How can you protect your brand from an ambush at a sporting event? And, if you’re the ambusher, what are the most effective strategies to employ?
Ambush marketing is practiced by many of the world’s largest brands. But in recent years ambushing has become increasingly complex, taking on several forms, prompting two scholars to reexamine the practice. They called the existing definitions “inadequate in reflecting the complexity of ambush-marketing types.”
Analyzing 850 cases of ambushing, the research team reidentified three types of ambush marketing and offered practical suggestions about each type for event owners, official sponsors, and ambushers.
Describing existing definitions of ambushing as inadequate, the authors redefined the different types as follows:
Nicholas Burton is an assistant professor with Brock University’s department of sport management, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. His research focuses on sponsorship relations and ambush-marketing strategy.
Simon Chadwick is professor of sports enterprise at Salford University Manchester, Salford, Manchester, United Kingdom, where he is also a director of the Centre for Sports Business. Chadwick researches in the field of sport marketing and has a particular interest in Asia.