“如果是静止的,就把它刷成红色;如果是跑动的,就赞助它。”声名显赫的可口可乐堪称体育赞助界的老牌劲旅。和可口可乐一样,麦当劳、柯达、阿迪达斯等实力雄厚的跨国公司都乐意花大价钱赞助体育活动,以此来提升品牌知名度和竞争力。然而,有限的赞助名额,愈发昂贵的赞助费用,被竞争对手长期占据的赞助者位置,遏制了商家的赞助热情。于是,灵活的商家发现了一种新型的营销方式——埋伏营销,他们千方百计将自己与赛事联系在一起,让受众误认为其是赛事的赞助商,吃免费的午餐。 “If it is stationary, it will be painted in red; if it is running, it will sponsor it.” The prestigious Coca-Cola is known as the veteran of sports sponsorship. Like Coca-Cola, strong multinational companies such as McDonald’s, Kodak, and Adidas are willing to spend a lot of money sponsoring sports activities to increase brand awareness and competitiveness. However, limited sponsorship quotas, increasingly expensive sponsorship fees, and long-standing sponsorship positions held by competitors have curbed the sponsorship enthusiasm of businesses. As a result, flexible merchants have discovered a new type of marketing—ambush marketing. They have tried every means to associate themselves with events and have the audience mistakenly believe that it is a tournament sponsor and eat a free lunch.