Out of the box ideas ambush marketing techniques

1. Out of the Box Ideas 💡
Ambush Marketing
Techniques

4. When it comes to marketing strategy, profit is the key goal
all businesses wish to approach. However, to increase the
market share, what we need to do in advance is
considering how to raise brand awareness. While
competition is a big obstacle for a marketing campaign,
some companies choose to take advantage of competition
to gain public attention. The action of ambushing each
other’s marketing efforts and promotional campaigns to
divert attention and raise exposure at another advertiser’s
expense is also known as Ambush marketing
Ambush marketing

6. What is Ambush Marketing?
Perhaps you’re wondering what could be the “definition of
ambush marketing,” it also goes by the name of hijacking,
predatory ambushing or coat-tail marketing.
Ambush marketing is the process of hijacking the advertising
campaign of some other marketers to compete and get more
exposure to your product or service.
Jerry Welsh, an American strategist, is the first person who
used the term ‘‘ambush marketing’’ in the 1980s when he
was working for the American Express. In simple words, you
take advantage of some big event by attaching yourself with
it in disguise, when you’re not even part of it.

7. The definition of ambush marketing has experienced many
changes over time. It originally means connecting a brand
with a team or event without buying the rights to attract
audiences or just to attack the competitors. Today, it turns
into a tool used in brand wars because the platform has
included advertisements instead of just sponsorship.

8. For example, Stella used ambush marketing to steal the
spotlight from Heineken when Heineken did pay and
spend effort being the official beer sponsor of the 2011 US
Open. In this event, they filled in the nearest train terminal
with their advertisements.

9. Feature of Ambush Marketing
Some of the features of ambush marketing are given
below:--
Creative and Intelligent
You have to be very creative and intelligent to use the
campaign of some other advertiser to your advantage. It
may seem very simple and easy, but it requires a lot of
planning to execute it perfectly. Timing matters a lot in
ambush marketing.

10. Both Legal and Illegal
As they say ‘‘it is only illegal when you’re caught.’’
Undoubtedly, it requires a lot of risk, but it’s worth trying
when you’re at war with your marketing competitors. It is
wrong when you talk about morality and ethics, then so
does burning fossil fuels is wrong. But you do these things
anyway, there’s a limit to everything. If you stay in the
limit, it’s good, otherwise, not.
Unexpected Outcome
Ambush marketing involves a lot of risks because you’re
utilizing someone else’s circumstances. Where you’re not
in control of your circumstances; things can go wrong at
any time and you have to face unexpected outcomes.

11. How does ambush marketing work?
Ambush marketing technique is an ideal way for a
business to steal attention from others. It is a marketing
strategy when a company lies in wait in a concealed
position to gain brand exposure from stealing the spotlight
of others.
Imagine when your company wants to advertise your
images via huge events like the World Cup or something,
but the business’s budget cannot afford it. What would you
do to capitalize on that publicity? An ambush marketing
strategy will come to your mind, which will benefit your
brand while you don’t have to pay for the rights that the
rival paid to be an official sponsor.

12. In almost every global event, there are always marketers
and brands steal awareness and exposure from others who
had taken a large amount of marketing budget on television
slots, billboards, and sponsorships.
The brand from whom marketers steal publicity can be one
of their rivals or any other brand out of the market. To be
more understandable, when the business X and business Y
are all sponsoring an event or competition. Then, company
X secretly takes advantage of Y’s publicity and runs on an
advertising campaign, making it feel like the main sponsor
for the event instead of both.

13. Company Y will then be considered as being ambushed by
X. On the other hand, when company X capitalizes on the
resources bought by some other company to promote itself
and increase profit without letting Y know, X is said to be
using ambush marketing strategies, as one of their
marketing techniques.
That’s how ambush marketing works.

14. Types of ambush marketing

15. Direct Ambush marketing
Direct ambush marketing is when a company or marketer
directly and intentionally starts an ambush marketing strategy
to make itself seem like connected with an event. Even they
do not have to buy the rights; they still can get the spotlight
stolen from competitors.
Types of Direct Ambush Marketing:
o Predatory Ambushing.
o Coattail Ambushing.
o Property Infringement.
o Self-Ambushing.

16. o Predatory Ambushing
Predatory ambushing refers to marketing that attacks a
competitor's sponsorship of an event, athlete, or
organization, while simultaneously confusing consumers
over which company is the official sponsor. The campaign
employed by AMEX against VISA during the 1994 winter
games is an example of predatory ambushing.

17. A Second typical example of predator ambushing is Pepsi -
Coca-cola case in 1997. In the 1997 Asia Cup (cricket),
Pepsi was the official sponsor of the event and branded the
game. However, Coca Cola, who was always a huge
competitor of Pepsi, bagged the television sponsorship
rights for it. This activity made audiences confused and did
not know who the real sponsor of the event was.

18. o Coattail Ambushing
A coattail is the long, divided pieces of cloth that hang
down from the back of an old-fashioned, formal type of
man’s jacket. Coattail ambushing or coattail effect is when a
brand puts effort into connecting itself with an event or
competition by using a link instead of becoming an official
sponsor of the game.

