Sports Sponsorship - The 'Cricket Ambush Marketing' Controversy

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Case Details:

Case Code : MKTG046
Case Length : 11 Pages
Period : 2002
Pub Date : 2003
Teaching Note : Not Available
Organization : International Cricket Council, LG Electronics, Britannia, Philips India and HPCL
Industry : Media and Advertising
Countries : India

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Please note:

This case study was compiled from published sources, and is intended to be used as a basis for class discussion. It is not intended to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a management situation. Nor is it a primary information source.

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Excerpts

The Defiant Cricketers & The Troubled Companies

The third clause enraged many players and they lashed out against the ICC and BCCI. Indian cricketers refused to sign the players'contract with the ICC for the September 2002 Champions Trophy matches. They claimed that this clause affected their existing contracts with the companies they were associated with...

Companies in Trouble -Yet Again

Most of the leading Indian cricketers happened to be celebrity endorsers for those companies that were the arch-rivals of the official sponsors: Tendulkar endorsed Victor, a motorcycle from TVS, which was official sponsor Hero Honda's direct competitor; Ganguly endorsed Coca-Cola, official sponsor Pepsi's rival; and Dravid endorsed Samsung, official sponsor LG Electronics'rival.

The new ICC regulations barred the unofficial sponsors from airing advertisements featuring their celebrity endorsers...

Who Will Win The Match?

In January 2003, the contract row took a new turn when NKP Salve (ex-BCCI president), Siddhartha Shankar Ray (former ambassador to US), Kapil Dev, Madan Lal (former test cricketers), Ram Babu Gupta and Shyam Kumar Bansal (former test cricket umpires) filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) against ICC.

The PIL, filed in the Delhi High Court, accused ICC of imposing very strict and unreasonable conditions on Indian players. They opined that since India generated around 80% of the revenues for the game, Indian players should be given special concessions as far as the ambush marketing clauses were concerned.

The PIL also sought a ban on the release of foreign exchange to Indian sponsors if Indian players were disqualified from playing in the World Cup.

The petitioners appealed the court to direct the cricket bodies and the official sponsors to find an early solution to the problem...

Exhibits

Exhibit I: Various Forms of Ambush Marketing