Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly - S3E07 - Ambush Marketing

Episode Date: February 16, 2014

This week, we look at Ambush Marketing. It's a form of marketing where a brand tried to connect itself with an event like the FIFA World Cup - but WITHOUT paying sponsorship fees. It merely ambushes the festivities. Or one brand intrudes on another brand's advertising to gain attention. Either way, it's uninvited advertising, it's very controversial - plus the stories are riveting.And the Olympics has a long and fascinating history with ambush marketing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly. As you may know, we've been producing a lot of bonus episodes while under the influences on hiatus. They're called the Beatleology Interviews, where I talk to people who knew the Beatles, work with them, love them, and the authors who write about them. Well, the Beatleology Interviews have become a hit, so we are spinning it out to be a standalone podcast series. You've already heard conversations with people like actors Mark Hamill, Malcolm McDowell, and Beatles confidant Astrid Kershaw. But coming up, I talk to May Pang, who dated John Lennon in the mid-70s. I talk to double fantasy guitarist Earl Slick, Apple Records creative director John Kosh. I'll be talking to Jan Hayworth,

who designed the Sgt. Pepper album cover. Very cool. And I'll talk to singer Dion, who is one of only five people still alive who were on the Sgt. Pepper cover. And two of those people were Beatles. The stories they tell are amazing. So thank you for making this series such a success. And please do me a favor, follow the Beatleology interviews on your podcast app. You don't even have to be a huge Beatles fan. You just have to love storytelling. Subscribe now and don't miss a single beat. In case nobody's told you, weight loss goes beyond the old just eat less and move more narrative. And that's where Felix comes in. Felix is redefining weight loss for Canadians with a smarter, more personalized approach to help you crush your health goals this year.

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this episode is from Season 3, 2014. You're under the influence with Terry O'Reilly. good hands with us. You're under the influence with Terry O'Reilly. You've read the story of Jesse James, of how he lived and died. If you're still in need of something to read, here's the story of Bonnie and Clyde. Now, Bonnie and Clyde are the Barrow Gang. I'm sure you all have read.

How they rob and steal, and those who squeal, are usually found dying or dead. That is a poem called The Story of Bonnie and Clyde, written by Bonnie. Bonnie Elizabeth Parker was born in Texas in 1910. At 16, she married, but her husband was arrested and sent to prison. They would never see each other again. So, Bonnie Parker moved to Dallas and became a waitress. Clyde

Chestnut Barrow was born in 1909, just south of Dallas. He stole cars, cracked safes, and robbed small stores for a living. Bonnie met Clyde at a friend's house, and it was love at first sight.

Bonnie and Clyde began a long string of robberies that included gas stations, stores, and banks. Along the way, they picked up other petty criminals and formed the Barrow Gang. Clyde was a gifted driver and was almost unstoppable as a getaway specialist. No matter how well the police had him surrounded, Clyde would find

a way out. He was tough but not imposing, standing 5'6", weighing 130 pounds. He was handsome, a crack shot, and loved to play the saxophone. Bonnie was a 4'11 bundle of dynamite.

She was pretty and loved to write poetry. Together, they were the tiniest, meanest, most wanted couple at large. One day, the police got a tip the Barrow gang was holed up at a house in Joplin, Missouri. They surrounded the building, but somehow, Clyde shot his way out and got his gang to safety. When the police went through the house later, they found a poem by Bonnie and several rolls of undeveloped film, which, when developed, showed Bonnie and Clyde posing with their guns. In one photo, Bonnie had a foot on the fender of their car, a revolver in one hand,

and was smoking a cigar. That shot captivated the public. Those pictures and her poem turned them into the first superstar criminals. But the ensuing notoriety made it difficult for the Barrow gang to move around, and they were spotted many times, which led to Clyde Barrow killing several policemen. Once the murder started, an unusual lawman was brought in.

