Sparke Helmore's Jason Sprague and Rod Smith take a closer look at ambush marketing antics at the FIFA World Cup.
Budweiser is an official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup 2010 and is the only beer company with the right to advertise inside stadiums at the World Cup. However, Budweiser's competitor, Bavaria Beer, recently gained prominent marketing exposure for its brand through an "ambush marketing" campaign.
During a match between the Netherlands and Denmark, 36 women (dressed up as Dutch supporters) entered the stadium stripped off their Dutch supporter outfits to reveal the orange miniskirt designed by Dutch beer brewer Bavaria. The miniskirts were sold with cartons of Bavaria Beer in the lead up to the World Cup, in conjunction with a television advertising campaign in the Netherlands.
This is no first offence for Bavaria Beer either. They ambushed FIFA and Budweiser at the 2006 World Cup, when hundreds of Dutch fans wore orange lederhosen to a match between Holland and the Ivory Coast, but were forced to remove the lederhosen before entering the stadium and had to watch the game in their underwear.
Ambush marketing is now a well known and frequently adopted marketing approach, whereby a sponsor's competitor engages in "guerrilla" style tactics to gain exposure or association with a high profile event (such as the Olympic Games or the World Cup), without actually paying for the privilege.
Ambush marketing is problematic for sponsors, governing bodies and host nations because it dilutes the value of their investment in the event. Ambush marketing often involves infringement of intellectual property rights and can mislead consumers by creating an impression that a product or brand has an official association with an event, which does not in fact exist.
In relation to events like the World Cup, host countries generally enact domestic legislation making certain ambush marketing conduct subject to civil and criminal penalties. Governing bodies, like FIFA, go to great lengths to protect rights granted to sponsors.
In the case of the 2010 World Cup, the South African Government amended the Merchandise Marks Act, with the aim of preventing ambush marketing by prohibiting the use of a trade mark in relation to the World Cup, 'in a manner which is calculated to achieve publicity for that trade mark and thereby to derive special promotional benefit from the event, without the prior authority of the organiser'. As a result of the Bavaria incident, two Dutch women were arrested and appeared before the Johannesburg Magistrates Court. However, the charges against the women were dropped after FIFA and Bavaria reached an out-of-court settlement.
Therefore, while ambush marketing may be regarded as a "clever", "light hearted" or even a "cheeky" way of raising brand awareness, it may potentially result in brand damage, civil suits and criminal prosecutions.
In relation to the Bavaria incident, it is unclear how effective the marketing campaign would have been had FIFA not taken such a robust approach. It seems likely had FIFA not acted at all or taken more discrete steps, any association between Bavaria and orange miniskirts may have escaped all but Dutch viewers. Arguably, FIFA's counter attack has yet again resulted in a Bavaria ambush attempt becoming a global news story. Consequently, the score seems to be Bavaria 2, Budweiser 0.
While governing bodies and host nations take steps to shield official sponsors from ambush marketing, official sponsors need to be vigilant and protect their interests by way of a clearly drafted contract, which:
* appropriately allocates responsibility to the promoter to prevent ambush marketing;
* obliges the promoter to take positive steps to prevent ambush marketing and consult with the sponsor regarding any alleged incidents; and
* provides official sponsors specific rights to terminate their contracts, renegotiate their terms or receive compensation for any diminution of sponsorship value caused by an ambush.
Further, to minimise any damage resulting from an ambush, official sponsors and governing bodies should develop a clear strategy on how such incidents will be appropriately managed.