NEW DELHI: Ambush marketing, a term coined by marketing guru Jerry Welsh may not be

very precisely defined. Yet, sports bodies across the globe are not only familiar with the
phenomenon, but have learnt to fear it too.

In essence, the term refers to means by which companies not officially associated with an event
ride on its popularity and get themselves subtly associated with it in the consumer's mind.

Perhaps the best known example of ambush marketing in India came during the 1996 cricket
World Cup.

Coke paid Rs 40 crore to be called an official sponsor, but Pepsi's brilliant counter ad "nothing
official about it" clearly occupied more of the consumer's mindspace.

Similar ambushes have been tried in soccer and at the winter and summer Olympics, with
varying degrees of success. Before the 2002 football World Cup, for instance, Pepsi ran ads
featuring prominent footballers like Roberto Carlos.

In fact, an Argentine court order some of Pepsi's ads off the air because they were using "Tokyo
2002" in shots featuring soccer stars, though the soft drink giant had nothing to do with the
event.

Studies have shown that ambush marketers often get at least as much mileage as the official
sponsors. That explains why sporting bodies are alarmed by the phenomenon.

If it makes better sense to ambush than to be an official sponsor, they would soon be left with
nobody to foot the bill. A typical response has been to prevent rivals of the official sponsors from
running ads during the events themselves.

The issue first surfaced in cricket shortly before the ICC Champions Trophy in Colombo in 2002
and threatened at one stage to derail the tournament itself. The ICC wanted all players to sign an
agreement containing a clause explicitly prohibiting ambush marketing.

The Indian players in particular refused, among other reasons because they said that would be a
violation of their existing deals with sponsors.

While a compromise was worked out to rescue the Champions Trophy and the subsequent World
Cup in South Africa, the issue was never fully resolved. Monday's letter by the ICC to the BCCI
threatens to bring it to a boil once again.

At stake is a lot of money. For instance, the Global Cricket Corporation (GCC) which has
exclusive marketing rights for all ICC tournaments till the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies,
has paid $550 million for that right.