His name was Frank Hamer. An ex-Texas Ranger, he was tall, burly, unflinching, and smart. Analyzing Bonnie and Clyde's behavior, he noticed they always swung in a circle, skirting five state borders since the police couldn't cross state lines in those days. Clyde was crafty, but his weakness was consistency. Hamer also noted that the Barrow gang liked to visit their families often. So, he decided an ambush was the solution.

On May 23, 1934, Hamer got a tip the Barrow gang was going to visit the father of one of Clyde's men who lived near Shreveport, Louisiana. Hamer chained the father to a tree so he couldn't warn Bonnie and Clyde, then put the father's truck on the side of a highway on a jack. He knew Clyde would recognize the vehicle. Sure enough, early the next morning, Bonnie and Clyde came speeding down the road.

Spotting the truck, they slowed down. That's when Hamer and his posse jumped out of the bush and emptied 130 rounds of ammunition into their car. Bonnie and Clyde were killed instantly. The most famous couple in criminal history was stopped at last by an ambush. Clyde Barrow was just 25, Bonnie Parker, 23. The world of marketing has its own history with surprise attacks. It's called ambush marketing.

It's when a brand shows up uninvited and unannounced and steals attention by pouncing on an event or a competitor's ad. It's a high-wire act, requiring the element of surprise, brash timing, cleverness, and just a dash of larceny.

You're under the influence. and just a dash of larceny. The concept of ambush marketing has two main definitions. The first is marketing by unauthorized association. Put another way, it's when one brand has paid big dollars to be the exclusive sponsor of an event and a competing brand cleverly attempts to become connected to that event without paying the sponsorship fee. The second ambush definition is marketing by intrusion. In other words, when a competing brand brazenly intrudes on another brand's advertising

to create controversy and trump the original advertiser. Ambush marketing is a tricky business. Many regulations have been brought into place to discourage ambush tactics. And in the case of big events

like the World Cup and the Olympics, penalties involve the law. FIFA, the governing body of World Cup soccer, once stated that ambush marketing lacked decency and creativity. Indecent? Maybe. But uncreative? Not a chance. In the spring of 2010, a creative team at BOSS Advertising in Montreal spotted a billboard for the Apple Nano. The billboard was not only advertising the compact iPods, but the variety of colors the Nano came in.

Specifically, the billboard showed nine Nanos in a row, all sporting different colors, with the colors dripping, like paint, off the bottom of the devices. So, the boss creative team decided to ambush the billboard with an idea they had for their client, Rona. Rona had a paint recycling program, so the team created a giant banner

that showed the exact colors, in the exact order, dripping into paint cans. At the bottom of the banner, it said, We collect leftover paint. Rona. Then, the agency placed it directly under the Apple billboard on the busy Jacques Cartier bridge, so it looked like the Rona billboard

was catching the dripping paint from the Apple billboard. It was quite a sight. Commuters that morning were amused to see the ambush sign. It was covered by media all over the world. A video made of the entire covert operation got 200,000 hits immediately, which you can see on our website, and, best of all,

2 million kilograms of paint was returned to Rona. It was a perfect ambush intrusion strategy. Find an existing ad and intrude on its message for maximum effect. The usually touchy Apple didn't respond,

probably for three reasons. The Nano board was to be taken down later that day, Rona didn't break any laws, and the home improvement store wasn't a direct competitor. Which was not the case when Samsung ambushed Apple in Sydney, Australia. Back in October of 2011, Apple was launching its new 4S iPhone. The lines outside Apple's stores snaked down the street as usual.

But in Sydney, Australia, there was suddenly a longer line two doors down. Samsung was also launching a new phone, the Galaxy S2. So Samsung created a pop-up store. That's when a retailer rents a vacant storefront, sets up a temporary store for a few days, then dismantles it and disappears.

And that's what Samsung did. It rented a vacant storefront 500 meters from the Apple Store. Then it went one step further to make the ambush complete. Samsung offered its Galaxy S2 smartphone for $2 to the first 10 customers every day that the pop-up store existed.

