World Cup Highlights New Tool of “Ambush Marketing”

 

23 June 2010

For many years, we have used “the global media society” as a central organizing concept to understand the world in which we live.

A notable example of this was the SECOND plane that crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11 2001.

Why the SECOND plane ???

Because the terrorists who pulled off that horrific attack KNEW that, after the first plane hit the WTC,

 

23 June 2010

For many years, we have used “the global media society” as a central organizing concept to understand the world in which we live.

A notable example of this was the SECOND plane that crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11 2001.

Why the SECOND plane ???

Because the terrorists who pulled off that horrific attack KNEW that, after the first plane hit the WTC,

there would be an infinitude of video cameras trained on the site as it burned from the first blast.

And so there were, perfectly placed to capture the grisly crash of the SECOND plane into the Twin Towers,

which, of course became the iconic image of that day that will live in infamy.

While this provides perhaps the most stark example of what it means to live in a “global media society,”

other – much less terrible – evidence of that same reality surrounds us every day.

To put it simply, in the global media society,

it’s a second-by-second / minute-by-minute / hour-by-hour / day-by-day / week-by-week

COMPETITION TO CAPTURE PEOPLE’S ATTENTION, for however long or short a time you can.

And so it’s hardly surprising that we now see, at events like the World Cup, the full flowering of so-called “ambush marketing”, as this piece from the BBC Magazine makes almost painfully clear.

It was, the authorities claim, a gimmick cynically designed to capture the attention of the world’s media – and, if so, it was wildly successful.

When 36 young women wearing orange mini-dresses associated with the Dutch brewers Bavaria

entered the stands at South Africa’s Soccer City Stadium for the Netherlands versus Denmark match,

the cameras, predictably, turned towards them en masse, capturing shots that would grab the attention of picture editors worldwide.

The reaction of those in charge was swift and ruthless.

All of the mini-skirted ladies were ejected from the venue and two were arrested on charges of organising “unlawful commercial activities”.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the tournament’s governing body Fifa said it was looking into “all available legal remedies” against the brewery.

In a surreal twist, ex-Jamaica and Wimbledon midfielder Robbie Earle was dropped as an ITV pundit and as an ambassador for England’s 2018 World Cup bid

after claims that the orange crowd entered the stadium using tickets intended for his family and friends.

It may sound like a bafflingly trivial incident to get worked up about.

But the World Cup’s authorised beer, Budweiser, has paid millions for the privilege of exclusive representation during the competition.

Sponsorship is big business, both for the brands splashing out and sporting governing bodies cashing in –

meaning that so-called “ambush marketing” has itself become a huge growth industry.

And sport fans in the UK can expect to witness even tougher anti-ambush measures as a result of strict legislation passed by Parliament ahead of the 2012 London Olympics.

“Events like the Olympics and the World Cup are hugely expensive to put on, so they need big-money sponsors,

and this in turn means that the organisers must protect aggressively against ambush marketing,”

says intellectual property barrister Phillip Johnson, a visiting senior fellow at Queen Mary, University of London.

“But this means there is potentially huge exposure for anyone who manages to outwit them.”

Indeed, Bavaria’s campaign was meticulously executed.

The mini-dresses, sold by the brewery as part of a gift pack, may only have had a tiny outer label carrying the brand’s name.

But prior to the stunt, the firm made sure they were instantly recognisable in the Netherlands

by arranging to have one modelled by top-ranking Dutch Wag Sylvie van der Vaart, the wife of Real Madrid’s Rafael van der Vaart.

Bavaria has form in the dark arts of ambush marketing.

During the 2006 World Cup in Germany, dozens of Dutch men watched the Netherlands play in a Stuttgart stadium in their underwear

after stewards ordered them to remove orange lederhosen bearing Bavaria’s name.

And this was only the latest in a long line of ploys executed by firms shut out of sponsorship arrangements.

During the 2009 Six Nations campaign, adverts for Fuller’s beer included a picture of a rugby post and the phrase “Support English Rugby” –  

prompting a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority from the Rugby Football Union,

given that the brewery had not actually parted with any cash for the privilege of associating itself with the team or tournament.

One of the most notorious – or audacious, depending on your viewpoint –

examples saw Nike buying up billboard space around venues in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics,

constructing Nike Village next door to the athletes’ village and distributing flags bearing the company logo –

swamping the visibility of Reebok, ostensibly the Games’ official sports footwear patron.

Indeed, according to Simon Chadwick, professor of sport business strategy and marketing at Coventry University Business School,

Nike has made a conscious decision to eschew event sponsorship and cast itself as the plucky underdog in contrast with the likes of Adidas.

“What you’re now starting to see is all these consultancies emerging advising on how to pull off an ambush,” he says.

“There’s a mini-industry on both sides, with official sponsors and governing bodies not wanting to take any chances.”

Indeed, 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 Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006 created the London Olympic Association Right (LOAR),

which gives the games’ organisers the power to grant licences to authorised sponsors to use the symbols, words and logos of the event.

It also prevents any advert or merchandise with the combination of words and symbols which could create an unauthorised association with the games.

There are two lists of prohibited expressions,

with marketers falling foul if they use any two words in list A,

or any word in list A with one or more of the words in list B.

Companies deemed to have broken the rules could face fines of up to £20,000.

“Those hoping to bask in London’s moment in the sun may be surprised at how restrictive the provisions of the Olympics Act are,”

says David Thorp of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).

A CIM paper entitled The Event That Dare Not Speak Its Name warns that the legislation could be a potential “time bomb” for businesses,

with an Ipsos MORI poll suggesting that 42% of practitioners in the industry expect to undertake “some Olympics-related marketing activity”.

However, a spokesman for the London Organising Committee insisted that the Games could not go ahead without sponsorship

and that it had a duty to protect those brands that were shelling out.

“We will take a firm but pragmatic approach to ambush marketing at Games time,

and deal with any issues on a case-by-case basis,” he added.

“Any action will depend on the nature and intent of the ambush.”

Whatever happens, it appears inevitable that plenty of organisations will be setting out to identify their brand name with the event –

whether they play by the rules, or engage in rather less sporting behaviour.

As a service to any of our readers who are thinking of engaging in any “ambush marketing” during the 2012 London Olympic Games,

we include the following lists of “un-acceptable” words, just in case they do – or don’t – want to avoid using them during that time.

RESTRICTED 2012 A-LIST WORDS

 

Games

Two Thousand and Twelve

2012

Twenty Twelve

 

 

B-LIST WORDS

 

London

Medals

Sponsor

Gold

Silver

Bronze

Well, we think that about “says” it all 😉 .

With GREAT thanks to our friend Tan Wei Li, for pointing this out to us.

 

David Caploe PhD

Editor-in-Chief

EconomyWatch.com

President / acalaha.com