Is targeting public attraction to an event without sponsoring an event illegal? What are the negative effects of doing such a marketing? Go through to know more about ambush marketing..

1. AMBUSH
MARKETING
Why do brands
ambush their rivals?
Seema Gupta
IIM Bangalore
DigitalMarketingTadka.com
dmtadka@gmail.com © Seema Gupta

2. CONTENTS
 What is Ambush Marketing ?
 Classification of Ambush Marketing
 Attitude towards Ambush Marketing
 Legal implications
 Instances of Ambushing
 Framework for evaluation of ambush success
© Seema Gupta

3. What is
Ambush
Marketing
© Seema Gupta

4. Ambush Marketing
 A marketing strategy targeted at events (especially sports)
 Brand attracts public attention without sponsoring the event
 Often prosecuted against a rival brand
Popular example:
Pepsi’s “Nothing Official
About It” campaign
© Seema Gupta

5. Classification of
Ambush
Marketing
© Seema Gupta

6. Ambush marketing
Associative ambush
marketing
Predatory
Parallel
property
Property
Infringement
Sponsor ‘self’
Values
Distractive
Insurgent
Coattail
Unintentional
Saturation
Direct ambush
marketing
Incidental ambush
marketing
© Seema Gupta

7. Attitude towards
Ambush
Marketing
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8. How consumers identify the sponsor?
In any event, a consumer generally identify the sponsor by
following criteria:
 Congruence between event and the Brand
 Familiarity with the Brand
 Brand’s visibility and image
Why ambushing – Consumers’ inability to
distinguish the sponsor
© Seema Gupta

9. What if consumer comes to know about ambush
Negative effect on:
 Perceived integrity
 Brand affect
Greater the involvement of an individual in
the event, greater the impact of negative
effects
No significant effect on purchase
intensions
© Seema Gupta

10. Legal
Implications
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11. Global Context
Aim of Anti-Ambush legislation is to :
 protect the event premises from being used by Ambush marketers
 include indirect ambushing under the ambit of the law
 define ownership of event logos, trademarks and words like
“World Cup” to prevent misuse by ambushers
But what happens instead: the action taken against ambushers
eventually give them more publicity.
What can be done: develop an environment where ambush
marketing is seen by public as unpatriotic and attractive.
© Seema Gupta

12. Indian Context
IPR Act - Intellectual Property Act
Explicit use of trademarks and logo is essential to prosecute
ambush marketers.
Does this help? No, not really because:
 Marketers indulge in ambush marketing in a creative way
like strategically placing hoardings, placards or distributing
free T-shirts having company logo to audience.
 The time taken by the authorities to make a decision is
around 2 months, by which the damage would already have
been done.
© Seema Gupta

13. Instances of
Ambushing
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14. Instances of Ambushing
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15. Framework for
evaluation of
Ambush success
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16. Framework for evaluation
There are two parameters to evaluate the ambush marketing
success:
1. Creativity:
Use of creative elements like humor, emotions to
connect with the audience. This builds positive brand
perception.
2. Subtlety:
The degree to which ‘ambushing’ is less pronounced.
This reduces negative publicity and adverse brand
attitudes
© Seema Gupta

17. Framework for evaluation (cont.)
Camp. 1 Camp. 2
Camp. 3 Camp. 4
Subtlety
Creativity
Preferred ‘ambushing’ strategy – High creativity + High subtlety
So, best campaign strategy – Camp. 2
© Seema Gupta

18. Thank You
Seema Gupta
IIM Bangalore
DigitalMarketingTadka.com
dmtadka@gmail.com