That was an $848 saving as the phones retailed for $850. The pop-up store stayed open just long enough to blunt the Apple 4S launch in Sydney, then was gone. The optics of longer lines outside the Samsung store were picked up by the press worldwide. By December, Samsung nudged by Apple to become the number one smartphone brand in Australia. But Samsung would get a taste of its own medicine a year and a half later in Times Square. In March of 2013, Samsung posted a big billboard in Times Square telling the public to get ready

for the soon-to-be-released Galaxy S4 smartphone. The billboard said, quote, be ready for the next Galaxy, using the numeral 4 in place of the word for. That's when rival LG decided to ambush Samsung. They placed an even bigger billboard directly above Samsung's and, mirroring the same text style in the numeral 4 design feature,

said, LG Optimus G is here for you now. The implication being, why wait for the Galaxy when the LG smartphone was available immediately? The ambush overshadowed Samsung's biggest announcement of 2013 in the busiest,

most visible advertising location in the U.S. Meanwhile, back in Australia, and we'll be right back. new father, new routines, new locations. What matters is that you have something there to adapt with you, whether you need a challenge or rest. And Peloton has everything you need, whenever you need it. Find your push. Find your power.

Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. If you're enjoying this episode, why not dip into our archives, available wherever you download your pods. Go to terryoreilly.ca for a master episode list. Holden is an Australian automaker and is a subsidiary of GM. Back in 2006, Holden began floating a giant blimp around Australia with the red Holden logo painted on both sides, loud and proud. The airship, nicknamed Big Red, was 55 meters long and 17 meters tall, making it bigger than the Boeing 737 jets at that time.

Filled with 5 million liters of helium, the blimp also features a giant TV screen aimed at the ground, lit by 369,000 diodes. In other words, it's hard to miss. Just ask the fans at the Australian football's grand final. The important game was going along splendidly, when all of a sudden the Holden GM blimp floated above the stadium,

blinking its 369,000 lights. Which was all fine and dandy, except the event was sponsored by Toyota. The Australian Football League voiced their immediate protest, saying they were quote,

repulsed, unquote, by the fact the airship had ambushed the event, stating that the value to sponsors was being undermined by somebody

sneaking a free ride. But GM's hold and blimp was perfectly legal, and flight authorities had given it permission to fly at 1,000 feet day or night. It was the ideal ambush, a high-profile event, lots of press coverage, lots of spectators, and a perfectly legal ambush of a major competitor. While sporting officials called it un-Australian and unethical, the director of marketing for Holden shrugged his shoulders saying it was clever and innovative. Eventually, the ambush blimp was banned by the Australian government.

Humor can play a big part in ambush marketing. In Santa Monica recently, Audi placed a billboard advertising its new A4 sedan. The headline? Your move BMW. So BMW erected a billboard of their own, directly across from Audi, showing their new BMW M3. The headline? Checkmate. It was a hilarious ambush tactic to intrude on Audi's ad,

trumping it with the ultimate chess move. In England, Newcastle Ale has traditionally run a much-loved, unpretentious campaign with its tongue firmly in cheek. Recently, rival Stella Artois put up a billboard that showed a tall, long-stemmed glass of beer with the headline, It's a Chalice, Not a Glass. To which Newcastle posted a billboard directly under the Stella board

showing a regular glass of beer with the headline, Who Uses the Word Chalice? A hilarious ambush, and perfectly in keeping with Newcastle's unpretentious personality. But if you want to see ambush marketing played at an elite level, at its most clever and aggressive, you only need to look to the two biggest sporting events, World Cup Soccer of the largest audiences in the world.

