3. What is Ambush Marketing?
“Trading off of the good will of
an event without being an
official sponsor.”
4. What is the Law?
• misuse of a symbol or device;
• which is likely to confuse consumers
as to the plaintiff’s sponsorship or
approval of the product in
commerce.
7. Risks?
• Avoiding use of trademarks doesn’t mean that
you are clear
• Final Four® and “March Madness®
• “Media/news entities do not need written
consent to use NCAA marks/logos for editorial
content in coverage of NCAA events.”
• NCAA Policy prohibits use of “display of any
commercial identification within an NCAA
championship bracket”
8. Tactics: Give Away Tickets
• “Win Tickets in the Coors Light Tourney Time
Sweepstakes”
– 2001 Coors Promotion
9. Risks?
• Back of tickets have a license which
states, in effect, “may not be given away
for promotional purposes”
• Just b/c you can buy ‘em doesn’t mean
you can give ‘em away in promotion
• NCAA policy rejects use of tickets w/out
permission.
11. Risks?
• Football World Cup, Dutch
brewer, Bavaria, gave away garish orange
lederhosen displaying its name to hundreds of
Dutch supporters attending the match against
the Ivory Coast.
• Budweiser was the official beer.
• Stewards at the match ordered the fans to
remove the garments before letting them in.
13. Risks?
• Disclaimers are not always accepted by a
court as effective
• Disclaimer likely won’t fix an ad which is
confusing on its face
• Disclaimer is only as good as the clarity
of the ad and the disclaimer’s
prominence.
15. Risks
• May be prohibited/restricted by
sanctioning body
• Olympic Rule 40
–Athletes are not allowed to appear in
non-Olympic sponsored ads before and
during the Olympics
–Could cause athlete to be stripped of
his/her medal, sanctioned or fined.
16. More Videos?
Search Adage.com; or
Go to youtube.com/BrianHeidelberger
– FTC’s Updated Dot Com Disclosure
Requirements
– Brand’s Use of Vine, Pinterest and Facebook
– How to Respond to a Cease and Desist
– Use of Celebrities in Social Media
– Who’s Been Sued in Digital Media and Why