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Free rider1/2/2024 No matter the state or maturity of a market, however, when a contract for exclusivity is signed between an event and a brand then there is a clear expectation that theirs will be the only brand in its sector promoted at the event. Ambush Marketing is Unanticipated and Maybe Even Illegal There is not much that a marketer can do about a free rider taking advantage of the audience they have built and, indeed, its expected that others will flock to audiences that appear likely to buy. The time, energy, and money spent to build and develop a market for a certain product or service is a sunk cost for the early movers who can only hope that being first to the market provides enough of a return for the costs of getting there first. The success of one product or service in a market encourages others to compete for a share of that revenue. In emerging and established markets alike free rider marketing is unavoidable. Free Riding is Unavoidable and an Anticipated Cost of Doing Business When a competitor finds a way to do so despite the assured exclusivity it is called ‘ambush marketing’. Yet where a wearable device firm has signed an exclusive contract with a major event to be the sole wearable device advertised at that event, they have an expectation that no competing products will encroach on their advertising space. While they will anticipate exceptional costs associated with building an audience for their category of products, they will also be aware that there can be a significant advantage associated with being the first product of its type to market. It’s unlikely that the first-to-market device realistically expects that their product will remain the only device on the market in perpetuity. If free riding is taking advantage of the audience that someone else has built, ambush marketing is taking advantage of an audience that someone else has paid for with an expectation of exclusivity. Thus, instead of having to expend significant time, effort, and funding to build an audience, the second and third generation device marketers needed only to reach out to an already established audience – they ‘rode for free’ on the backs of the work and expenditures of those first generation device makers. By the time second and third generation devices came to market the groundwork had already been done and an audience for their advertisements and for their products already existed. For example, the first marketing efforts around wearable computing devices not only had to inform consumers about the product but also had to develop a demand for devices that had never before been released to the mainstream market. Inevitably, the first product or service to market in a particular industry bears a large cost for reaching out to the market. What is Free Rider Marketing?īeing a ‘free rider’ in marketing is all about taking advantage of an audience without having contributed to the cost of developing that audience. Today we’ll look at two other concepts that are often associated with major sporting events like the Super Bowl, the FIFA World Cup, and the Olympic Games: free rider marketing and ambush marketing. The participatory marketing campaign has been successfully deployed by Frito-Lay since 2007 and widely copied in other industries and in other countries since then. Yesterday we explained how the Super Bowl and the Frito-Lay participatory marketing campaign ‘Crash the Super Bowl’ has propelled freelancers and small agencies into the big time by giving them a chance to see their commercials run live during the game. It’s Super Bowl Week here at DOZ and besides spending our time counting down to the big game and placing our bets on who will come out on top, we’re also looking at some of the marketing and media issues surrounding the biggest weekend in American sports.
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