Major sporting events have attracted increasing economic and social attention over recent decades. Companies have recognised that sponsoring major sporting events offers a lucrative and fruitful platform for communication. This, in turn, has led to a considerable increase in the number of companies lending their support to such events. In general terms, their goal is to transfer some of the attention paid to a major event, and the prestige attached to it, to their own goods and/or services or to their company generally.

Event organisers are, naturally, keen to safeguard their own interests and the financial interests of the sponsors (particularly in view of the significant expense incurred by the latter in acquiring exclusive rights of association with the events). On the other hand, there are many companies intent on deriving economic profit from major events without entering into a sponsorship agreement.

This is the area in which ‘ambush marketing’ thrives. The term encompasses the actions of non-sponsors aimed at establishing in the public mind an association with a major event and its organiser, with the goal of transferring some of the attention and the prestige attached to the event to their own goods and/or services or company, thereby profiting without offering anything in return. Ambush marketing is increasingly common at major events with strong public appeal.

The May/Jun 2012 Edition of World Intellectual Property Review (WIPR) featured the article “Ambush Marketing: The Lie of the Land in Brazil” written by Philippe Bhering. Click here to download a copy of the article. *Reproduced with permission from World IP Review. For further information please visit www.worldipreview.com.

Fonte: World IP Review

 

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