3rd case study (Marketing): Ambush Marketing, an innovative way to market

Recently, Ambush marketing has received a lot of
publicity in the Indian and international marketing arena.
Simply put, Ambush marketing occurs when a company
signs on to sponsor an event as official sponsor, and a
rival hijacks the mind space through backdoor means. It
is a concept that describes the actions of companies who
seek to associate themselves with a sponsored event
without paying the organizers. The ambush consists of
giving the impression to consumers that the ambusher is
somehow affiliated with the event. Ambush marketing
can provide some, if not most, of the benefits of a
legitimate, paid-for sponsorship at relatively little cost.
 

For example, In 1996, soft drinks giant Coke paid a
fortune for the right to call itself the official sponsor of the
World Cup. Rival Pepsi promptly launched a massive
advertising blitz, based on the catch-line: Nothing Official
About It. The Pepsi campaign captured the public
imagination - and Coke, the official sponsor, lost out.
The above incident highlights the subtlety & potential of
ambush marketing – hijacking the consumers’ mind.

Again in Fifa 2010, Adidas was the official sponsor of 

the even and Nike was not. But, Many fans have stated that

Nike’s “Write the Future” ad was simply better than 

 Adidas’ “The Quest” ad, and thus it is not a surprise  

Nike was winning with soccer fans and consumers. Nike's 

Ad included Rooney, Drogba, Ronaldinho etc. They also

started campaign called "Write your Headline - Write the future"

on Facebook and Twitter which again caught the imagination of

young guns. So while Adidas spent huge amount to be the 

official sponsor of FIFA'10, Nike invested much lesser and

still took the match away!!

Another example is the campaigning of airline companies

of India. Jetlite started with "We have changed" followed by

Kingfisher's "We made them change" and again followed by

Go Air's "We have not changed: We are still the smartest way to Fly".

It is to note that successful ambush strategies feed on ill-conceived
sponsorships and inept sponsors; in that regard, Ambush
Marketing is the natural result of healthy competition and
has the long-range effect of making sponsored properties
more valuable, not less, in that successful ambushes,
over time, help to weed out inferior sponsorship
propositions.  So, in spite of ethical issues raised by

many firms, it can be said that it is an war of

imaginative creativity not of harsh criticism/sarcasm and hence,

may not be a violation of normal ethical standards.

(Reference: http://www.ideasmakemarket.com/2011/05/ambush-marketing-most-contemporary.html)