Bavarian Beer
The Dutch
beer firm Bavaria, ambushed the 2010 world cup as the official beer sponsor was
Budweiser. 36 women were allegedly paid by the Bavarian beer firm to strip
of their clothes and reveal their orange branded dresses in a match between
the Netherlands and Denmark.
Although
they got kicked out, the video went viral in an instant. So without paying
millions of dollars to be an official sponsor, Bavaria beer sneakily got their
brand into the major event and formed an association and gained awareness –
even from the news! The ‘ethics’ of the association is questionable.
Check out the Bavarian Beer Ambush!
Adidas versus. Nike
Nike is the
ultimate Gold medal winner for Ambush marketing!
In this year’s London Olympics
1034 US consumers were surveyed to identity an official Olympic sponsor (TolumaGlobal Omnibus Survey). The survey revealed that, 37% identified Nike as an
Olympic sponsor, compared to 24% for real sponsor Adidas.
Nike’s “FindYour Greatness” campaign landed first place on the Viral chart (4.5 million
views), while Adidas’ “Take the Stage” campaign took third place with 2.9
million views. I sympathize with Adidas as they paid 100 million pounds for
EXCLUSIVE marketing rights and to be an Olympic Partner.
We can see here what a strong tool social media is for
brands to POSITION themselves around a sports event without being an official
sponsor.
Nike used similar tactics to ambush the World
Cup two years ago with its "Write the Future" campaign and again stole
buzz from Adidas and Nike arguably benefited more than any other brand
from the World Cup tournament.
MichaelJohnson's famous shoes were one of Nike's many attempts to ambush Reebok's 1996
Olympic sponsorship.
It seems
like Adidas always settles for second place, BUT will this change, with their Social
Media Barricade shoe concept for the Rio 2016 Olympic games?
Adidas is
working on concepts with track shoes that have built in LCD which can receive
instant twitter updates!
Social
Media = Game Changer!
Check out
the Social Media Barricade
Subway - The 'Official Training Restaurant'
We all know
that McDonald’s is the official sponsor of the Olympic Games, however this year
Subway signed an endorsement with Olympic Athlete Michael Phelps and was
therefore labelled an ‘ambusher’.
Although in
the Ad no specific reference to the Olympic Games were made, Subway positioned
themselves as the ‘Official Training Restaurant’ and because of the timing of
the release debates were sparked and Subway was accused for hitching the
McDonald's brand.
I think the
timing of the endorsement was crucial because the ad did suggest a connection to
the event. However famous athletes, and sports teams sign endorsements with
brands all the time and it’s not a problem.
This raises
questions such as when does Ambush marketing become unethical?
What
strategy is acceptable what not?
Is Ambush Marketing just Smart Marketing?
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