Major sporting events such as the Olympics and FIFA see ambush marketing as evil as it allows a company to reap the rewards from such events without sponsoring them. Furthermore, it dissuades companies from supporting future events as they will see little incentive in sponsorship if they can attain the same effects for free.
In my opinion, ambush marketing is genius. It is a cost effective way of promoting a business to a large number of people. A former Nike marketer said “If companies aren’t aggressive in promoting their sponsorships, then they should be ambushed. Sponsors should dominate all of the public relations, advertising, promotions… If you are sloppy, then maybe an ambush will force you to become a better marketer…”
I agree with this statement. If a company is willing to spend millions of dollars to become an official sponsor of an event, they should do all that they can in order to ensure that no one walks into their territory.
Companies such as Nike should be admired for their success in ambush marketing. To be recognized as the official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup by many people despite Adidas being the true sponsor is a great feat.