19. o Property Infringement
When a trademark company or a property intentionally
exploits and misuses the content to crash the market, and
create confusion among the fans and audience.
During the London Olympic Games, the management
banned and started imposing fines on local businesses in the
city of London, who were using the words like gold,
summer, and bronze in their marketing campaign. It was
because the management was concerned that such content
can shift the focus of people.

20. o Self-Ambushing
A sponsor usually signs multiple sponsorship agreements
with different companies to perform certain tasks. Self
ambushing happens when one company breaks sponsorship
agreement by doing things that other companies and parties
were supposed to do.
In the European Championships UEFA 2008, Carlsberg was
the official sponsor of the tournament, so does the other
companies. However, it started distributing headbands and t-
shirts with the logo of the Carlsberg among the fans. But
that wasn’t the part of the Carlsberg sponsorship agreement.
It was the job of some other company, that’s how Carlsberg
violated the sponsorship agreement.

21. Indirect Ambush Marketing
Indirect ambush marketing means when a company attaches
itself indirectly to some other parent advertising campaign.
The purpose of such indirect attachment is to get more
exposure for its brand; it could use images, symbols, or
photos to mislead people.
The difference between both of these approaches is that
indirect is not aggressive like direct ambush marketing, and
it also doesn’t want to grab the main spotlight. It just wants
to work indirectly, without stealing the show and gain more
exposure for its brand.
Here are the following types of indirect ambush marketing;

22. o Associative Ambushing
When a company starts associating and attaching itself
indirectly with the main parent advertiser campaign, it
makes people into believing that they’re a part of it. They
receive more exposure by staying in the disguise.
o Distractive Ambushing
When a company creates distraction among the public and
confuses people about the source of the campaign. They
work openly and indirectly, but they trick people into
believing that they’re the main sponsor.

23. o Values Ambushing
Such companies use the main theme and values of the
sponsorship holding company, they trick people into
believing that they’re the same company, but they’re not.
o Insurgent Ambushing
When companies and individuals surprise the public with
their unique promotional techniques, their indirect presence
doesn’t hurt the reputation of the main brand. But they get a
lot of attention for their brand in return.

24. o Parallel Property Ambushing
Parallel property ambushing means when a company
launches and schedules the date of its event side by side
with the date of some bigger event. Parallel scheduling of
events gives a lower brand a lot of coverage because of the
main brand.

25. Examples of Ambush Marketing
o Pepsi Vs Coca Cola
Cricket World Cup of 1996, rumors say that Coca Cola
paid a huge sum of money to the ICC and became the
official and legal sponsor of the World Cup. Pepsi didn’t
sit back and accepted the defeat. However, Pepsi relit the
extinguished fire of cola war and launched a series of TV
ads campaign with the dialogue of ‘‘nothing official about
it.’’ Coca Cola, you remain official, but everyone wants
Pepsi.
Coca Cola remained the official and legal brand of the
world cup, but Pepsi got more public attention.

27. o Rona Collects Apple’s Leftover Paint
The colorful iPod Nano of the Apple Company was very
famous among users back in 2010. However, the company
started its marketing campaign with a different poster in
Montreal, Canada. The poster was comprised of a series of
colorful Nano iPod, showing the colors of the rainbow.
Rona, a Canadian paint company, came up with the unique
idea of their painting poster, a series of buckets collecting
leftover rainbows colorful paint from the iPod poster. Rona’s
poster was phrasing ‘we collect leftover paint.’
Rona’s ambush marketing plan was successful and it
gathered a lot of attention, and it has become a great
example of ambush marketing in recent history.

28. Advantages of Ambush Marketing
Here are some advantages of ambush marketing, which are
as follows;
Ambush marketing Increases Brand Awareness. Take
the example of Rona, the paint company, it was a small
company and very few people knew about it. But when it
started attaching itself indirectly with the multinational
brand, then its brand awareness was a huge success.
Ambush Marketing is a Clever Technique. You have to
be very clever if you want to launch a successful ambush
marketing plan. The example and ideas we have discussed,
they may seem very simple. But there was great planning
to launch such billboard.

29. Disadvantages of Ambush Marketing
Ambush marketing doesn’t go without flaws; here are its
disadvantages;
Unhealthy Competitive Environment. Some critics say
that it creates an environment of unhealthy competition.
There should be a room of success for everyone; people
and businesses should be in the race of defeating and
using one another.
ROI of Ambush Marketing is Difficult to Calculate.
There are just parameters to calculate the success of your
ambush marketing plan; it’s the risk which the businesses
must take. You’ll never find out how many people have
been converted into buying your product.

30. It can be an Expensive Activity. Sometimes you have to
invest a lot of resources like distributing t-shirt and
headbands for free. But you can’t be sure about the return
of investment, because it’s just an opportunity. It can pay
off a lot or none, you can’t be sure.
Conclusion
If the idea of ambush marketing you have is creative and
legal, if you apply it perfectly, it would pay you off well.
Then you should take the risk. But if the idea you want to
try is illegal, pay off is uncertain. Then it’s better not to try
such ideas.