Ambush marketing
[1] An advertiser may attempt to perform a publicity stunt inside the venue itself to attract attention to their brand, such as having attendees wear attire that is associated with the company.
[5] The factual acknowledgment of a non-sponsor's involvement with the participants in an event by, for example, a television host or commentator, can also be considered an incidental form of coattail marketing, as it provides additional unpaid publicity to the brand.
[1] In response to the threats of ambush marketing and other forms of trademark infringement, organizers of major sporting events have sometimes required host countries or cities to implement special laws that, going beyond standard trademark law, provide regulations and penalties for advertisers who disseminate marketing materials that create unauthorized associations with an event by making references to specific words, concepts, and symbols.
In response, Amex began a marketing campaign in Asia promoting merchandise from a fictitious "Olympic Heritage Committee," supposedly based in Switzerland.
[6] In a follow-up, American Express released ads featuring a photo from the opening ceremony of the 1986 Asian Games held in the same city, captioned "Amex welcomes you to Seoul."
It allowed them to charge more money for the assets we received, and the value was more Games-in and Games-out.” [27] Since the mid 1990s, Nike became known for several major ambush marketing schemes at the Olympics and association football tournaments.
[6][29] At the 1996 Summer Olympics, Nike engaged in a marketing campaign including magazine ads and billboards, to compete with Reebok who had paid $50 million to become the event's official sponsor.
Nike set up a prominent pop-up store near the athletes' village, and was also attempting to have fans to display signs with the aforementioned slogans inside venues.
IOC marketing director Michael Payne noted that the campaign was being widely criticized, as athletes were "likely to be uncomfortable when their shoe sponsor says they have failed unless they win a gold medal", and that Nike was "crossing the very fine line between having an impact and biting the hand that creates tomorrow's heroes."
Payne and the United States Olympic Committee's marketing director John Krimsky held a meeting over the campaign with Howard Slusher, a subordinate of Nike co-founder Phil Knight.
The meeting quickly turned aggressive; Payne threatened IOC counter-measures, including pulling accreditation for Nike employees, banning the display of its logos on equipment, and organizing a press conference where silver medallists from the Games, as well as prominent Nike-sponsored athlete Michael Johnson, would denounce the company.
To rebuke Nike's negative rhetoric, the IOC also engaged in a global marketing campaign of its own called "Celebrate Humanity", with one ad proclaiming 'Someone once said “If you don’t win the silver, you lose the gold.” Obviously they never won the silver.’[6] For the 2012 Summer Olympics, Nike was not an official sponsor but ran an ad campaign titled ‘Find Your Greatness’ featuring “everyday athletes” from cities named London in Ohio, Canada, Nigeria and Jamaica, which also tactfully avoided infringing on sponsorship rules.
[33] Nike also performed saturation ambushes at UEFA Euro 1996 and the 1998 FIFA World Cup, by buying advertising space in the vicinity of the host venues in order to prevent the official sponsors (Umbro and Adidas respectively) from being able to promote themselves.
Nike's actions influenced the eventual adoption of "safe zone" rules, requiring official sponsors to have exclusive use of all advertising locations within a certain radius of an event's venue.
[34] During the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Bavaria Brewery distributed "Leeuwenhosen"—branded overalls with lion tails, colored in the orange of the Netherlands national football team.
Officials at games directed fans to take off the Leeuwenhosen and put on orange-colored shorts instead, as the clothing infringed on the exclusive beer sponsorship rights owned by Anheuser-Busch.
[4] Bavaria Brewery was again accused of ambush marketing at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, when 36 female fans were ejected from a game (along with the arrest of two, later released, accused of violating the Contravention of Merchandise Marks Act) for wearing unbranded orange miniskirts that were provided by Bavaria; Sylvie van der Vaart, wife of Dutch player Rafael van der Vaart, had modeled one of the miniskirts in an advertising campaign for the brewery.
[3][5] Robbie Earle was also fired from his roles as ITV Sport pundit and ambassador for England's bid for the 2018 World Cup, when it was claimed by FIFA that he had sold tickets meant for family and friends on to Bavaria.
[13] At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, the IOC worked with the local organizing committee to develop a "robust brand-protection program"; logos of non-sponsors were covered with tape on equipment at Games facilities—a restriction that applied even to appliances, bathroom fixtures, elevators, and fire extinguishers.
"[41] Nike released a television advert tying into the Games with a similar concept, featuring footage of athletes training in other places named "London", and the tagline "Greatness doesn't only exist in SW19".
The suit went to trial in December 2014,[46][45] and was settled in October 2016, after The North Face parent company VF Corporation agreed to make a donation to the Canadian Olympic Foundation.
[53][54] On 29 July 2016, a federal court ruled in favor of Telstra, stating that there was "no doubt" the campaign was relating to the Games without using its trademarks, but that it was "not enough for the AOC to prove that the advertisements were Olympic-themed.
[65][66] In 2009 and 2010, Avid Life Media produced advertisements for its extramarital and homosexual online dating services Ashley Madison and ManCrunch, that it aimed to have aired during the Super Bowl.
[74] The euphemism "Superb Owl" had also appeared as the result of user typos on search queries for the game, on the television series The Colbert Report as a satire of the NFL's trademark rules, and during the vandalism of commemorative statues that were put up in San Francisco during the lead-up to Super Bowl 50.
[77] In September 2010, the Minnesota Timberwolves basketball team announced that they would install a large billboard sign for Sanford Health on the exterior of Target Center.
The Sanford Health sign was replaced by a new display featuring Target's dog mascot Bullseye, which animates after Twins home runs.
[1][22][6] Laws enacted to control ambush advertising practices have proven to be controversial: critics have argued that ambush advertising regulations can inhibit free expression and prevent businesses (such as restaurants, sports bars, and pubs) from even mentioning an event, and that a country's existing trademark laws can be sufficient to protect organizers' intellectual property without granting them special powers.
[9][11] The NFL has also received criticism for exaggerating the extent of its intellectual property rights under the laws of the United States, aggressively enforcing its trademarks, and failing to take the doctrine of fair use into account.
[102] It was also argued by critics that LOCOG's policies made it unviable for smaller businesses to promote themselves using the Games, even in support of athletes, as they would need to evaluate whether their marketing materials violate the restrictions on unauthorized associations.
[56] In an episode aired on the eve of the Games' opening ceremony, comedian Stephen Colbert discussed and satirized the aforementioned trademark claims on The Late Show.
