Find out what ambush marketing is and why it causes so much controversy
Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2025 11:48 am
In today's article, we're talking about marketing deception . But don't worry! This also has a lot to do with the concept and practices of ambush marketing , and you'll understand why later.
However, before going into the subject, it is worth reflecting a little.
Major events like the World Cup, the Olympics, and the Super Bowl amazon database tend to stir up the emotions, interests, and routines of millions and billions of people around the world, right?
Brands that exclusively sponsor or support these major events have very valuable advertising space. In fact, they use these environments to control the monopoly of consumption and exposure during the programming.
So far, nothing special. After all, these brands paid for this exclusivity. But what about those who are not official sponsors of these events? What can they do to attract the public's attention?
That's where some tricks (which can be good or bad) and ambush marketing come in. Below, you'll better understand this concept, the main examples, and possible punishments for those who practice it.
Follow us!
Ambush marketing concept
Classic examples
Are there any penalties for this practice?
Challenges of ambush marketing
Ambush marketing concept
Ambush marketing can be understood as a set of parallel advertising actions, direct or indirect, carried out by non-sponsoring brands.
It is about taking advantage of the visibility, movement and consumer interest generated by major events, even without sponsoring them .
Typically, this is a strategy used by brands that compete directly with the official sponsors of an event or program.
To better understand ambush marketing, this concept is subdivided into two categories:
Partnership Ambush Marketing
Intrusion ambush marketing
Find out more below!
Partnership Ambush Marketing
In this type, the company takes advantage of any symbol (names, brands, images, mascots, among others) of an event in which it is not a sponsor or does not officially support in order to obtain an economic or advertising advantage.
The idea is to induce the public to believe that their products, services, brands and content are approved by or associated with the official organization of the event in question.
For example, if a restaurant posts content on Facebook with the following invitation text: “Bring your friends to enjoy the 2022 World Cup games” and with the competition’s logo in the lower corner of the image, the establishment is doing ambush marketing.
Well, but is this legally correct? The answer is no.
If the restaurant is not an official sponsor of the World Cup, it does not have the right to market the name and logo of the competition.
Are there any punishments for this? Yes! But this is a topic for the final portion of the text.
Intrusion ambush marketing
Intrusive ambush marketing occurs when brands and companies engage in promotional activities at the event venue that they do not support or sponsor.
These are inappropriate marketing actions carried out in a space that should be exclusive to those who officially sponsor the event.
The most common cases occur in very subtle marketing actions such as when a player celebrates a goal by making a poster that reminds one of a certain brand.
Cases like this have already happened and we will show it in the next topic.
Classic examples
The term ambush marketing is newer, but this opportunistic practice is ancient.
To help you understand it, we have selected 5 well-known examples that you may not even have known were an ambush, but now you will:
Audi vs BMW battle
The city of Santa Monica, California (USA) has been an opportune battleground for the dispute between these large vehicle manufacturers for dominance of advertising space.
The war began after BMW advertised an event in Wisconsin through a supplementary campaign. The slogan for the action was “A BMW rally with two service centers nearby. What's next, paramedics in a chess tournament? ”
For its part, Audi detected the opportunity to monetize the competitor's campaign and, in response to the former's ads, the company bought advertising space in the same city to publish an ad mocking the BRW slogan.
The capricious company then bought a new billboard to broadcast another advertisement mocking its competitor.
BMW did not remain silent and responded to the provocation by buying a space in front of the Audi advertisement with the typical chess expression “Checkmate”. But what nobody knew is that this somewhat – or quite – childish battle was far from over.
After BMW's famous checkmate, Audi launched another advertisement in response and, to end the unconventional day, the "rival" company decided to advertise on a blimp tied to its last fence.
Nike's giant panel at the 2010 World Cup
Adidas was one of the sponsors of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Nike then placed a 44-metre-high panel on the tallest building in Johannesburg.
The panel was lit from 6pm to 6am and showed images of footballing greats such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, alongside the phrase “write the future”.
Beats headphones dispute at London Olympics
The 2012 Olympics in London, England. To create spontaneous advertisements during the event, the Beats headphone brand, owned by American rock star Dr. Dre, distributed colorful accessories to athletes from different delegations.
