2010 Winter Olympics: Ambush Marketing

Coca-Cola is continuing what is known as the longest continuous corporate sponsorship of the Olympics by supporting the 2010 Winter Games. The international exposure and publicity that Coke will gain with its Olympic association has been going strong since 1928. While it is apparent that the relationship between the Olympic Committee and Coca-Cola is strong, would anyone dare to interfere?

As some companies spend millions of dollars to be official supporters of the Olympic Games, other companies use a little technique known as ambush marketing to hitch their way to public promotion. People from all over the world will be tuning into their televisions and computers to stay updated on the Olympic events happening from February 12-28 in Vancouver, Canada. Who wouldn’t want a piece of that exposure?

Those that are not willing to pay the potential price tag of millions of dollars to be official sponsors can still find a way to be part of the limelight. Ambush Marketing has been taking place for decades and has been evident in past Olympic Games. In the 2008 Summer Games in China, it was the greatest Chinese athlete of all times that was secretly hoisted above the stadium to light the opening cauldron wearing pieces from the largest sports retail firm in China, in which he heads and bears his name. This shocked their biggest competitor, German-based Adidas, as they had paid tens of millions of dollars to be an official supporter. In the 2002 Winter Games, Anheuser-Busch was ambushed when a small brewery marketed themselves using their delivery trucks to display their slogan, “Wasutch Beers. The Unofficial Beer, 2002 Winter Games”. The other major ambush of the Olympic games came when Nike took it to Reebok. During the 1996 summer games in Atlanta, Nike used the simple approach of lining the streets around the Olympic stadium with billboards and handing out flags with their trademark “swoosh” to wave at events from their Nike center located outside the stadium. 

Ambush Marketing has proven to become a frequent and damaging war, so much so that New Zealand passed legislation to protect official sponsors at the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Olympic promoters are concerned about this growing trend as it makes it more difficult for them to sell official sponsorships.