A word that caught everyone’s attention during UEFA EURO 2024 is ‘ambush marketing’ courtesy of football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese captain will likely be fined for breaching a UEFA rule at EURO 2024 and accused of ambush marketing during Portugal vs. Slovenia.
Ronaldo fans and the football fraternity were taken aback when WHOOP, a wearable fitness technology company, published the Al-Naasr forward’s heart rate data. This became the highlight after Ronaldo wept uncontrollably when he missed a crucial penalty for Portugal during the first half of extra time. He was wearing a WHOOP device under a bandage on his left wrist, thus the data and WHOOP publishing it.
WHOOP showcased Ronaldo’s heart rate, which had dropped from over 170 beats per minute at the end of 90 minutes to below 110bpm before he missed that penalty, across social media.
Ambush Marketing
Ricardo Fort, the former head of global sponsorships at Visa and Coca-Cola, called UEFA to fine Ronaldo, 39, and WHOOP. He said Cristiano and WHOOP is ambush marketing to EURO 2024. “It is illegal and both the player and the company should be fined. The post is about a UEFA match, uses the names of the two national teams playing, score and a player on the field. They are implying an association with the event and this illegal,” Fort said. “Not having a competitor as a sponsor isn’t a reason to tolerate infringements.
Ambush marketing is a strategic marketing approach whereby brands and companies align themselves with a specific event or property without holding any official sponsorship deals. This is common during big sporting events as brands try to put the spotlight on their products. It’s an unusual approach to creating a marketing campaign, but stands out given the creativity, freedom, and flexibility.
Ambush marketing is regarded as controversial because brands and companies get involved in unlawful actions, such as infringing the event owner’s trademarks, copyright and rights of the meet. Some brands take up ambush marketing because it’s cost-effective, jump-starts businesses, creative, direct response, and has a mass appeal. However, it’s difficult to calculate the ROI, requires detailed planning, needs time and space, is illegal in the sense that it violates the rights of actual sponsors and partners of the event, and relies solely on competitors’ ads to address them.
Nike King of Ambush Marketing
Big brands also take up ambush marketing to take advantage of the time and mass appeal. And Nike has taken up this approach several times. Adidas was the official sportswear partner of the London 2012 Olympic Games, Nike associated itself with London in other countries around the world such as East London in South Africa, Little London in Jamaica, and London Ohio in the United States. Nike associated with London without technically making any sponsorship infringements.
At the 1996 Olympics, Nike stuck to sprinter Michael Johnson – a pair of gold Nike shoes swung around the athlete on the cover of TIME magazine, The sportswear brand also opened a Nike Center beside the athlete’s village and distributed flags with the swoosh logo to fans.
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