A STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF AMBUSH MARKETING ON

CONSUMER”S BUYING BEHAVIOUR – A CASE OF SNAPDEAL”S

MARKETING STRATEGY

A PROJECT

Submitted by
Rohan Gulaty
(Register Number – 1520227)

Under the Guidance of

Prof Dr. R. Priya
Associate Professor

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of

BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES

BENGALURU, INDIA
2017 – 18
 DECLARATION

I Rohan Gulaty (Reg. No: 1520227) hereby declare that the project, titled A STUDY ON

THE IMPACT OF AMBUSH MARKETING ON CONSUMER”S BUYING

BEHAVIOUR – A CASE OF SNAPDEAL”S MARKETING STRATEGY
is a record of original research work undertaken by me in partial fulfillment for the award of the
degree of Bachelor of Business Administration. I have completed this study under the
supervision of Dr R. Priya, Associate Professor, Department of Management Studies.

I also declare that this project has not been submitted for the award of any degree, diploma,
associateship, fellowship or other title to any other Institution/University.

Place: Bengaluru
Date:
Rohan Gulaty
Reg No: 1520227
Dept of Management Studies
Christ University, Bengaluru
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project submitted by Rohan Gulaty (Reg. No: 1520227) titled
A STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF AMBUSH MARKETING ON
CONSUMER”S BUYING BEHAVIOUR – A CASE OF SNAPDEAL”S
MARKETING STRATEGY is a record of research work done by him/her during the
academic year 2017-2018 under my supervision in partial fulfillment of the requirement
for the award of Bachelor of Business Administration.

This project has not been submitted for the award of any degree, diploma, associateship,
fellowship or other title to any other Institution/University.

Place: Bengaluru
Date:
Dr R. Priya
Associate Professor
Dept of Management Studies

Dr Amalanathan S
Head of the Department
Dept of Management Studies
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
DESCRIPTION
NO. NO.

1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 GUERILLA MARKETING 1

1.2 AMBUSH MARKETING 3

1.3 TYPES OF AMBUSH MARKETING 5

1.4 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES 8

1.5 ABOUT E-COMMERCE INDUSTRY 9

1.6 MAJOR PLAYERS 10

1.7 ABOUT THE COMPANY – SNAPDEAL 11

2 LITERATURE OVERVIEW

2.1 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 12

3 RESEARCH DESIGN
 3.1 OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS 19

3.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 20

3.3 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES 20

3.4 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK 20

RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS 21
3.6
RESEARCH DESIGN 21
3.7
DATA ANALYSIS 21
3.8
LIMITATIONS 21
3.9

4 ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 22

4.1 Reliability Test 49

4.2 Objective 1 50

4.3 Objective 2 51

52
4.4 Objective 3

5 FINDINGS 59

6 CONCLUSION 62

APPENDIX

REFERENCES
 LIST OF TABLES

TABLE NO. TITLE PAGE NO.

4.1 Gender of the population 22

4.2 Age of the population 23

4.3 The education qualification of the population 24

4.4 Occupation of the population 25

4.5 The income level of the population 26

4.6 Marital Status of the population 27

4.7 Religion of the population 28

4.8 Regular Readers of Newspapers 23

4.9 Observer of Billboards 24

4.10 Newspapers and billboards as a good platform for

marketing 25

4.11 Awareness about the term ‘Ambush Marketing’ 26

4.12 Understanding of the meaning of the advertisement 27

4.13 Receiving of some new information 28

4.14 Paying Attention to these type of ads 29

4.15 Strategy to be attractive and creative 30

4.16 Information provided by Snapdeal 31

4.17 Negative perception about Snapdeal 32

4.18 No effect on Decision making 33

4.19 Encouragement to check the prices of Snapdeal once 34

4.20 Motivation to shift from Flipkart to Snapdeal 35

4.21 Acceptance of ambush marketing as a competitive

strategy 36

4.22 Ambush marketing as an unethical strategy 37

4.23 Ban of Ambush marketing 38

4.24 Ambush marketing as a profitable strategy 39

4.25 Failure of Ambush marketing in India 40

4.26 Ambush marketing as the future of marketing

4.27 Scope of a career in ambush marketing in future

4.28 Reliability Test of the Questionnaire

4.29 Reliability Test of 10 Questions

4.30 Relationship between Consumer Awareness and

Ambush Marketing

Relationship between Consumer Perception and

4.31
Ambush Marketing

Relationship between Consumer Awareness, Consumer

4.32 Perception and Consumer’s Buying Behaviour

Relationship between consumer awareness and ambush

4.33 marketing (Gender wise)

