Every brand wants to be promoted via major events. Ambush marketing in football has become a part of every brand’s reality.
Football is the most popular sport and the most important unimportant thing in the world. The global and heavy impact that creates has forced many leading brands to figure out ways in order to use it for advertising purposes. On the other hand, football properties (FIFA, UEFA, clubs, national teams, athletes, etc.) in their effort to maximize the monetization of this impact agreed to become the promoting intermediates of these brands in football. Yet, they added more value by offering them premium advantages like exclusivity rights. Sponsorships were born. There is no chance that football would be the same without all this money, without sponsorships.
A sponsorship’s goals for the brands usually are:
- Improve brand awareness
- Maximize customers’ engagement
- Increase sales and market share
The first sponsorship in football took place in England in 1976 when Kettering Town became the first British club to play with a sponsor’s name on its shirts, after signing a deal with Kettering Tyres. Since 1976, sponsorships have been evolved significantly. They are part of plenty brands’ marketing mix with billions of euro spent every year in order for these brands to obtain the right to be considered official sponsors of a football property. Naturally, the most popular an athlete, a club, a national team or an event, the most valuable and expensive the sponsorship rights are.
During the last years, we are witnessing a dramatic change of the sponsorship industry in football because of changes in:
- Technology
- Consumer behavior
- Marketing approaches
The massive use of social media and YouTube in combination with the ability of everyone to have internet everywhere and use it in every way they like via their smartphones, has created a new type of fan. A fan that is not just communicating with brands and football properties in passive way but interacts with them via multiple communication channels. Nowadays, fans don’t just consume content but they create and share it with their digital community. This new type of fan in combination with the, more than ever, aggressive marketing approaches of brands have led the traditional sponsorship model, where exclusivity is one of the most important assets, to be compromised. Marketers are no longer in need to establish an official association with a football property to make their brand relevant. As far as it concerns football, UEFA Champions League, UEFA European Championship (EURO) and FIFA World Cup are ideal for “unofficial associations” due to their massive impact.
Currently, we are in the final stages of the 2016 UEFA European Championship in France, so later in this post we will try to spot this kind of unofficial associations which are called ambush marketing.
But what exactly is ambush marketing? How can we spot it in football? Is it a good or a bad approach for brands?
In simple terms, ambush marketing is a marketing and advertising technique where a brand creates the impression that its products are associated with a property without having paid any sponsorship fees for this and attempts to be promoted through this property. In football, this phenomenon can be widely noticed in major events which gather massive attention and create huge exposure mostly because:
- The sponsorship fees are so high that not all brands can include them in their budget
- Even when some brands can afford these fees, they cannot secure the right to be official sponsors for exclusivity reasons from the side of the property (e.g. the benefits of a sponsorship by Adidas would be much less if Nike was also an official sponsor of the same event)
Whether it is legal or illegal, moral or immoral, ambush marketing is a natural evolution of sports marketing. Every brand wants to gain exposure and be associated with major events.
Of course, it is not only the exposure but also the gentle, less intrusive and cost-effective way the brand reaches to the consumer (indirect/native advertising). After all, it is all about the consumer who does not really care if a brand is an official sponsor of an event or not. The new type of fan –and potential customer– expects and demands extreme emotions and unique experiences whether they are provided by an official sponsor or by an ambusher.
There are several types of ambush marketing and they can be categorized in many ways. In football, the most usual are:
Advertising and promotional ambush marketing
A brand confuses the consumers over who the official sponsor is by making direct or indirect references to the event’s trademarks (logo, anthem, location, trophy, etc.). In other words, they are linking their own product with the image and the general context of the event. Furthermore, brands with related to the event products increase their level of advertisements during the event because at that time it is the center of attention. Finally, some brands offer tickets and hospitality packages which they bought in controversial way.
A brand like Nike cannot stay out of the game even when it is not an official sponsor. Shortly before every FIFA World Cup (official sponsor is Adidas) and other events they are releasing amazing commercials featuring mainly players who are taking part in the event.
The same approach has been widely used by Puma, Beats by Dre, Carlsberg and other famous brands.
Another great example was after Uruguay’s striker Luis Suarez bit Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini during the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Many brands including Bud Light, Snickers and Barilla created immediately clever and funny posts on Twitter and Facebook earning attention and followers.
