Ambush marketing is a strategy that takes place around an event wherein a company involves in diverse activities in the event principally sponsored by another company (often a competitor). This is done to take advantage of the publicity of the event and also to puzzle the public as to who the real sponsor is. Although ambushing is proscribed (by law) in few countries, there still exists a lot of ambiguity in the same. The present article describes ambush marketing in detail and puts forth a few examples of this strategy.

With the increased number of sporting events hosted around the globe (like the Olympics, FIFA World Cup or the ICC World Cup) the magnitude of sponsoring, sporting commercialization and ambush marketing is mounting to its peak. As businesses focus on improving their market share or profitability, they try a lot of gimmicks and mega spends for brand visibility.

In addition to the event hosting city, the public in the city also gets benefitted due to the increased commercial activity, improved infrastructure and other facilities/benefits. There are more chances for new avenues for the people. The table lists the investment in terms of the sponsorship fees for the major events across the globe.

During major global competitions, companies engage in ambushing/ambush marketing to attract the attention of the people. Ambush marketing as described by Meenaghan (1994) refers to "The practices whereby another company, often a competitor, intrudes upon public attention surrounding the event, thereby deflecting attention toward themselves and away from the sponsor."

Ambush marketing may be otherwise referred to as guerilla marketing, parasite marketing or free-rider phenomenon. Although the companies try to find out legal gaps in intruding the sponsored event, ambush marketing is unethical and it amounts to breaching of the fundamental tenets of business activity, namely truth in advertising and business communications" (Payne, 1998).

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