Month: December 2010

In Class 21, we briefly talked about Ambush Marketing. Ambush Marketing is when a company tries to associate themselves with a major event without actually being a sponsor. Companies can make a lot of money from this because they do not have to pay sponsorship fees. Ambush Marketing has been seen many times, most prominently in the 2008 and 2010 Olympics. It is highly effective and cost-cutting;however, questions arise over the ethics of such a marketing strategy. To avoid ambush marketers, sponsors are buying all advertising space within a 10-15 mile radius of the sponsored event. In the 2010 Olympics, Bell was the Official National Partner, as Telus lost the bid. It was hard for Bell to stop Telus in the Whistler area, as it had been sponsoring events in the community for many years. Telus even involved in types of ambush marketing. This can also be seen in 2008 when Nike tried to associate their company with the Olympics, without being the official sponsor. As companies are spending more and more money on sponsorships, the drive to do stop these companies are increasing. It can be very difficult to stop them because they go around the rules and make sure that they do not infringe.

If you had the opportunity to pursue something you were passionate about, and had the skills to help, would you work towards your goal? As the majority of my blogs show, I am passionate about Social Entrepreneurship. Imagining myself in the future helping other people, helps motivate me and dedicate my time to my school work. In the future I hope to be able to be a part of the Travelling team to Phalaborwa, South Africa with the Arc Initiative. I have been on previous humanitarian trips before, yet I never felt like I had the right skills to help.

Opportunities like this at Sauder show me that there is hope. Arc Initiatives goal is to transfer knowledge with the Phalaborwa community through a Business Ideas Competition, a Three Day Business Workshop, and Business Internships. A group of ten people are chosen to help. The team stays with host families, and work with local businesses, so that they are able to integrate themselves into the community. The workshop teaches locals entrepreneurial skills and business concepts that they would not have been able to get otherwise.

Thato Makgolane also really inspires me. He was the initiator of the Arc initiative. It is really great to see someone come to Canada and learn the skills to help their home country.