During the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, Lufthansa was –and still is– the official carrier of the German national team presented themselves as “Germany’s Football Airline” and that “We are the airline of the World Cup“. Furthermore, they painted football balls on their aircrafts’ noses and also created a related website, a daily newspaper and other miscellaneous extras. They were also gifted the opportunity to transport the players to the tournament due to landing restrictions on the official sponsor Emirates.
Another very interesting approach from a South African airline called Kulula took place before the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. They pointed out that they were not an official sponsor but “Unofficial National Carrier of the You-Know-What” stating that there are more reasons to visit South Africa “than just for that thing we wouldn’t dare mention“. They used images of stadiums, balls, vuvuzelas and national flags and announced that they would give away free flights to anyone sharing their name with FIFA president of that period, Sepp Blatter (the offer would be redeemed for a dog named Sepp Blatter).
When Frank Lampard’s shot against Germany went in but the referee did not count it, British opticians Specsavers ran a great reactive national press campaign that made no reference to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, but simply wrote “Goal-Line Technology from £25” and featured an image of some glasses.
Broadcast ambush marketing
A brand chooses to be promoted via the broadcaster of the event and buys advertising time for the period and timeline that the event takes place. Additionally, it is when brands become the broadcaster’s sponsors and claim that they “proudly bring” the event to the audience.
Athlete / Team ambush marketing
Most of the leading brands are sponsoring world class and famous football players and teams. When these players and teams are participating in the event they promote their sponsors (social media posts, wearing accessories, jerseys, jackets, etc.).
During the 2012 UEFA European Championship in Poland – Ukraine Nicklas Bendtner scored for Denmark against Portugal and he lowered his shorts showcasing his “lucky underpants” branded with Paddy Power’s logo. He was fined and banned by UEFA and the bookmaking company paid the fine.
Every national football team has its own sponsor for jerseys. The following infographic from Bloomberg indicates these sponsors for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil (official sponsor was Adidas).
On-site ambush marketing
A brand can attempt to be promoted and to become visible close to the location(s) that the event takes place (physical positioning, public stunts, message boards, etc.). Sometimes, brands send to the event a celebrity from their “endorsements’ arsenal” who is not participating (George Clooney – Nespresso, Michael Jordan – Nike, etc.). In other words, they establish their presence close to the gathering zones of the crowd and seek attention via campaigns capable to offer to the fans creative and unique experiences and to the brand an opportunity to remain on the fans’ mind at the end of the day.
During the 1996 UEFA European Championship in England and the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, Nike bought advertising space close to the host venues in order to prevent the official sponsors (Umbro and Adidas respectively) from being able to promote themselves. After these incidents, the safe zone established in favor of official sponsors. In 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, Nike, again, created an interactive installation on one of the highest buildings in Johannesburg.
During the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, Bavaria Brewery from the Netherlands created and distributed to fans “Leeuwenhosen”, an orange pants with lion tail. They did it again during the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa when many female fans were spotted wearing unbranded orange mini-skirts same as the one that Sylvie van der Vaart had modeled in an advertising campaign for the brewery (official sponsor was Budweiser). Heineken attempted something similar when many fans were caught wearing green hats given by the brand during the 2008 UEFA European Championship in Austria – Switzerland (official sponsor was Carlsberg).
Self-ambushing
A special occasion of ambush marketing is when official sponsors are breaching the limits of their own sponsorship and using forms of advertising that were not included in their agreement with the football property (e.g. use of the property’s logo in promotional shirts without having agreed with them previously).
Ambush marketing has become a part of every marketer’s and brand’s reality. The 2016 UEFA European Championship in France could not be an exception. The event’s official sponsors are separated to global (Adidas, Carlsberg, Coca-Cola, Continental, Hisense, Hyundai-Kia, McDonald’s, Orange, SOCAR and Turkish Airlines) and national (Abritel-HomeAway, Crédit Agricole, Française des Jeux, La Poste, PROMAN and SNCF). Most of them have presented decent campaigns, so potential ambushers have to give their best in order to take advantage of the event.
Orange (official sponsor), for example, analyzes fan’s support across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram by monitoring the number of the official hashtags for each nation (#ITA for Italy, #FRA for France, etc.). Then, 10 minutes after the end of each day’s last game, the Eiffel Tower takes the colors of the most supported national team.
Despite the decent sponsorship activation campaigns from the official sponsors, we have already witnessed several ambush marketing attempts concerning the 2016 UEFA European Championship in France.
