In exchange for these sponsorship fees, official sponsors usually receive exclusive rights to certain promotional opportunities such as banners at the racetrack, naming rights for tournaments or venues, the official supplier of a team`s uniform or shoes, merchandise bindings, and VIP tickets. This article examines the emerging trend in host countries to use laws to protect the Olympic brand and control ambush marketing. Specifically, he will discuss in depth Canada`s Olympic and Paralympic Marks Act. Issues related to the design of ambush marketing are examined as a legal issue rather than a business issue. The consequences of placing ambush marketing in a legal context are considered from a legal and business perspective. As the Winter Olympics in Vancouver approach, the action on the tracks, ties and halfpipes won`t be the only competition. For every Olympics and other high-profile sporting events, ambush marketing often offers a secondary spectacle. Ambush marketing refers to the moment when an advertiser who is not an official sponsor of an event tries to connect to the event without paying a sponsorship fee, and each Olympian offers a new venue for creative ambush marketers. This is frustrating for advertisers who pay millions of dollars to be official sponsors, and it can weaken an organizer`s negotiating position when trying to create sponsors for future events.
As with most events, sponsorship fees represent a large portion of the Olympic budget. The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games announced that it had already received more than $720 million in sponsorship fees for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. National Hockey League (NHL) of Canada and others vs Pepsi-Cola Ltd. is one of the most notable cases dealing with the field of ambush marketing. The NHL`s licensing authority, the National Hockey Services League (NHSL), signed a contract with Coca-Cola in 1989 to officially sponsor the event. As a result, Coca-Cola had the rights to NHL symbols for promotional events in the United States and Canada. However, Coca-Cola did not receive the advertising rights when broadcast in Canada during NHL televised games. The television rights were controlled by the NHL and not the NHSL and were sold to Molson Breweries of Canada Ltd.
in 1988 under a 5-year contract. Molson Breweries sold the contract to Coca-Cola`s biggest competitor, Pepsi-Cola. Pepsi ran a television advertising campaign without using NHL symbols, but the ad was for a hockey competition. Over the years, brands have consistently faced such « grievances. » In 2018, when Prithvi Shaw became the youngest Indian to complete a century of trial in his early days, Freecharge and Swiggy received a cease and desist letter for ambush marketing by Shaw`s management company. What about marketing around the World Cup and other tournaments? One of the difficulties in dealing with ambush marketing is that it often does not violate the law unless the ambush marketer uses the marks of an official organizer or sponsor, or engages in unfair or deceptive behavior. State and federal laws prohibit a company from using someone else`s trademark without permission in a way that creates confusion, such as including. B someone else`s trademark on a company`s product or by advertising the company`s own product or service. There are many state and federal laws on unfair competition and misleading advertising that prohibit companies from engaging in unfair competition or engaging in fraudulent behavior in order to market or sell their products. Ambush marketing not only harms the value of the celebrity`s brand, but also causes financial damage to the celebrity and the brands it promotes. Such a practice is a competition in bad faith; when a competitor jumps in his moment to milk money and creates his own opportunity. In such cases, it will only be right for the celebrity to be paid fairly. Most importantly, if there is any doubt as to whether a marketing campaign could constitute ambush marketing, seek legal advice before launching the campaign.
It may be too late (and very expensive) to solve problems once the campaign is launched. « I find news feeds extremely useful and relevant to my area of expertise and the issues facing my business. As I`m very happy with the News Feed (it`s one of the best I have), I don`t have any suggestions for improvement at the moment. In the digital age, brands are finding more subtle ways to connect with events, athletes, teams and competitions. Live sporting events also remain « rendezvous » in a media landscape that is largely oriented towards on-demand content. The large audience preparing for major tournaments is an almost irresistible target for marketing teams. Similarly, music festivals attract a dedicated audience (often with disposable income) and have a certain cultural seal of approval, making it very attractive for brands to be associated with them. Sponsorship is an important part of the sports ecosystem, especially in smaller sports, as the revenues help improve facilities and fund training and awareness programs. The same goes for niche events, which often rely heavily on sponsorship to meet financial obligations to artists and suppliers. Although digital ambush marketing is (for the most part completely legal), it can dilute the value of sponsorship rights as it undermines the exclusivity that many sponsors expect.
Of course, if a brand does not sponsor an event, competition, team or athlete, but receives the benefit of an association with a competition or event, this will indirectly negatively affect these stakeholders. Not investing directly in the event or sport in question cannot go unnoticed by a brand`s supporters and can expose the brand to criticism for not putting money in stakeholder coffers. For brands considering engaging in practices that might be called digital ambush marketing, there are a few important questions to consider. While ambush marketing is more common at high-profile events such as the Olympics or The World Cup, action sports events are certainly not immune. As action sports develop, ambush marketing will undoubtedly be an issue for promoters, and the time to combat ambush marketing for all promoters is well before the start of the event. What about marketing around the London 2012 Olympic Games? There have been many well-known ambushes at the Winter and Summer Olympics, involving major brands such as Kodak and Fujifilm, American Express and VISA, and Reebok and Nike. Just recently, Major League Soccer filed a lawsuit against Black & Decker, accusing the company of engaging in several ambush marketing tactics around matches with the Mexican national soccer team. .