When Case 3 mentioned ambush marketing, it reminded me of an incident in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Li Ning, one of China’s greatest athletes of all time, was secretly chosen to light the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony. This honor brought him and his sports company worldwide attention and a prominent spot in Olympic history. On the other hand, Adidas, who spent millions of dollars to become a major sponsor of the Beijing Olympics, had to stand by and watch one of its biggest competitors in the Chinese market steal one of the biggest moments of the games.
Would this be considered as ambush marketing? If yes, it maybe the greatest marketing ambush in sports history. However, choosing Li Ning to light the cauldron is considered reasonable as he is one of China’s greatest sports legends. If it weren’t him, who else would be qualified to light the cauldron?
Another interesting scene is something that happens in almost every major sporting event. For example, we see that the official sponsor of the event is Adidas, but at the same time there are a lot of athletes wearing Nike uniforms. Note that Nike has no specific relationship with the event, but it has stratospheric contracts with a number of the teams and players in the tournament (Notice the boots and the jersey of the player in the picture above). Would this be considered as ambush marketing as well? Unfortunately, in my opinion, these issues are really complicated and there is no way to completely eliminate ambush marketing as long as it doesn’t violate laws.
References:
http://www.suite101.com/content/ambush-marketing-at-the-olympic-games-a168192
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