Ambush Marketing : The Art of Diverting Attention

Ambush marketing is a strategy used by companies to promote their brands at events without paying any sponsorship fees. An example : “Dutch buyers of Heineken beer were given green hats to wear to the recent Euro 2008 football tournament. Anyone who tried to enter a stadium wearing one, however, as many fans did in 2004, was asked to remove it.

The hats were an “ambush marketing” campaign… Heineken’s rival, Carlsberg, was an official sponsor of Euro 2008, paying $21m for the privilege. A few TV close-ups of fans wearing Heineken hats would have cost very little by comparison”

China, the host of the 2008 Olympics, is aware of these tactics and has taken precautions to control ‘all prominent advertising sites in the Chinese capital’ in order to prevent other companies from putting up or buying ads to take advantage of the massive increase in human traffic. They don’t want their official sponsors to be upstaged by other competitors.

Ambush marketing is opportunistic. It’s goal is to take advantage of situations which allow brands/products to get extra exposure at minimal cost. Sometimes that involves going right into the lions den and clashing head on with a competitor who dominates the main message dissemination channels. Sometimes it requires stealth and more guerrilla-like tactics.

What marketers and anyone who wants to promote themselves can learn is the strategy of seeking out people-saturated public spaces (online or offline) and seek to populate that area with your message. Buskers, beggars and poster street teams are all familiar with how to promote their agenda or needs in areas where people frequently pass through.

Contextual relevance is also important. Selling is more natural and persuasive when it flows alongside the momentum generated by the immediate environment and current news/trends.

Just the other day, I went to a rock concert and was waiting in the queue when I noticed a guy from a local radio station standing at the side of the road. As people passed by, he gave them each a high-five while saying out the name of his station.

It was innocuous enough, everyone took it in good taste. After the concert finished, I left the venue with my friends. While walking on the path out, we were stopped by three guys who handed us each a flyer for their band. On it was their band logo as well as their myspace and facebook URLs, along with a link to a free download of some tracks from their latest album.

These people anticipated an opportunity: a rock concert would bring out hordes of music fans, many of which are targeted high-value prospects. The right pitch at the right time/place.

Unknown Celcom campaign for Liga M

Ok...aku harap aku tak offend sape2. Doing this solely for fun, itu jer. Apapun, congrats to Celcom for having a really good campaign sepanjang World Cup 2010 this year. Nak gak tau siapa agency disebalik campaign diorang nie. And tak lupa jugak a big tahniah to Spain for being a champion, a deserved champion i might add.

To be honest, I was rooting for Netherland but seeing them played in the Final is somewhat hard for me to stomach. Bukan Netherland yang aku kenal. Total Football? Lupakan jer. Even the legendary Johan Cruyff hits out at his own national team saying that they played anti-football. How true.

Since Euro 2012 is around the corner (yes plus all the qualifying lah) hopefully Bert van Marwijk will do something with his underrated and underperformed Netherland. Sementara tue, kita layan jer lah pusingan kelayakan ke Euro 2012 yang akan bermula nanti.