The move proved so popular that the company closed its distribution point in central London before the Olympic Committee intervened and imposed sanctions.
Nike and its golden sneakers at the 1996 Olympics
During the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, American sprinter Michael Johnson stood out by breaking two world records by winning the 200 and 400 metre sprint events.
The ambush there was that he was wearing the striking golden Nike sneakers, and the official sponsor of the sporting event was Reebok .
To further increase Nike's visibility and diminish that of its competitors, Johnson appeared on the cover of Times magazine with the shoes hanging around his neck along with his two gold medals.
Furthermore, the fact that Michael Johnson excelled in racing in his home country (USA) was even better for Nike, which was very opportunistic.
Stella Artois and its 15 advertisements
In 2011, the beer manufacturer structured a campaign with 15 ads at the Long Island Rail Road station located near the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, even though Heineken was an official sponsor of the tournament .
Indeed, the campaign was extremely effective, creating the impression that Stella Artois was sponsoring the event.
Are there any penalties for this practice?
Just like Guerrilla Marketing , this is a rather controversial and contentious topic, mainly due to the different opinions about the blurred line between aggressive marketing actions and unfair strategies.
In fact, ambush marketing, when characterized as abusive through the use of very deliberate strategies or resources , is considered an illegal practice. It can even have legal implications for brands that try to be deceitful.
Improper and unethical ambush marketing can lead to legal action , penalties, and often heavy fines for brands and companies that engage in these promotional activities.
Challenges of ambush marketing
We can analyze the challenges of this marketing from three points of view: that of the events, that of the sponsoring brands and that of the brands that want to be present at the event.
The challenge for events lies in creating increasingly efficient mechanisms to monitor ambush actions.
The intention is to increase the protection of the spaces of the sponsoring brands, since they invest their funds and help the event happen.
Brands that officially sponsor or support events must promote innovation and creativity in their marketing actions.
After all, they have the exclusivity of these spaces and, therefore, they have the obligation to differentiate themselves from all their competitors.
On the other hand, brands and companies that are on the sidelines of events must be smart enough to stand out without breaking the rules of the game.
However, before going into the subject, it is worth reflecting a little.
Major events like the World Cup, the Olympics, and the Super Bowl amazon database tend to stir up the emotions, interests, and routines of millions and billions of people around the world, right?
Brands that exclusively sponsor or support these major events have very valuable advertising space. In fact, they use these environments to control the monopoly of consumption and exposure during the programming.
So far, nothing special. After all, these brands paid for this exclusivity. But what about those who are not official sponsors of these events? What can they do to attract the public's attention?
That's where some tricks (which can be good or bad) and ambush marketing come in. Below, you'll better understand this concept, the main examples, and possible punishments for those who practice it.
Follow us!
Ambush marketing concept
Classic examples
Are there any penalties for this practice?
Challenges of ambush marketing
Ambush marketing concept
Ambush marketing can be understood as a set of parallel advertising actions, direct or indirect, carried out by non-sponsoring brands.
It is about taking advantage of the visibility, movement and consumer interest generated by major events, even without sponsoring them .
Typically, this is a strategy used by brands that compete directly with the official sponsors of an event or program.
To better understand ambush marketing, this concept is subdivided into two categories:
Partnership Ambush Marketing
Intrusion ambush marketing
Find out more below!
Partnership Ambush Marketing
In this type, the company takes advantage of any symbol (names, brands, images, mascots, among others) of an event in which it is not a sponsor or does not officially support in order to obtain an economic or advertising advantage.
The idea is to induce the public to believe that their products, services, brands and content are approved by or associated with the official organization of the event in question.
For example, if a restaurant posts content on Facebook with the following invitation text: “Bring your friends to enjoy the 2022 World Cup games” and with the competition’s logo in the lower corner of the image, the establishment is doing ambush marketing.
Well, but is this legally correct? The answer is no.
If the restaurant is not an official sponsor of the World Cup, it does not have the right to market the name and logo of the competition.
Are there any punishments for this? Yes! But this is a topic for the final portion of the text.
