Ambush Marketing, College football, Crisis Management, Darren Rovell, Media Post, NBA teams, NFL, New York Times, Washington Post

The Stunt Makes A Comeback…

As we move towards the end of what has been a challenged year for many in the brand activation side, we are seeing more and more unique ambush plays and creative sponsorship partnerships designed to extract every dollar, or generate dollars and interest, with every passing day. The moves are probably coming more out of creative minds letting loose and brands being willing to try a little more edgy a push for ROI, but in each case the opportunities have created buzz and made for an entrepreneurial sense of “one upsmanship” that is both refreshing and challenging for all involved in sports and entertainment. The recent examples included: Hebrew National pulling a unique ambush and challenge for those players caught eating hot dogs on an NFL sideline (after the Jets Mark Sanchez was caught on camera eating during a game), the Captain Morgan pose and subsequent followup this week by Diageo during last week’s Eagles NFL game, Boise State and the Big West Conference looking to raise their profile by hiring a PR firm and selling “shares” in their athletic program (as reported by Darren Rovell) with each holder getting a voice in marketing plans, and the History Channel’s “Pawn Stars” sponsoring last Saturday’s championship fight between Miguel Cotto and Manny Pacquaio.

In each case, there is a brand that has challenges either with spending or exposure looking to cut through the clutter to generate buzz and build awareness. Each one had someone or a team watching the events of the day or the week and looking for an opportunity to quickly act and exploit. None had long lead planning or intricate media or promotional plans. What each had was the ability to take a random event and find a very unique way to cut right through the clutter and get brand exposure. It takes great timing, strong media skills and the ability to move quickly on a project, all of which rarely happen at the same time but seem to be happening more and more as traditional opportunities for exposure become more difficult for execution. Now do all “stunts” or ambush ideas work? Nope. The best plan is always the one that is carefully planned and well executed. However for a quick hit and some great buzz generation, it is refreshing to see the creative, cost efficient pops coming more often these days. Hopefully will push all to generate new ROI and creative thought.

Some other good reads…John Feinstein’s column on Navy football is another good read on the amazing program…Noam Cohen had a good profile of what has made Bill Simmons a success in Monday’s New York Times …and the Orlando Sentinel had a good piece on the building of Dwight Howard’s social media strategy by its architect, Nate “Basketball” Jones.