Ambush Advertising in the Olympics

By Kang Yi

As the Olympic torch relay passes through 113 cities across China, a wave of "nationwide body building" is sweeping along with it. The "Among the Cities" campaign is spearheaded by Mengniu, a Chinese dairy group.

Is Mengniu an Olympic partner or sponsor? If you check the list of sponsors, you'll find that it isn't. Yet, many people would have mistaken them as so in light of the media exposure the company has received for their Olympic marketing stunt.

In a research polling public opinion, 28.9% of the respondents actually thought that Mengniu was indeed an Olympic sponsor, according to Ipsos, a company that assess and interpret market potential and trends.

Ipsos research center deputy director Jia Yanli, who studies the effects of Olympic sponsorships since last year, said such impression was formed by the marketing strategies deployed by Mengniu.

In 2005, Mengniu's arch rival - Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Corporation won the Olympic sponsorship rights. Back then, Mengniu executive director Niu Gensheng once commented: "Losing the Olympic opportunity means losing the market."

To prevent that from happening, Mengniu started plotting a battle for the market. Some referred to the strategy deployed as ambush marketing, which means direct competitors striving to catch a ride on the Olympic wave by confusing consumers into believing they too are official sponsors, thus deriving similar benefits as official sponsors do.

"We may lose the sponsorship advantage, yet we cannot lose out on creativity," said Zhu Xiaoming, CEO of Tido Sports, the sports marketing organization acting as consultant for Mengniu's sports-related communication strategies. The two worked hand-in-hand to develop "Among the Cities".

"Though Olympic only lasts 15 days, we can hold Olympic-related activities much longer than that, allowing consumers to participate in the process and immerse themsleves in the Olympic spirit," said Zhu, adding the strategy not only built closer ties between Mengniu and consumers, but also imprinted the brand name onto consumer minds when they thought of the Olympics.

As a result, Mengniu ranked first on the Top 10 list of Olympic Ambushers drawn up by the Chinese Olympic Chabianqiu Committee (COCC), a non-official grassroots community formed by a group of creative sales and marketing enthusiats.

In announcing the objectives for coming up with the Top 10 list, COCC made a statement on its website: "We are the non-official Olympic troopers. Compared with the official Olympic sponsors, all we lack is money. Yet we swear to win over respect through creativity, wisdom, and action. We reject mediocracy and inherited advantages.....Faced with the monopolized advantage enjoyed by "fellow royal sponsors" through restrictive game rules, we are motivated to think and explore, to initiate a more exciting and competitive Olympic economic platform."

The word "Chabianqiu" - literally meaning ball at the edge - in Chinese originally used in table tennis match. It refers to a ball that touches the very edge or side of the table, which often scores a point. The term now also refers to acts that are "foul" or against established rules in nature, but not explicitly illegal.

The COCC, in other words, is a platform that promotes "Chabianqiu" for businesses, hoping to add a touch of Olympic glamour, and its Top 10 list offers a range of "creative ideas".

Not all "Chabianqiu" practitioners are subtle, creative or lucky enough. While some have managed to spark keen consumer interests, some actually ignited lawsuits.

For instance, automobil company Jin Long Corporation was charged for abusing Olympic copyrights for an advertisement it placed in a local newspaper in southern China's Xiamen in May.

The print advertisement, meant to congratulate the torch relay coming through Xiamen, had a picture of a muscular arm holding the Olympic torch accompanied by a slogan similar to that coined by an official Olympic sponsor. To print the torch relay logo and slogan of "Relay Dreams" that followed with Jinlong's congratulatory note had violated the Olympic copyright.

The symbols protected by the copyright cover 198 types, abd include the international five-ring logo, the Beijing Games Olympic logos, Olympic mascots, and Olympic theme songs and slogans.

In 2007 alone, the Beijing Olympic organizing committee has investigated over 700 cases of commercial distortion related to Olympic Games, such as violation of copyrights and ambush marketing.