Perspectives on the effects of ambush marketing: the case of Nike, the global ambusher.
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Date
2017
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Abstract
Nike is one of the most recognisable brands in world. The brand has developed a reputation for
its creative and imaginative marketing strategies, especially its effective and successful use of
ambush marketing as a marketing tactic during major sporting events. Thus, it has been dubbed
the global ambusher. The growth of ambush marketing as a marketing strategy during major
sporting events has raised concern over the value of sponsorship. This is because the ambush
marketer may receive similar benefits of sponsorship without the investment in sponsorship
fees. As such, this may have a direct effect on major stakeholders in a sponsorship relationship.
Therefore, this research is important as its primary purpose is to understand ambush marketing
as a marketing strategy and the effects it has on major stakeholders such as the public,
spectators and participants, event organisers, sponsors and ambushers. The study focuses on
Nike as a case in point. Understanding the effects of ambush marketing is important for policy
and law makers developing legislation to prevent ambush marketing. It is also important for
event organisers trying to source sponsors to fund events and to protect those sponsors’
sponsorship investments. Then finally for competing companies, understanding the potential
benefits and risks of ambush marketing is important as they weigh these up in the development
of their competitive strategies.
The literature review forms the foundation for this study. It has discussed sponsorship, in
particular, sport sponsorship before introducing the concept of ambush marketing and engaging
in topics such as ambush marketing strategies, ethics, legal implications and preventive steps.
In accordance with the objectives of this study, the focal literature around ambush marketing
focuses on the effects of ambush marketing on various stakeholders.
The research methodology for this study has focused on Nike as a global ambusher. Data was
collected from three different sources. The first source of data collection was academic articles
from Google Scholar and the second source was from popular online press articles around the
2014 Soccer World Cup. The final source of data was collected via a website called Social
Mention, which tracks data on social media websites.
The findings for this study suggest that despite the presence of Nike as an ambusher, Adidas
was able to counter-act with its own successful promotional and marketing strategies.
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However, Nike was able to achieve similar results and reactions from its target market without
having to spend on sponsorship fees that Adidas had to spend in addition to their promotional
and marketing campaigns. It can be concluded, that ambush marketing has a negative effect on
various stakeholders, however one should acknowledge the creative and imaginative ability of
ambushers to effectively compete with sponsors. In accordance, recommendations were made
to the various stakeholders on how to oppose the effects of ambush marketing.
Description
Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.