There has been a scandal at the World Cup and no it doesn’t involve a dodgy penalty decision or some kind of WAG swapping saga. Instead it centres on a group of around 30 scantily clad Dutch ladies who were removed from a game and arrested. Yet it wasn’t their lack of attire that got them into trouble… the crime was them taking part in the dark arts of “ambush marketing”. So what exactly is ambush marketing? Basically, it’s a marketing campaign that takes place around an event but does not involve payment of a sponsorship fee to that event. That means companies taking part in such sneaky tactics benefit from free association while also reducing the effectiveness of any rival brand’s connection to the event.

In regards to the Dutch girls, Fifa discovered that they were working on behalf of Dutch beer company, Bavaria NV. The orange dresses they were wearing were part of a marketing and PR campaign for the beer company, which was already running in adverts in the Dutch media.

This wasn’t the first time Bavaria NV have employed these tactics at a World Cup. Four years ago they caused all sorts of problems for Budweiser (Fifa’s official sponsor) in Germany when a group of men wearing Lederhosen bearing the Bavaria beer name were blocked from attending a game. Eventually they got in, but they had to take off their Lederhosen, leaving them to watch the game in their underwear! Unfortunately this time around FIFA didn’t give the women the same option.

Those of you aware of this kind of advertising will know it has been around for quite some time and seems to be most prevalent at the world’s biggest events. Here’s a few examples:

Hugo Boss 2009

Hugo Boss pulled off a marketing coup at the British Open. From the first round a hi-tech sailboat emblazoned with the fashion label’s logo could be seen on the waters around the course. The cameras were forced to pick up the boat when broadcasting the tournament despite it not being a an official sponsor of the event.

Beijing Olympics 2008

China’s most famous gymnast, Li Ning opened the ceremony in 2008. Li Ning was also the creator of China’s most famous shoe company, which many fellow Olympians were wearing during the tournament – including Argentina’s basketball squad and China’s ping-pong players. I wonder how Adidas (official sponsor) felt about all that free advertising?

2000 Sydney Olympics

The slogan for the 2002 games was “Share the Spirit”. Qantas Airlines were then quick to adopt the slogan “The Spirit of Australia” despite the fact that Ansett Air was the official airline sponsor.

Can't they just get along?

1996 Cricket World Cup

Pepsi ran a campaign titled “nothing official about it” targeting the official sponsor Coca Cola. Their advertisements included branded hot air balloons floating over the cricket stadiums.

Why does it have companies such as Fifa in such a huff?

Ambush marketing can jeopardise the value of an official sponsorship deal made between event organisers and potential sponsors, so over the years event organisers have looked to try and stop it.

Under South African law the Minister of Trade can designate major sporting events as a “protected event”. This makes it illegal for any brand that isn’t an official sponsor to try and associate itself with that event while on African soil. Fifa were successful in getting their competition classified as a protected event, which is why they were able to have the Bravia girls arrested.

But Fifa’s influence doesn’t stop in South Africa, other people who suffered from their alleged involvement with the Bavaria stunt includes ex-Jamaica and Wimbledon midfielder Robbie Earle. He was dropped as an ITV pundit and as an ambassador for England’s 2018 World Cup bid after claims the Bavaria girls’ tickets were in fact originally his.

However, it’s not just Fifa who have been fighting against ambush marketing, the International Cricket Council (ICC) is renowned for it. In 2003, when Pepsi was the official soft beverage of the Cricket World Cup in South Africa, a family was escorted from a match just for drinking rival brand Coca Cola.

The organisers of the 2012 Olympics have already taken the precaution of booking almost all the city’s billboard space during the games. The London Olympic Association Right has also been created; it gives the games’ organisers the power to grant licences to authorised sponsors to use the symbols, words and logos of the event. Any advert or merchandise created with the combination of words and symbols that doesn’t have a licence is subject to a heavy fine of up to £20,000.

The future of ambush marketing

Ambush marketing has been the result of many successful campaigns. A month before the start of the 2010 World Cup reports by Nielson showed that Nike was mentioned in over 30% of the English-language messages regarding the tournament, twice as high as rival and official sponsor Adidas.

Nike’s success story is an ad called “Write the Future,” which includes famous players such as Wayne Rooney and Christiano Ronaldo. The use of the web has heightened its effects, it has had more than 14 million views on YouTube since mid-May.

“Social media has made ambush marketing easier, simply because of the virality of it,” said Alex Burmaster, vice president of communications for Nielsen. “Some people call it an echo chamber.”

So despite Fifa’s attempts to quash ambush marketing it still proves to be higly successful and the internet is only helping it to thrive.

And regardless of Olympic organisers efforts to stop ambush marketing, they already seem to be admitting their powers are limited. As when asked about the topic, Dalton Odendaal, Senior Manager of Sponsorship for London 2012 said: “I don’t think we will stop it, or at least I acknowledge very creative things will be done. But what we would like to stop are the crude attempts.”

So it looks like ambush marketing is here to stay, which I personally think is great news. Its cheeky and naughty nature will always get a smile out of me. I also agree with Odendaal that any regulations made by event organisers will only force ambush marketing to be even more creative – and that can surely only be a good thing.

Tags: Adidas, Advertising, Advertising Agency Manchester, Ambush marketing, Bavaria NV, Beijing Olympics, Coca-cola, Creativity, Direct Marketing Agency, Fifa, Hugo Boss, Internet Advertising, Marketing Agency, Nike, Pepsi, PPC Agency, Qantas Airlines, SEO Company, South Africa, Sydney Olympics, World Cup

This entry was posted on Friday, June 18th, 2010 at 4:40 pm and is filed under Advertising, Ambush Marketing, Blog, Creativity, General Interest, Marketing, Marketing Innovations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.