Advertising and promotional ambush marketing
Nike has published an amazing commercial story with football players which they sponsor like Cristiano Ronaldo, Harry Kane and Anthony Martial.
The Swedish luxury vehicle manufacturer, Volvo, followed the same tactic presenting Zlatan Ibrahimovic and creating a connection between the brand and the national team of Sweden. The title of the commercial was “Prologue”.
After Sweden’s elimination from the 2016 UEFA European Championship in France, they presented a sequel, “Epilogue” related to Zlatan’s retirement from international football.
Licor Beirão, a Portuguese liquor company, took the opportunity to apologize to Harry Kane for a kick in his head from Bruno Alves in front of their advertising board, during a friendly game between Portugal and England just before the 2016 UEFA European Championship in France. They sent him a bottle of liquor and a brilliant apology card.
Of course, Beats by Dre, could not stay outside of this feast. They are considered masters of ambush marketing and in their spots they used football superstars like Harry Kane, Antoine Griezmann, Mario Götze and Cesc Fabregas.
Mars, the English chocolate bar, concentrated on a hashtag, #believe, in an attempt to be aligned with the support for the national team of England. Additionally, their products’ packages show the word “Believe” instead of the classic Mars logo.
Puma presented a special edition of King Top football boots inspired by four of the French cities hosting 2016 UEFA European Championship in France matches.
Even Facebook attempted to create an association with the 2016 UEFA European Championship in France by offering to its messenger users a “secret” mini-game when they send a soccer emoji to their chatmates.
Iceland, a British supermarket chain, proceeded to a “temporary rebrand” before the game between the national teams of England and Iceland. They used signs saying “England or Iceland” outside of their supermarkets. They are also sponsoring the national team of Iceland.
Paddy Power is another master of rough ambush marketing. Few days before the game between the rivals England and Russia, they created a truck bearing Jamie Vardy’s famous tweet after scoring in 11 games in a row in English Premier League in Russian. The truck was parked outside the Russian Embassy in England.
Heineken launched a “limited countries edition” of bottles with the colors of the participating teams in the 2016 UEFA European Championship in France.
Peperami, a snack by German Unilever, released a promotional package where the buyer has the chance to win “2,016 euros”. Brilliant!
Athlete / Team ambush marketing
While we are still waiting for a “Bendtner-like” case, which could prove difficult to happen due to the effects of an action like this to the football player (fine & ban), we have some interesting occasions where participating football players are using their social media accounts to promote their sponsors during the 2016 UEFA European Championship in France.
For example, Cristiano Ronaldo has uploaded to his social media some pictures presenting him wearing his ROC headphones by Monster.
Giorgio Chiellini has also uploaded pictures of the ice-cream brand Sammontana to his social media, even hours before the quarterfinals game between Italy and Germany, saying that “One last ice-cream and we are ready for the challenge”.
From the total of 24 participating teams, only 9 are sponsored by the official sponsor of the tournament, Adidas. The rest have different sponsors.
After England’s elimination, their former kit manufacturer, Umbro, ambushed an ambusher (Nike) as they tweeted “England were good when we made the kits…”
England were good when we made the kits…
— Umbro UK (@UmbroUK) June 27, 2016
On-site ambush marketing
Due to the UEFA’s Sponsorship Protection Programs and the “brand police” there is not any major on-site ambush marketing occasion that went public and viral yet.
An interesting occasion, however, took place during the 2016 UEFA European Championship qualifiers in Dublin. The Republic of Ireland was facing Scotland and outside the Aviva Stadium there was a Paddy Power branded truck with a billboard containing Roy Keane and a clever political joke about the guest nation’s independence. Roy Keane was a victim of ambush marketing, too!
During the game between Portugal and Poland for the quarterfinals of the 2016 UEFA European Championship in France, there was an invader in the field who tried to hug Cristiano Ronaldo. He was wearing a Nike hat. This action has the potential to be ambush marketing if we assume that Nike was behind this. Perhaps, we will never find out.
Undoubtedly, there is even more ambush marketing in the air than the above. Social media are full of occasions like these. In case you have noticed any, feel free to share it to the comment form below. Furthermore, there are going to occur or get revealed even more until and after the end of the event which we cannot wait to see.
There is a very thin red line and a huge debate about when ambush marketing becomes illegal or immoral.
