Promo - January 2008 - (Page 39)

Book Excerpt IN GOOD COMPANY two things exist, and the appropriate amount of time, effort, resources, and internal buy-in are invested, ambush marketing can work really well. This is not an everyday occurrence. Cards on the table, in my 20-year career, I have carried out five major ambushes and coached clients through a few more. Every one of them was a huge success. On the other hand, I have stopped clients from carrying out well over 100 ambushes that were ill-conceived, egodriven disasters waiting to happen. The secret is picking the right opportunities. If you can live with the downside of having no actual sponsorship benefits, ambush creates a playing field with virtually no boundaries. Just imagine not having to get approvals, water down ideas, or worry about some kind of sponsor hierarchy. Imagine how much you can achieve if you don’t have to worry about the rules of collaboration between you and the sponsee and can, instead, concentrate on collaborating with your target market. While I would never say that ambush is cheap, there is no question that it is cheaper than sponsorship. Basically, the cost of doing a strategic ambush is the same as sponsoring, except for the fee. With fees for major events regularly going into the tens of millions of dollars, this can be a major factor. Like not paying fees and not having a contract, another great reason to ambush has to do with avoiding aspects of sponsorship that can make life and getting good results really difficult: you will have no sponsee relationship to manage. There is no question that some sponsees are wonderful, with the relationship requiring minimal management to hum along. On the other hand, keeping some sponsees on track is like herding cats. There are reports that say things like “75 percent of people surveyed said they would think less of a company that engages in ambush marketing.” That doesn’t surprise me at all. Questions phrased like that are leading, clearly putting ambush into the “ethical” headspace, and often timed to coincide with negative ambush media coverage. What those surveys don’t say is how ambush marketing impacts on actual buying habits and brand perceptions, and there is simply no evidence that ambush negatively affects either one. Just in my own experience, having worked with several clients that have ambushed at one time or another and measured the results, I can say that not one of them had any fall in consumer perception or purchase behavior whatsoever. If you need further evidence, look in your closet. Did the fact that Nike is one of the most prolific ambushers around stop you from buying their shoes? When it comes to ambush, Nike rewrote the book. For one Olympics after another, they comprehensively ambushed the athletic apparel category, to the point where the value of sponsorship of that category was diminished. How about your wallet? Credit card companies are renowned for ambushing, as are airlines, but I bet that hasn’t made you less likely to fly with them. Still drink Coke or Pepsi? Both are huge ambushers all around the world. The same goes for virtually every beer brand. Leverage is what creates the results. If a sponsor invests in potential and doesn’t exploit it, then it’s their own P fault if they get ambushed. l Kim Skildum-Reid has more than 22 years experience as a corporate sponsorship consultant to blue-chip corporations in the U.S., Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Australasia. Born and raised in Minnesota, she moved to Australia in September 1992 and has since worked from there. If you do decide to consider ambush, you will be in good company. The following companies are just a small sample of those that have undertaken at least one type of ambush at one time or another. Nike Qantas Sprint Visa Pepsi BMW Mini Cooper Adidas San Miguel Colgate-Palmolive Coca-Cola MasterCard Puma Lufthansa American Express Procter and Gamble Vodafone Reebok Dunkin’ Donuts Samsung Kodak Travelex New Balance Virgin AT&T Wendy’s Fuji Fila Knight-Ridder Miller Brewing 39 Promo / WWW.PROMOMAGAZINE.COM / January 2008 http://www.promomagazine.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Promo - January 2008

Promo - January 2008 Contents Editor's Note Viral But Virtuous Slap Shot Power Chords Tuning In Auto Play Trekkies Unite Commentary Retail Report: Get In Here! Generating Store Traffic Yankee Candle Shopper Marketing What Seniors Want Cyber Stumping Party Hearty Q & A: Paper Trail Ambush Marketing The Agency Center Resource Center Back-End Foundation Index of Advertisers

Promo - January 2008

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