The 2010 series in South Africa was watched by over 3.2 billion people, or over 46% of the world's population. FIFA, which oversees the World Cup, has very strict rules when it comes to ambush marketing, and they've learned their lessons the hard way over the years. For example, South African airline Kalula once ran a full-page newspaper ad before the 2010 World Cup stating it was the, quote,

unofficial national carrier of the you-know-what. It delicately sidestepped all the rules, not saying World Cup or football or even using any of the event symbols. But FIFA didn't find it amusing and threatened legal action, forcing the airline to drop the ad. Kalula went on the record saying they found it, quote, absolutely outrageous that the airline wasn't allowed to show a football, use the words South Africa, or even show their country's flag in their ads during the World Cup.

As the airline flatly stated, we've signed over our country, its symbols, and our economy to the president of FIFA. It was indicative of how seriously FIFA takes even the whiff of ambush marketing. In their eyes, Kalula was inferring an association with the World Cup and hadn't paid for the right to do it. During the 2006 World Cup in Germany, Budweiser had paid 40 million euros to be the official beer of the event. That meant no other beer was allowed to advertise within the FIFA venues, which became a contentious point when the Dutch football fans showed up.

They had taken to wearing bright orange lederhosen whenever Haaland took to the pitch. But when those Dutch fans arrived at the World Cup to cheer on their team, FIFA was not amused. The orange lederhosen also carried the logo of Bavaria, a Dutch beer. Because when fans bought a 12-pack of Bavaria, they got a pair of orange Lederhosen to cheer on their team. But because Bavaria wasn't an official sponsor of the World Cup, security in Stuttgart actually made 1,000 Dutch fans take their Lederhosen off before entering the stadium, which left the Dutch fans watching the game in their underwear.

And after the match, most of them didn't get their Lederhosen back, making for an interesting walk home. It showed the extraordinary lengths FIFA is willing to go when they decide ambush marketing is afoot. But was it ambush marketing? Orange clothing and symbols are part of the national heritage of the Netherlands. marketing is afoot. But was it ambush marketing? Orange clothing and symbols are part of the national heritage of the Netherlands. It raised an interesting question.

Since when can FIFA determine what fans wear? Fans said it couldn't. FIFA said it could. Fans were sent home in their underpants. At the 2010 World Cup four years later, 36 attractive women showed up in matching orange miniskirts. They were forcibly ejected from the stadium, and two of the women were arrested

for organizing the stunt, even though the skirts bore no logo. New year, new me. Season is here and honestly, we're already over it. Enter Felix, the healthcare company helping Canadians take a different approach to weight loss this year. Weight loss is more than just diet and exercise. It can be about tackling genetics, hormones, metabolism.

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Fuji had outbid Kodak to be a major sponsor at the Games that year and was named the official film of the Olympics. So, Kodak ambushed Fuji by running extensive commercials throughout the TV broadcasts, leading most viewers to assume Kodak was the official sponsor, not Fuji. Fuji simply returned the favor at the 1988 Games. Kodak won the right to be the official sponsor, and Fuji peppered the Games with ads and commercials, leading most viewers to believe Fuji

was the official film of those Olympics. At the 1992 Games, Michael Jordan pulled off one of the most historic examples of ambush marketing. Reebok was the official sponsor of the Barcelona Olympics, supplying teams with official uniforms. But when the Dream Team stood on the podium to accept the gold medal for basketball, Michael Jordan and most of his teammates covered up the Reebok logo on their chests by draping a U.S. flag over their shoulders while wearing Nike shoes. See, Michael Jordan and company were earning millions of dollars endorsing Nike. As Jordan said later, he didn't

want to deface the Reebok logo, so chose instead to cover it with the flag, because, quote, the flag cannot deface anything. At the 1994 Olympics, Visa was the official credit card sponsor, telling viewers that American Express wasn't accepted at the Olympic Village. But Amex famously ambushed Visa

by running an extensive campaign stating, you don't need a visa to visit Norway. Which was, in fact, correct, giving American Express a ton of media coverage. At the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, British sprinter and Puma endorser Linford Christie pulled off one of the most infamous ambush tactics. Again, Reebok was the official sponsor. But when

Christie appeared at the press conference, he was wearing Puma contact lenses. So, when you looked at his eyes, you saw white Pumas where his pupils were supposed to be. It gave him one spooky look, which you can see on our website.

