1. [Image Above: "The Keep West-aSide. Make a smart choice !" Billboard on Hosur Road (Just Before
Forum Mall), Bangalore
Apparently its part of Big Bazaar‘s (owned by Biyani’s Future Group) new Guerrilla Marketing Strategy
Guerrilla force is divided into small groups that selectively attacks the target at its weak points.
2. Ambush marketing is an effort by an unauthorized party to appropriate the goodwill of
an event at the expense of another company's (usually a rival's) association with the
event. It occurs at two levels — onsite and on media. Onsite ambush marketing occurs
at the event itself and the area surrounding it, including the approach roads and so on,
and covers everything from refreshments, clothing, billboards, posters, stalls and so on.
Samsung, during the 1996 Olympic Games, launched a very successful onsite ambush
effort in Atlanta City. Samsung, an unofficial Olympic sponsor, launched an aggressive
ambush marketing scheme directed at Panasonic by taking squatters rights to a parking
lot on the outer limits of the Centennial Olympic Park. Panasonic, the official Olympic
sponsor, displayed its logo on the CNN tower looming over the Olympic Park. The
result, Panasonic captured only three per cent awareness compared to the nine per cent
stolen by Samsung.
The objectives of ambush marketing are two. First, to get maximum returns on the
marketing buck. Official sponsorship costs are forbiddingly high, even for deep-
pocketed marketers, and simply unaffordable for others.
The second and more common reason: to undermine the branding efforts of rivals by
stealing the attention, increasing the clutter and confusing the viewers.
3. Perhaps the best known example of ambush marketing in India came during the 1996
cricket World Cup.
Coke paid Rs 40 crore to be called an official sponsor, but Pepsi's brilliant counter ad
"nothing official about it" clearly occupied more of the consumer' Studies have shown
that ambush marketers often get at least as much mileage as the official sponsors. That
explains why sporting bodies are alarmed by the phenomenon.
Guerrilla marketing is the practice of using public spaces and unsponsored events to
build brand awareness or encourage trial. That is, targeting situations where large
groups of people may gather and introducing them to your product or service.
Ambush - at sponsored client events to find other product brands using backhanded
tactics to get access to an event and tap into crowds for sampling and product
awareness.
There are some common strategies used by ambush marketers. They will have a full
events/opportunities calendar developed in the same way as any good guerrilla
marketer. They are attracted by the scent of a good crowd. They may even pay for
event tickets or get branded team uniforms for promotional staff and members of the
public to wear when attending the event that suits their brand.