Increasing our Awareness of Ambush Marketing

By Joseph Eric Yapi Cielenou, Athletic Director

Cielenou University’s Athletic Department is currently launching a year-long data collection campaign targeting marketing practices at all school sponsored athletic events and areas surrounding the campus that create associations with the university. We are asking all community members to participate by completing a survey and then continuing to send evidence of university associated advertisements to marketing@cielenouuniversity.org.  Both sets of information will be analysed in order to inform the governing body at Cielenou University as they determine the best approach regarding these marketing practices moving forward.   

According to Kent & Campbell (2007), “Ambush marketing has been defined as marketing communication that “involves a company seeking to associate with an event without making payment to the event owner and often in direct conflict with a competitor who is a legitimate and paying sponsor” (Meehaghan, 1998, p. 14)” (p. 118).  Cielenou University wants to be fully aware of any ambush marketing practices that are occurring.  Furthermore, freeloading ambush marketing practices are a developing trend that must be further researched.  Kent & Campbell (2007) continue to define this new trend as stated by, “Freeloading describes the activities of companies who attempt to gain the benefit of an association with a school’s athletic department without paying sponsorship fees, and school administrators’ willingness to tolerate these activities on the basis of the publicity that these activities create” (p. 119). At this time, Cielenou University wants to understand the types of marketing occurring on and around campus.  

Please submit evidence of any of these types of marketing practices to the above mentioned email address: If you find printed congratulatory messages offered to any university team, discounts offered with ticket stubs, advertisements distributed at any university event, promotional materials or if you hear any messages over the radio regarding university sporting events, please send a message with an image or date and event details (Chase & Kurnit, 2010, p. 3-4).  In addition, please forward all direct mail or email advertisements with university associations as this is an additional powerful form of marketing and advertisements” ( Mizerski, Mizerski & Sadler, 2001, p. 17).

Once this information is gathered and analyzed, Cielenou University will make necessary decisions regarding sponsorship and advertising in the future while considering all current available research and what is best for the university community.  

 

To Sell or Not To Sell: The Real Question Cielenou University’s Athletic Department is Contemplating

By Joseph Eric Yapi Cielenou, Athletic Director

Cielenou University’s Athletic Department is currently researching the variety of options associated with finding corporate sponsorship for the Cielenou University Stadium. While the Athletic Department and University President are in the initial phase of these considerations, Cielenou University is initiating research to develop methods to measure fan perceptions of corporate sponsorship and determine a market value of the facilities.

Whereas almost all professional team stadia have moved into corporate sponsorship including the renaming of such space, NCAA-affiliated universities have been hesitant to join the trend.  According to Popp, DeSchriver, McEvoy & Diehl (2016), “While there are more than 1,000 NCAA-affiliated uni­versities, each sponsoring several teams competing in multiple athletic facilities, the SportsBusiness Journal Resource Guide & Fact Book (2013) listed only 54 col­lege venues with corporate naming rights (p. 7).”  With such a small group of NCAA universities participating in the new trend while almost all professional athletic facilities are participating, we feel the responsibility to further our understanding of the topic before moving ahead.

Popp, DeSchriver, McEvoy & Diehl (2016) pursued two areas of consideration that may explain the hesitation of NCAA-affiliated universities to participate in the practice of selling the naming rights of their arenas.  First, it is clear that little is known about the consequences of such practices on the fans.  According to Popp, DeSchriver, McEvoy & Diehl (2016), “Many ath­letic administrators are worried fans, alumni, and stu­dents will perceive venue naming rights as an attempt to further commercialize the enterprise of collegiate athletics. Prior research has suggested the over-com­mercialization of NCAA Division I athletics can negatively impact spectators (pg 7).”  With such little research available on the practice, many administrators are concerned with the impact on the culture of athletics and the community perception.  The second reason the study offered focused on the problems associated with determining value of such facilities.  Popp, DeSchriver, McEvoy & Diehl (2016) compared the use of two different methods to create an estimated market value pricing for NCAA-affiliated universities who have decided to go ahead and sell the naming rights.  While little research was collected regarding the social implications of such a sale, it is clear that several factors, which vary from professional sports, influence market value such as attendance and purpose of facility.

Furthermore, Cielenou University is committed to protecting confidences while avoiding conflicts of interest for our athletes and greater university community.  With that in mind, the university will be sponsoring multiple empirical research studies further investigating the consequences of developing relationships with sponsoring companies. Currently there is not enough research investigating the long-term consequences of the effects of corporate sponsorship.  As highlighted in Lamont, Hing & Gainsbury (2011), “the paper flagged emerging evidence of the increased likelihood of negative consequences associated with certain forms of gambling such as EGMs and Internet gambling, including online sports betting…However, no empirical research has emerged (p. 255).” Before any decisions can be made, all administrators must develop the understanding that corporate sponsorship will help benefit the greater community.