COMBATTING AMBUSH MARKETING IN SWITZERLAND
Women’s sport continues to grow in popularity as well as in financial terms.
Globally, double-digit growth is forecast for women’s sports revenues in the next 3-5 years, despite economic and geopolitical challenges facing the sports industry as a whole.
As regards sports sponsorship, which is a major sector of the sports marketing industry, globally, it is expected to grow annually at the rate of 6.3% over the same period.
In Switzerland, the sports sponsorship market is expected to generate revenues of $US 549.1 million (around Sw. Frs. 483.78 million) by 2029, with an annual growth rate of 2.8% from 2024.
Set against this economic background, the 14th edition of the UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 football tournament (the event), will take place in Switzerland, at seven venues around the country, from 2 – 27 July 2025, with the final being held at Switzerland’s largest football stadium, St. Jakob-Park in Basel, which can accommodate 37,500 spectators.
And, in view of its popularity, so-called Ambush Marketing, a form of unfair competition in a business rather than a sporting sense, may be expected to rear its ugly head and pose a threat to the organisers and official sponsors of the event and thereby devaluing the event itself, as well as the sponsorship opportunities.
So, what is Ambush Marketing and how may it be combatted by the organisers of sports events?
Essentially, Ambush Marketing involves a brand falsely claiming an association with a sporting event, when not being one of the official sponsors, and thereby gaining exposure in the marketplace for the brand, without paying any sponsorship fees. It is reported that NIKE regularly engages in such conduct, which, of course, is illegal. For example, in football tournaments and at the Olympics (see later).
Ambush Marketing, which has also been characterised as ‘clever marketing’, can take many different forms, depending upon the ingenuity and creativity of ambush marketers.
Here are some examples:
- placing advertising billboards near a sports stadium or along a marathon route;
- launching advertising banners above the sports event venue;
- distributing free branded t-shirts and caps near the sports event stadium so that those inside can be seen wearing them, especially on television; and
- advertising suggesting an association with the sports event;
An example of the latter could be: “XYZ congratulates ABC (the organiser of the sports event concerned) on the EFG event (the name of the sports competition concerned) and wishes all the participants’ success!”
So, what action can organisers of sports events take against Ambush Marketing?
Of course, that depends upon the nature of the Ambush Marketing.
For example, it may involve infringement of the sports event organisers’ registered trademarks, such as “XYZ wishes all concerned a successful Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup”, where the event name has been registered as a trademark.
In such cases, the organisers of the sports event concerned can claim damages and also cease-and-desist orders against offenders.
In the case of the Olympics, para. 3 of the By-Law to Article 40 of the Olympic Charter limits the use of the names, images and performances of Olympic athletes during the Games and is designed to protect the rights of official sponsors and the financial integrity of the Games. The International Paralympic Committee has a similar rule for the Paralympic Games.
Apart from legal measures, practical measures may also be taken. For example, to guard against any advertising billboards being placed near a sports stadium, where the event is taking place, access around the stadium may be restricted to official sponsors only and others having been granted such access. To organise and legally enforce such exclusion zones involves cooperation between the event organisers and the local authorities.
Again, sports events organisers can buy up all advertising space close to sports events venues and sell that space only to official sponsors.
Furthermore, sports events organisers can prohibit the use of tickets as give-aways in sweepstakes or other similar consumer promotions – another form of Ambush Marketing.
Sports events organisers need to be just as creative – if not more so – as their ambush marketers.
In fact, it is advisable to include in sports sponsorship agreements express undertakings by sports events organisers to take legal and other actions against Ambush Marketing.
We advise sports events organisers and sponsors on all aspects of Ambush Marketing, including legal actions and other measures available to them in Switzerland, in order to protect their interests and the sports events themselves.
For further information and professional advice and legal representation on Ambush Marketing, please email, Dr Lucien Valloni, Noemi Delli Colli, or Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw at ‘valloni@valloni.ch’; dellicolli@valloni.ch’; and ‘blackshaw@valloni.ch’ respectively.