The Evolution of Ambush Marketing in Sports with Particular Concentration upon Olympic Sports - Essay Example

Legal issues are mentioned, then searched in the Lexus Nexus database in legal publications and newspapers. The project compared the information from the main body of literature and the literature involving legal issues, especially looking at litigation. It was found that both bodies of the literature suggested that current laws are not adequate to the tack of taking civil action against ambush marketers and that preventing or mitigating the damage at the time of incidence if preferable to taking civil action after the fact.

This is because the civil action is expensive and less than satisfactory for this aim. The rise of technology and the high values of sports sponsorships, especially concerning the International Olympic Games are blamed for the huge surge in ambush marketing. Sports marketing is a huge source of revenue for the athletes, their organizations and teams and for the marketers, themselves. "Consumer behavior is the foundation of all marketing. Without understanding the consumer, success in marketing is unlikely.

" (Kahle and Riley 2004, 1) Sponsorship is a bargain even if it costs millions, as it reaches a tremendous number of targeted consumers. “ IEG (2008)1 predicted that sponsorship would grow to a US$43.5bn global business in 2008. It exceeded that figure. Sponsorship literature has developed apace and is now considered to be substantive (Walliser, 2003).” 2 (This figure for 2003) The opportunity for sponsorship is hawked by everyone from small hometown teams to major league sports organizations and even the colleges and universities who have teams.

Just a sample of sponsorships below shows huge needed revenues for large events which would not be possible without such sponsorships.