Brands which undertake ambush marketing will fail to replicate the success and consumer experience of official sponsors of sporting events, according to two leading sports marketers and sponsors of the Rugby World Cup. Tim Ellerton, global sponsorship manager of Heineken, a sponsor of the Rugby World Cup and Champions League football, has admitted that some rival beer brands are achieving cut-through with ambush marketing. Ellerton pointed to the example of beer brand London Pride as an example of a brand which is running a poster campaign designed to highlight links with the Rugby World Cup without it being an official sponsor. Ellerton said, “Don’t get me wrong, ambush marketing can be done well. A lot of our competitors are doing some successful work around the Rugby World Cup, and that’s for them.”
TOO FAR REMOVED: But Ellerton said brands employing such ambush marketing tactics failed to deliver the kind of consumer experience that legitimate sponsors paid for. Ellerton pointed to the example of Heineken offering 48 fans the chance to be pitch-side for the coin toss to the start of a World Cup Rugby match, as an example of something that only Heineken can offer as part of its sponsorship deal. Mark Cameron, brand experience director, global marketing, Jaguar Land Rover, also stressed the importance of exclusivity to sponsors. Like Heineken, Land Rover is a sponsor of the Rugby World Cup. Commenting on ambush marketing, Cameron said, “By and large, you do work really hard if you are outside that rights cordon." But those marketers are too far removed from the event "to do it properly in my view,” he added. Cameron and Ellerton were speaking on a panel discussion along with Jose Maria Sanz-Magallon, global director, institutional relations and sponsorship at Telefonica.
LONG-TERM RELATIONSHIPS: Ellerton and Sanz-Magallon were in agreement that long-term sponsorship agreements tended to be the deals which resonated in the eyes of the public. Cameron said, “The mark of a successful sponsorship? Our most successful partnerships are 17 years on, and 20 years plus for both the Rugby World Cup and the Champions League.” Sanz-Magallon endorsed this by pointing out that Telefonica moved out of its long-term sponsorship of motorsport more than 10 years ago, but people still associated the brand with motorsport. The execs were speaking on a panel hosted by SportsPro magazine.
John Reynolds is a writer in London.
