The European Sponsorship Association (ESA) launched a new policy document on ambush marketing at its annual Sponsorship Summit held in London on 3 April.
The 13-page updated policy paper explores the current sponsorship issues relating to ambush marketing and campaigns that may be developed to take advantage of the staging of major events.
The paper addresses situations where brands have developed and run creative marketing campaigns using the opportunity to push the boundaries and sometimes give the impression that they are an event sponsor, when they are not. The borderline between what is acceptable marketing by non-sponsors, and what is not, is often unclear. This issue needs clarity in order to protect rights holders and their contracted sponsors.
The ESA paper seeks to define and ‘group’ ambush marketing into clear cases such as
ambush by association – obvious attempts to give the impression of being a sponsor
ambush by intrusion – seeking to gain unauthorised visibility within the event itself
opportunistic ambush – covering creative marketing which is often a clever link to an event but is not necessarily illegal or infringing particular rights
The paper includes many recent examples to illustrate these three areas, including several from the 2012 London Olympics as well as from other leading global events. It looks at the current legal perspective in relation to ambush marketing, and puts forward ESA’s views on how ambush marketing should be perceived, particularly as to when and what legal action could be taken against ambushers, or where such action would not be appropriate.
ESA believes it is highly appropriate that this topic is reviewed regularly. Helen Day, Head of European Policy said: "We have been in recent discussions and made presentations regarding ambush marketing to the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris, who are also considering this subject".
To access the paper, visit the ESA website Policy and Opinion Papers section – click here http://www.sponsorship.org/content/policy.asp
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For further information, contact Helen Day via helenday@sponsorship.org or the ESA Office on +44 (0) 20 8390 3311.