Sports Ambush Marketing - Of balls and condoms!

Yesterday I hosted this big party for all my friends. To my utter disgust, my roommate refused to help me with anything – right from the arrangements to the finances. My friends turn up, have a gala time of it and are all set to leave but wait…I hear a familiar voice interrupting for an announcement. ‘It was “our” pleasure having you here’ – he shouts out. What?? – The SOB has the audacity to step out from the sheets and stake an equal claim to my $1000 investment – let alone the effort!…. Bloody “ambusher”!!!

Sports Ambush Marketing has been a contentious issue in contemporary times with companies trying to break into the limelight at major sporting events without being official sponsors, paying a fee or breaking any laws. Some of these campaigns have been quite innovative and hilarious at the same time.

BALLS:

Pringles went about distributing nearly 24,000 cans to audiences just outside the All England Club during Wimbledon. It was designed and packaged in the standard tubes albeit with a new slogan ‘These are not tennis balls!’

The story does not end there. They went as far as hunting down the look alikes of the legendary superstars Bjorn Borg and Roger Federer to pose with Sir Cliff Richard to capture the attention of the media. The ambush was a success in terms of getting the product inside the courts. Some balls!!!

CONDOMS

Chinese condom-maker Elasun shot to fame with an outrageously brilliant piece of advertising. TV marketing of condoms is forbidden in China and people are too shy to talk about condoms. But when you have a country with the world’s largest population hooked on the internet – why even bother? Five Olympic disciplines were deemed to be the “safest” of them all ….

Archery – “Hitting the sweet spot “

Basketball – “Slam Dunk!”

Swimming – “Dive and Stroke”

Cycling – “Just Ride It”

Gymnastics – “Stand up and deliver”