaying
the vividly colorful MP3 players in a satisfying rainbow-
ribbon arrangement.
Sensing an opportunity, Canadian paint and
hardware firm Rona seized its chance. Rona soon erected its
own billboard ad directly beneath Apple’s iPod ad to advertise
the company’s new paint recycling program. The ad, which
bore the slogan “We collect leftover paint,” was brilliantly
simple, and the ad remains one of the best and most creative
examples of ambush marketing in recent memory.
12.
13. What Are the Advantages of Ambush
Marketing?
One of the key advantages of ambush marketing is
that it allows brands to go off-script from their regular
advertising campaigns, whether in style, tone, or
content. Brands can do employ techniques that may
be beyond the scope of a company’s established
brand or advertising guidelines, affording the
ambusher a great deal more creative freedom and
flexibility.
14. What Are the Disadvantages of
Ambush Marketing?
The main drawback of ambush marketing is that it
has the potential to be very expensive.
For the sake of argument, let’s assume
that a billboard in Santa Monica costs $10,000 per
month. The fight between Audi and BMW lasted for
several months and resulted in four separate billboard
ads running simultaneously in the same geographic
location, which almost definitely drove costs up even
further.