Intrusion ambush marketing
Intrusive ambush marketing occurs when brands and companies engage in promotional activities at the event venue that they do not support or sponsor.
These are inappropriate marketing actions carried out in a space that should be exclusive to those who officially sponsor the event.
The most common cases occur in very subtle marketing actions such as when a player celebrates a goal by making a poster that reminds one of a certain brand.
Cases like this have already happened and we will show it in the next topic.
Classic examples
The term ambush marketing is newer, but this opportunistic practice is ancient.
To help you understand it, we have selected 5 well-known examples that you may not even have known were an ambush, but now you will:
Audi vs BMW battle
The city of Santa Monica, California (USA) has been an opportune battleground for the dispute between these large vehicle manufacturers for dominance of advertising space.
The war began after BMW advertised an event in Wisconsin through a supplementary campaign. The slogan for the action was “A BMW rally with two service centers nearby. What's next, paramedics in a chess tournament? ”
For its part, Audi detected the opportunity to monetize the competitor's campaign and, in response to the former's ads, the company bought advertising space in the same city to publish an ad mocking the BRW slogan.
The capricious company then bought a new billboard to broadcast another advertisement mocking its competitor.
BMW did not remain silent and responded to the provocation by buying a space in front of the Audi advertisement with the typical chess expression “Checkmate”. But what nobody knew is that this somewhat – or quite – childish battle was far from over.
After BMW's famous checkmate, Audi launched another advertisement in response and, to end the unconventional day, the "rival" company decided to advertise on a blimp tied to its last fence.
Nike's giant panel at the 2010 World Cup
Adidas was one of the sponsors of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Nike then placed a 44-metre-high panel on the tallest building in Johannesburg.
The panel was lit from 6pm to 6am and showed images of footballing greats such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, alongside the phrase “write the future”.
Beats headphones dispute at London Olympics
The 2012 Olympics in London, England. To create spontaneous advertisements during the event, the Beats headphone brand, owned by American rock star Dr. Dre, distributed colorful accessories to athletes from different delegations.
The move proved so popular that the company closed its distribution point in central London before the Olympic Committee intervened and imposed sanctions.
Nike and its golden sneakers at the 1996 Olympics
During the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, American sprinter Michael Johnson stood out by breaking two world records by winning the 200 and 400 metre sprint events.
The ambush there was that he was wearing the striking golden Nike sneakers, and the official sponsor of the sporting event was Reebok .
To further increase Nike's visibility and diminish that of its competitors, Johnson appeared on the cover of Times magazine with the shoes hanging around his neck along with his two gold medals.
Furthermore, the fact that Michael Johnson excelled in racing in his home country (USA) was even better for Nike, which was very opportunistic.
Stella Artois and its 15 advertisements
In 2011, the beer manufacturer structured a campaign with 15 ads at the Long Island Rail Road station located near the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, even though Heineken was an official sponsor of the tournament .
Indeed, the campaign was extremely effective, creating the impression that Stella Artois was sponsoring the event.
Are there any penalties for this practice?
Just like Guerrilla Marketing , this is a rather controversial and contentious topic, mainly due to the different opinions about the blurred line between aggressive marketing actions and unfair strategies.
In fact, ambush marketing, when characterized as abusive through the use of very deliberate strategies or resources , is considered an illegal practice. It can even have legal implications for brands that try to be deceitful.
Improper and unethical ambush marketing can lead to legal action , penalties, and often heavy fines for brands and companies that engage in these promotional activities.
Challenges of ambush marketing
We can analyze the challenges of this marketing from three points of view: that of the events, that of the sponsoring brands and that of the brands that want to be present at the event.
The challenge for events lies in creating increasingly efficient mechanisms to monitor ambush actions.
The intention is to increase the protection of the spaces of the sponsoring brands, since they invest their funds and help the event happen.
Brands that officially sponsor or support events must promote innovation and creativity in their marketing actions.
After all, they have the exclusivity of these spaces and, therefore, they have the obligation to differentiate themselves from all their competitors.
On the other hand, brands and companies that are on the sidelines of events must be smart enough to stand out without breaking the rules of the game.