demonstrate that even a straight forward sponsorship deal can
go bad in the implementation but ambush marketing cannot be
frustrated in similar ways given that it is more of a ‘freelance’
attack than a direct approach.
Half Of The Budget Spent In Adverting Is
Wasted: But Th ere Is A Catch
A ‘Visit Rwanda’ sponsorship to a major English Premier Soccer
Team got into trouble as British citizens and concerned Netizens
questioned the logic of a third world country sponsoring a team
in the first world. The main concern was that the country receives
aid from the first country almost equivalent to the sponsorship
amount. Does this mean they don’t need the donor funding?
The Rwandan officials had a difficult time justifying such a huge
marketing spend in what those complaining thought as a luxury.
That sponsorship was eventually suspended but my guess is that
the national marketing officials failed to explain what one of the
old saying in advertising states. The saying goes that, half of the
budget allocated to advertising is wasted; the catch is that you
can’t tell which half. Those complaining were focusing on the
half that “goes” to waste; those who had made the commitment
were focusing on the eyeballs that the sponsorship would have
accessed the other half that can have disproportionate return
on investment (ROI). Such an ROI means that you get several
folds in return on your investment.
An ambush marketing approach would not attract such a
backlash as the details may not be available in advance nor
would the spending be clear. The message will hit home before
the critic would start calling. Still, Rwanda is a premium
tourist destination with the gorillas viewing costing top dollars
compared to some Africa’s low cost tourist destinations. A
business model includes a business idea, the target segment and
the value proposition. Therefore, the visit Rwanda marketers
were willing to go an extra mile to demonstrate their eagerness
to roll the red carpet for their top dollars tourists.
In my understanding the sponsorship designers were spot-on
on the primary target market but they failed to appreciate the
secondary target which includes the donor country’s citizens.
Such citizens viewed the sponsorship as an indication that their
donor funding is not justifiable if the country can spend the
equivalent amount in sponsoring a premier league club in a donor
country. This shows there is great need for marketing education
for the masses (including Kenya’s Shujaa Rugby team). As a sign
of our commitment to this, let us start with social marketing 101
Lessons.
Social Marketing 101: P’s Of Marketing -
Purse Strings
When marketing agenda is not entirely for profit, other P’s of
marketing apply. One of such ‘P’ is what is referred to as Purse
Strings. The donors and citizens of a donor country care so much
about their interests that they can either make them open their
purse strings wider or close them. Sometimes their interests
would be in the value for money proposition or something else.
When such interests are addressed the marketing campaign will
work very well. It is therefore important to address key publics
when dealing with social marketing.
As for the Kenyan Rugby 7’s team, when dealing with a
government body and national interest sabotage may not have
been the best way to protest. Still, ambush marketing offers one
of the options to avoid pitfalls of sponsorships so far as it is done
in a legitimate manner that may not be of significant concern to
the ambushed entity.
Boniface Ngahu is a seasoned marketing research expert and
runs the Talking Point column in Marketing Africa magazine.
He is the Marketing Director of SBO Research. You can commune
with him on this or related matters via email at: BNgahu@
sboresearch.co.ke, or follow him on Twitter @bngahu