jasminewing

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.