News

Nestlé’s World Cup-themed campaign for Kit Kat has raised the hackles of The Football Association and official partner Mars, throwing the spotlight on the risks and benefits of ambush marketing.

Are consumers really sitting at home thinking ‘Why is that brand running a promotion when it’s not even an official sponsor?’ I don’t think so.

As long as any activity fits in with the brand’s image, who can blame them? With official sponsors of events like the FIFA World Cup paying tens of millions of pounds for the privilege, it’s perhaps not surprising organisers go to extreme measures to protect their ‘property,’ but in doing so they open themselves up to ridicule.

Who didn’t raise a smile at airline Kulula.com calling itself the ‘Unofficial National Carrier of the You-Know-What’? It claimed it was even prevented from using the words ‘South Africa’. The fact that FIFA threatened legal action gave it more publicity.

The rise of social media is only fuelling this sort of guerilla activity; Texaco’s ‘Think Cabanaga’ Facebook campaign is a case in point. Of course, no one would condone companies that try to pass themselves off as official sponsors, but there is plenty of scope for the clever stuff.