With all the talk of ‘ambush’ marketing lately, it’s a topic worthwhile blogging about. As we talked about in class briefly, during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, although the official athletic sponsor was Adidas, Nike seems to have been recognized more in China through their strategic sponsorship of Chinese star hurdler Liu Xiang. 
Now this sponsorship can definitely be viewed both ways. Obviously, Adidas and the IOC would term this type of sponsorship, “ambush marketing,” but in this particular case I truly believe Nike’s ‘Guerrilla’ marketing strategy was well thought out and delivered a better results than Adidas’ official sponsorship. Nike had the specific goal to expand more into China and gain the loyalty and respect from the Chinese population. By sponsoring China’s premier sprinter, Nike was able to gain the interest in Nike products because the Chinese people idolize Liu Xiang and want to be as much like him as possible, much the same as to why many Americans buy Nike Air Jordan’s to be like Michael Jordan. Nike seams to utilize these types of tactics no matter the situation which seams to have better results with consumers who would rather be like their idol that chose a brand that is associated with the entire even such as Adidas. Why spend the money sponsoring a huge event like the Olympics for hundreds of millions of dollars when you can sponsor one athlete that gains you better exposure?
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