 Relationship between consumer perception and
ambush marketing (Gender Wise)
4.34
Relationship between consumer awareness and ambush
marketing (Age Wise)
4.35
Relationship between consumer perception and
ambush marketing (Age Wise)

4.36
 LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE NO. TITLE PAGE NO.

4.1 Gender of the population 22

4.2 Age of the population 23

4.3 The education qualification of the population 24

4.3 Occupation of the population 25

4.5 The income level of the population 26

4.6 Marital Status of the population 27

4.7 Religion of the population 28

4.8 Regular Readers of Newspapers 23

4.9 Observer of Billboards 24

4.10 Newspapers and billboards as a good platform for

marketing 25

4.11 Awareness about the term ‘Ambush Marketing’ 26

4.12 Understanding of the meaning of the advertisement 27

4.13 Receiving of some new information 28

4.14 Paying Attention to these type of ads 29

4.15 Strategy to be attractive and creative 30

4.16 Information provided by Snapdeal 31

4.17 Negative perception about Snapdeal 32

4.18 No effect on Decision making 33

4.19 Encouragement to check the prices of Snapdeal once 34

4.20 Motivation to shift from Flipkart to Snapdeal 35

4.21 Acceptance of ambush marketing as a competitive

strategy 36

4.22 Ambush marketing as an unethical strategy 37

4.23 Ban of Ambush marketing 38

4.24 Ambush marketing as a profitable strategy 39

4.25 Failure of Ambush marketing in India 40

 CHAPTER 1:
INTRODUCTION
Guerilla Marketing

Guerrilla marketing is a commercial technique intended for organizations to promote or advertise

their products or services in unorthodox ways. It is usually used when quick results are required
in a shorter period of time with little budget to spend. This involves high levels of imaginative
and creative skills and efforts concentrating on getting attention of people individually so that the
effects are long lasting in the minds of the consumer.

It has to be understood that not all unconventional strategies can come under guerilla marketing.
It is a niche field of marketing in itself where the primary purpose is to attract a bigger audience.
Hence, the activities are done on streets or other public places or any other platform that can
cater to a bigger audience. For example, strip malls, parks, shopping centres or beaches are a
good platform for these activities as a greater group of onlookers can be pulled and attracted.

As we move from traditional media to an age of online and electronic media, there has been a
growth in the concept of guerilla marketing. It is an idea that was developed by Jay Conrad
Levinson when he wrote the book Guerrilla Marketing in 1984.Guerilla Marketing has provided
a solution to modern marketers to target the consumers in different ways to inform them about
the products or services as the traditional media channels are diminishing and new online
channels are on the rise. Guerrilla marketing is a focused strategy to making a lasting impression
in the minds of the consumer by providing some surprising elements.

The main aim of guerilla marketing is to ensure that people remember it. This ensures that a buzz
is created about the brand or the item being marketed which can also lead to a word of mouth
strategy. It increases the engagement of consumers with the product or service, and is intended to
make a noteworthy ordeal for the customer. By ensuring that a memorable experience has been
created for the customer, it additionally improves the probability that a buyer, or someone who
experienced the same will educate or inform their companions through informal exchange of
words about the product or service.
It is very important that the first impression created by the campaign is a positive and a powerful
one which can ensure that a positive word of mouth is spread. Hence, the strategy achieves
significantly a bigger number of individuals than any other strategy with such less budget.

This style of marketing is concentrated more on reach than frequency and hence it is to a great
degree powerful for independent and small companies to promote their products or services,
particularly in the event when they are competing with greater organizations as it is simple,
creative, modest and an inexpensive technique. Guerrilla marketing provides a platform for all
types of companies to promote their products or services through unconventional channels. The
most important element for the success of a guerilla marketing campaign is not the high
investments or large sums of money but the presence of creative ability, time and energy which
proves to be the eventual differentiation factor.

