Example Of Ambush Marketing

“For a promotion to be successful, it must be profitable. And to be profitable, it must enhance some, if not all, of the following goals: 1. Paid attendance, 2. Corporate tie-ins, 3. Sponsor value, and 4. Media coverage” (Helitzer 317). Promotions must increase the number of people at the event, or paid attendance, it also must enhance corporate tie-ins, which are signs or give-a-ways at the stadium. Sponsor value, or the value perceived by the sponsor must also be enhanced along with media coverage. Media coverage is enhanced by sending the local or national media sources bulletins about the events or by having press conferences. A strategy that a sports marketer must use is to stagger the promotional gimmicks throughout the event. If one staggers the promotion, then the audience is always aware of the event and looking out for the promotions.

| * Endorsing Athletes * Sponsoring Sports events * City based advertisements * Banners & Billboards * Themes on

NASCAR’s branding strategy depended heavily on sponsorships. The concentrated focus on sponsorships, without providing categorical exclusivity to sponsors, made NASCAR easily expendable. Ferrell and Hartline reported that 50% of NASCAR’s revenue source was from sponsorships alone (2014, p. 437). As a former Account Executive, the goal is to always educate and inform advertisers/sponsors that marketing shares the significance level with that of paying the company’s utility bills; therefore, NASCAR failed to improvise with that notion, coupled with sponsorship saturation, and as a result making them susceptible to economic downfall. Marketing experts Ferrell and Hartline expressed similar interest, saying that one potential weakness of NASCAR’s

Sponsorship is a cash in-kind fee paid to a property normally in sports, arts and entertainment in return for access to the commercial publicity associated with that product. For example a company may provide equipment for a famous athlete and ask in exchange for its logo to appear on its clothing and other assets in order for the company to receive brand recognition.

A. more and more options for companies large and small to engage in sport sponsorship

The use of specific athletes in marketing campaigns really began to show promise when athletes like Jordan began wearing their own brands of shoes. The idea to consumers or fans of the NBA that they could wear the same shoes as Michael Jordan, and somehow play like him was an easy sell by Nike. Today it is now common for marketable athletes in almost all sports to wear their own style of shoes, spikes, or skates. An interesting point to make is that through Nike Michael Jordan eventually launched his own clothing line called Jumpman23 that makes everything from socks and underwear to winter coats. Even though Jordan has been retired since 1999 the Jumpman23 company has continued to release a new shoe every single year that are simply called “Jordan 24”, an increasing corresponding number to the number of years the shoes have been produced. The new Jordan shoes still retails at over $150 a pair even though Mike hasn’t stepped on the court in 11 years! After retirement and becoming the CEO of the Jumpman brand Michael Jordan has been able to court other famous athletes from a variety of sports to wear his brand. A few examples of the athletes include Derek Jeter (baseball), Dwayne Wade (basketball), Jason Taylor (football), and April Holmes (track and field). The wide range of athletes in all different sports who now market a brand for arguably the greatest athlete of all time truly shows the money, power, and influence an athlete can experience

Guerilla marketing aims to achieve traditional marketing and advertising goals such as exposure, frequency, awareness and reaching out to consumers but by employing unconventional methods. The strategy of guerilla marketing is to target small and specialized customer groups in such a way that bigger companies would not find it worthwhile to retaliate. The word ‘guerilla' stems from the concept of ‘guerilla' warfare, which is a tactic whereby infantry divisions wait for their enemy and attack them by surprise instead of approaching the enemy line lacking subtlety and having little regard for fatality. Guerilla marketing can be as different from traditional marketing as guerilla warfare is from traditional warfare.

Companies all over the world are in bidding wars to get their name at the top. Whether it's on the hood of a car in a NASCAR race or on the jersey of a soccer team, these companies know the importance of sponsorship. Sponsors come from every corner of the business world and some even make it big if their sponsored athlete makes it big.

This article continues to explain that once a sports marketer creates a product and advertises it on a small scale, “Sports marketers get ahead by gradually representing bigger, more important and more prestigious sports teams, companies, associations, and athletes.” In other words, sports marketers need to have a plan of action to promote their product on a larger scale over time. Also, sports marketers spend much of their planning on the aspect of promotion. Mihai verifies that the category of promotion serves to prove that the product is desirable through advertising, sales, sponsorship and public relations. If a sports marketer follows these planning steps, his/her work will lead to a successful product with a large margin of profit.

In traditional marketing business companies have to make sure that they are providing the right product. Determining the product is essential in business. For instance, Pepsi Co. has defined its product as cola soda. Likewise in sports marketing a product needs to be defined also. A sports agent’s product is the athlete. He or she has to represent the client well enough to get preferred contracts or top dollar endorsements. There has been some debate as to what constitutes the “core” product in sport marketing. For example, some posit that the core product is the actual event. On the other hand, if we applied a mainstream marketing definition, the “core” product is the benefit that consumers seek from a product, service, or experience, therefore taking the focus off of the actual event. (Masteralexis, Carol & Mary, 2012)

Sports’ marketing is becoming more readily known as the vehicle that drives the sports business to success. It is “orientated toward consumers and about thinking, deciding and acting in terms of the final consumer. You have to know who your consumers are, what they want and need and use this effectively as a sports marketer orientating the drive more toward the market, not the product (Sports Marketing: The motor that drives the sports business

The career of a sport management professional offers a large number of various positions. One such career is that of a director who specializes in promotion and development. “Promotion and development directors are hired by sports teams and school athletic programs to design and implement promotional campaigns that will increase ticket sales” (Sports Management 1). The biggest part of their job is to provide a profit for the organization they are working for. Directors set up opportunities for the sports team to make money off of sponsors. They also set up deals with advertisers to pay a sum of money in exchange for their ads or products to be listed or shown at their sporting event (Sports Management 1). Good advertising and production of cash flow go hand in hand while promotion directors try to help them to succeed. Development and promotion directors play an important role in developing a profit for their organizations.

Sports' marketing is a comparatively new field and dimension within the broad concept of marketing. It is continuously evolving and changing today as society combats the free market to decide the legal and ethical limitations of business today. It is significant to note that this discipline within marketing is not clearly defined. Sports today use corporate sponsorships and television money in order to contend and pay for top quality athletes. Those companies use teams, leagues, colleges, and individuals to make a distinction between their products in a very aggressive business environment. What makes up sports marketing to one person could be considered selling out to another. The business world keeps pushing to find a competitive advantage and the sports world has in general welcomed the money offered (Weikel, n.d.).

Pepsi usually use the sports to market its products. The marketing campaign for Pepsi mainly depends on the sports

The overall marketing communications campaign is analogous to a war. The many battles within the campaign are the communications mix elements or geographical areas targeted. For example the advertising campaign is a series of advertisements, and the activities that help produce them, which are designed to acieve interrelated goal.