Every time that a major (usually) sporting event is held, the phrase ‘ambush marketing’ blazes in the headlines. Uninitiated to the term, I assumed it was a warning to overzealous consumers as an aid to preventing bouts of ‘post traumatic purchasing disorder’ when the credit card statements arrived at the end of the month. As it turns out, nothing could be further from the truth.
In order to understand the subject better, I turned to a paper by Marina Palomba, an expert on advertising law, and partner at the global litigation company Reed Smith (www.reedsmith.com). What I learnt was that before one can differentiate ambush marketing, one must first become acquainted with its closest relative guerrilla marketing, as the differences are subtle.
Ambush marketing defined
In her paper ‘Is ambush marketing dead? The rising power of major events holders and an analysis of present laws, and regulations protecting modern day sponsors’ Palomba defines guerrilla and tactical marketing as legitimate forms of advertising and sales promotions that may be unconventional and which are intended to get maximum results from minimal resources. Some would argue they are a means for smaller businesses to compete against the large multinational companies who are able to afford official sponsorship status of major events.
By contrast, ambush marketing is defined as an attempt by a brand owner to associate itself either directly or indirectly with an event, or celebrity, or team, without their sanction, without paying the usual licensing fees or sponsorship money and thereby also potentially depriving the official sponsors of commercial value derived from their official sponsor designation.
One of the most effective ‘marketing ambushes’ took place during the 2006 World Cup, when Dutch brewery Bavaria supplied orange lederhosen to fans before a match in support of the Dutch team. FIFA took the view that this was unauthorised promotional activity and could confuse consumers into thinking that the brand was an official sponsor (in fact, Budweiser was). It asked the fans to remove their lederhosen before entering the stadium. The sight of the undeterred Dutch fans cheering their team to victory in their underwear ultimately generated more press and television coverage than Bavaria could ever have hoped for.
Let us keep it objective
As usual the difficulty is deciding where to draw the line. This is a situation that all the Technews product teams are all familiar with as we endeavour to protect the rights of our advertisers, while keeping our readers objectively informed of the latest trends in technology.
I have always believed that protectionism must be implemented with caution, but is necessary to some degree if we are to progress. In our industry patents and trademarks are two of the most obvious ways the innovators stay competitive. The other side of that coin is that I have never believed that a good marketing strategy should need the safety of protectionism for its roots. Good marketing, I think, is about being aware of the needs of the chosen audiences’ wants, and then using all the tools and information at your disposal to deliver a product or service that is considered to be more valuable than a competitors’.
In the context of SA Instrumentation & Control, this manifests itself in the way some of our advertisers successfully complement their paid-for advertisements with appropriate editorial pieces. Unlike advertising, editorial is run free of charge. But remember, the idea is to inform the reader of new developments in the industry as succinctly as possible – not to ambush them in rhetoric.
The best way, I think, is to find an interesting angle and then use this as the basis for your article. Since it would be unfair of me to cite examples specifically of where I think this has been done effectively, I have prepared this list that I hope you will find useful:
1. Get to the point in the first paragraph.
2. Keep it short and easily understandable.
3. Use strong supporting images (a picture speaks a thousand words).
4. Avoid including anything that is not relevant in the context.
5. Stay focused on the strengths of your product rather than the weaknesses of a competitor’s.
I am always impressed when a marketer of a high-tech product or service shows us how to use advertising to talk the talk – and then backs this up with editorial that proves said product (or service) can also walk the walk. If you do this I cannot see why you would ever need to seek the safety of protectionism or lay in ambush for a rival.
Steven Meyer
Editor: SA Instrumentation & Control
| Tel: | +27 11 543 5800 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| www: | www.technews.co.za |
| Articles: | More information and articles about Technews Publishing |
© Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd | All Rights Reserved
printer friendly version