Generally, ambush marketing can be illegal under specific circumstances (e.g. use of protected intellectual property, etc.) but in most occasions it is not. It can also be immoral but it mostly depends on which side you are on. If you are an official sponsor or a football property, you will consider it as immoral because it will be unfair for you. If you are a brand without official connection to a major event, you will need to establish your presence as well because if not, the open market’s harsh situation and competition will never forgive it to you.
Due to its creativity without limits and flexibility without rules, ambush marketing is extremely effective. As ambush marketers have no strict lines and regulations to follow, like official sponsors, and they save a great amount of their budget because they are not paying sponsorship fees, there are many occasions where they manage to overcome the official sponsors in terms of publicity, reach and revenue during an event. Social media’s heavy engagement is also allied to ambushers as it is almost impossible for them and official sponsors to be separated and controlled there. According to a report by the online marketing firm RadiumOne, more than half of the brands that people associate with EURO 2016 are not even sponsoring the tournament. The report was published before the 2016 UEFA European Championship in France.
After all, maybe the real question is: “How can official sponsorship still be effective?”
Obviously, whether it is illegal and immoral or not, effective ambush marketing is costly as far as it concerns football properties (decrease of their product’s exclusive value) and their official sponsors (threat to their exclusivity rights). There are several ways in order to prevent or limit ambushers’ association to the sponsored property and, hopefully for properties and sponsors, their effectiveness.
- Control of Intellectual Property: Football properties must have the most important of their trademarks registered and protected (name, location, year, “also known as” name, slogan, logo, mascot, etc.). Footage related to the property should have copyright protection as well.
- Control of Event’s Environment and Location: A proactive approach must be followed concerning the advertising close to the event’s location and to tickets’ terms and conditions. Official sponsors have to demonstrate their association to the property by occupying as much space as they can close to the location of the event. Tickets’ purchases are usually followed by ticketholders’ acceptance of some terms and conditions which discourage them from promoting actions inside the stadium and from using the tickets for the same reason. “Brand police’s” role is to prevent ambush marketing attempts without taking heavy handed actions because of the risk to jeopardize the overall fan experience.
- Control of Event Partners: Most of the times, broadcasters and webcasters provide to official sponsors first rights to buy advertising time after agreement with the football property. Also, sponsors must show respect to each other’s rights and avoid self-ambushing. Finally, football properties and sponsors are conducting campaigns with main goal to make known to public which the official sponsors are (sponsorship activation).
- Football Properties Sponsorship Protection Program: FIFA and UEFA have created protection programs for their sponsors with information about the event, the laws and regulations, the know-how and some tools in order to help them maximize their exposure and their profits.
As we noticed during this post, nowadays, there are countless ways for ambushers to be promoted effectively via a football property. For this reason, official sponsors have to leverage their official sponsorships by defining their target audience and the right channels to reach them and by adding real value.
- Just being official is not enough
- Overreacting to an ambush will only compound the problem
They should have less focus on commercial value and more on delivering engagement. In order to remain effective, they have to offer to the fan moments and experiences that the ambushers are not able to.
In other words, they have to offer access to players, to teams, to certain locations (stadium, fan zones, locker rooms), to the trophy and more. In combination with given technology like augmented reality, 3D experience, media walls, digital souvenirs and more, they can create deeper fan experiences than ever and add real value to their sponsorship deals.
The evolution of ambush marketing leads inevitably to the evolution of official sponsorship. Many brands will continue investing in official sponsorship deals, but they will demand more from football properties in terms of access to content and flexibility in order to provide more value to their customers. Other brands will also continue investing in ambush marketing providing creative and intriguing campaigns in order to get fan’s attention. Official sponsorship and ambush marketing will remain effective as long as they are well-executed, improve fan’s experience and provide qualitative, interactive, relevant, engaging, personalized and valuable content to them.
Most of the times, the huge competition and conflict between official sponsors and ambushers leads to amazing campaigns and promotions. All of them have the potential to become winners or loosers on this race. Their success depends on their efforts, creativity, uniqueness, momentum and luck.
And the real winner is…
However, there is a definite winner of all this marketing frenzy. The fans. The content they receive has become more relevant, interactive and personalized than ever and this will certainly enhance their overall experience of any major football event from now on.
Do you know other recent ambush marketing occasions? Feel free to share them to the comment form below.
Chronis Angelidis
Passionate about Advertising, Marketing, Management, Branding, User Experience and Football.
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Chronis Angelidis
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