In the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, there were 12 official global sponsors, spending a total $866 million on their sponsorship. The biggest two sponsors, “Tier TwoPartners” were the Coca Cola and the Adidas. Coca-Cola was by far the most successful brand in leveraging its sponsorship: Chinese consumers reported a 19% increase in their awareness of the brand after the Olympics compared with before, with nearly 60% of all Chinese consumers in September being aware that it was an Olympic sponsor.
Adidas was the brand that achieved the greatest uplift, with a significant 24% increase in consumer awareness and made all Chinese medalists to wore Adidas sportswear during the medal ceremony.The number of consumers who were likely to think more positively and more likely to purchase the brand following the Olympics both increased more than 30%.
However, there existed also some brands such as, local sportswear retailer, “Li Ning”, who was not an official sponsor but brand awareness soared from 8% in April 2008 to 21% after the Games. Which can be also called; “Ambush marketing” and run TV spots featuring gymnasts and basketball players and was sponsoring the U.S. Olympic Ping-Pong team. ,
Such “ambush marketing” is paying off, as many consumers believe nonsponsors have an official link to the Games. While the Beijing organizers have gone after dozens of Chinese companies for illegally using the five-ring logo in ads, which was not ethical regarding the official sponsors who paid millions of dollars to be recognized during the olympics.
According to these points, I think, ambush marketing should be prevented especially in such global events, otherwise it will create a distrustful environment for potential sponsors and may damage the event as
they won’t be able to find any official supporter.
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