Ambush Marketing From a Swedish Consumer Perspective : Spectators and Fanatics Opinion Towards companies' ´Free Riding´Strategy

Sammanfattning: Wherever we go, marketing is all around us. Sport events are no exception. Sport events have during the last years become a platform and a communication tool for marketing companies. The major reason for the increasing attraction of sport games is because of its’ enormously attraction of audience. A company that uses sport games in order to market itself is usually a sponsor for a sport association or team. A sponsoring company is provided with the opportunity to associate itself with a team and/or a game. Sponsoring and non-sponsoring companies utilize the amount of audience to reach as many customers as possible. The sponsoring companies need to pay a sponsorship fee. The non-sponsoring companies free ride at the expense of the sponsors, by not paying any fees. The ambushing companies aim, is to draw the consumers’ attention away from the sponsors and onto themselves. The purpose of this research is to study the consumers’ acceptance regarding marketing from non-sponsoring companies in sport games. It is interesting to study a consumer perspective of ambush marketing since the research field is not very explored. A qualitative study with quantitative elements has been used in order to capture the consumers’ opinions. The method used resulted in comprehensive findings. The results show distinct differences within the quantitative and the qualitative findings. The conclusion of this research is that consumers somehow accept the free riding strategy. Consumers believe that they do not lack knowledge regarding sponsoring companies. However, the consumers may lack knowledge concerning the harm ambush marketing causes the sponsoring companies.