But while all these tactics were clever and effective, one brand holds the black belt in ambush marketing. Nike. Nike had long avoided sponsoring big events like the Olympics, in part so it probably wouldn't expose itself to its own ambush tactics. Instead, Nike tends to sponsor teams and individual athletes. But it was the full ambush strategy it employed during the 1996 Olympic Games that stands as the most famous of all time. Reebok paid $50 million to be an official sponsor at the 1996 Olympics.

Nike saved the $50 million and decided to ambush the Games instead. They bought up almost every available billboard in Atlanta and plastered them with Nike logos. They ran extremely creative and highly visible television commercials featuring top Olympic athletes they had under contract, like Carl Lewis. They handed out thousands of swoosh flags to spectators to wave in the stadiums, which gave Nike's logo incredible visibility on television. Then, Nike did the outrageous. It built an enormous Nike Center next to the Olympic Village,

overlooking the stadium, providing facilities for both athletes and fans. And Nike managed one other remarkable coup. Cast your mind back to those 1996 games, to sprinter Michael Johnson, who became the first male runner to win gold medals in both the 200 and 400 meter races. Do you

remember his shoes? I bet you do. They were painted gold with a big Nike swoosh. He was called the man with the golden shoes. In spite of Reebok's $50 million official sponsorship, those gold Nikes dominated the world press. It was the ambush marketing event of all time.

When television audiences were later asked to recall the names of official sponsors, 22% cited Nike, 16% cited Reebok. The concept of ambush marketing will always be contentious. By nature, it's a surprise attack. A brand shows up uninvited and unannounced, then crashes the party, hoping to attract even more attention than if they had RSVP'd.

Sometimes it's all in good fun, like the Audi BMW dust-up, or the Rona Apple ambush. Sometimes it gets more serious, like when Samsung ambushed Apple's iPhone launch with a pop-up store. Then, it gets deadly serious, at global events like the World Cup and the Olympics. Nike's historic ambush of the 1996 games led the IOC to implement vast anti-ambush regulations.

The Olympics relies on multi-million dollar official sponsors, and they can't have them spooked by ambush brands. It's definitely a spectator sport. When FIFA and the IOC voice their outrage, it's interesting to note that fans don't really share the moral indignation. They watch with a bemused detachment and are often entertained by the bold one-upmanship. I read with amusement a story recently that hinted at things to come at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

The torch extinguished unexpectedly as it was being paraded through Russia. So, someone stepped forward and relit it was being paraded through Russia. So, someone stepped forward and relit it using a Zippo lighter. The very next day, Zippo put up a Facebook page and tweeted the hashtag Zippo saves the Olympics. The IOC came down heavy.

Zippo was forced to cease and desist and then changed their Facebook page to say Zippo was forced to cease and desist and then changed their Facebook page to say, Zippo, perfect for all winter games, wink, wink. And that's just it with ambush marketing. It's one part clever, one part timing, one part larceny, and two parts wink, wink, when you're under the influence. I'm Terry O'Reilly. Hey Terry, it's Neil from The Irrelevant Show. Man, that was a great episode.

I would love to buy you a beer and talk about ambush marketing when we're in Toronto on March 12th recording The Irrelevant Show! Live in Toronto for the first time! Come see us Wednesday, March 12th in Toronto! For tickets, go to torontosketchfest.com. Okay, Terry. Bye. Under the Influence was produced at Pirate Toronto. Sound engineer, Keith Oman.

Theme music by Ari Posner and Ian Lefevre. Series coordinator, Debbie O'Reilly. Research, Lama Balagi. Okay, I won't beat around the bush. I like the cut of your jib. And your jib would look even better in an Under the Influence t-shirt. You'll find them on our shop page at terryoreilly.ca slash shop. See you next week.