There are various reasons why Guerrilla marketing is quite different from traditional marketing
techniques. One of the major reasons is that it can't be estimated or measured by insights, sales or
other statistics as the only criteria to measure the success of a guerilla marketing campaign is the
profit that has been made. The messages to customers are supposed to be clear and brief as the
focus is expected to be maintained. Also, it is designed in such a way so as to play with the
unconscious minds of the consumer to influence that factor during the purchase of the product or
service. The process of repetition or continuous advertising becomes an important element for its
success to ensure that buzz in the market is maintained and the consumers remember

Dissimilar to average open showcasing efforts that use bulletins or billboards, Guerrilla
marketing involves the utilization of numerous methods and practices with an aim to establish a
direct contact with the consumers. These activities are done in such a way since marketers
believe that it is the need of the hour to establish an emotional connection with the customers so
they remember the brands or products being advertised in a different way altogether, which gives
an edge over the competitors. Flyer dissemination out in the open spaces on various occasions or
events is one of the major strategy where the opportunity to advertise is used without having a
direct connection with the event.
The most necessary element for the success of guerilla marketing is to perform all the activities,
without getting involves in any legal issues, in the correct place and time to reach the maximum
crowd possible with minimum amount spent.

Although there are various types of guerilla marketing techniques like viral marketing, street
marketing, ambient marketing etc. but the most promising and the trending guerilla marketing
technique present in the market right now is Ambush Marketing.

Ambush Marketing

The word ‘Ambush’ is defined as a surprise attack on someone. It has given rise to one of the
most innovative strategies in the market right now that is Ambush Marketing. One of the most
famous marketing strategist, Jerry Welsh developed this term in the 1980s with a vision that it
will be the future of marketing. Ambush Marketing is defined as a modern creative market
strategy in which an advertiser or a marketer ‘ambushes’ a situation, a news, an event etc. to
target the competitors in the quest of competing for exposure against them.

This type of marketing strategy is commonly used in major sporting events like Olympics, World
Cups etc. where the other companies ambush the event and compete against the ‘official
sponsors’. With the growing popularity of the term, slowly the marketers and advertisers have
realized that ambush marketing is not restricted to only events. The scope of ambush marketing
is very huge and it can be used in various ways to gain a competitive advantage over other
companies. There are various regulations being implemented to oversee the activities involved in
the process of ambush marketing.

One major drawback of ambush marketing has always been its nature i.e if it is ethically
acceptable or not. This is the major reason why many companies opt not to go for this strategy as
they think that the customers might have a negative perception about them. In case of ambush by
sponsorship, it is often believed that the official sponsors suffer huge losses.
Therefore, to prevent that to happen, the regulatory bodies take steps to protect their rights and
restrict the ambush marketing activities. In spite of all the drawbacks, Ambush marketing has
been famously recognized as one of the most innovative marketing strategy because it is based
on the concept of ‘think and react’. It has evolved from time and is slowly establishing itself as
one of the most successful competitive marketing strategy. It is often known as one of the most
beautiful art in the field of marketing. A successful ambush marketing campaign is a product of
proper observation of the competitor’s activities and the innovative use of that opportunity to use
in your advantage. Although, it is still in the process of its growth, it can be forecasted that it has
a huge scope of development in years to come.

There is a stepwise approach to execute a successful ambush marketing program.

Step 1 : Observe and analyze the competitor’s strategy

Step 2 : Use a creative approach to exploit the opportunity provided by the competitor and ensure
that they remain unaware about your strategy.

Step 3 : If needed, combine with other companies to attack a particular company.

Step 4 : Publicize your strategy on a bigger scale and gain media attention.

Step 5 : Ensure that no laws are violated, instead the loopholes in the laws must be exploited.
Ambush Marketing can be categorized as :-

1.Direct Ambush Marketing :- When a brand is not officially linked to an event but tries to
associate itself with it.

2.Indirect Ambush Marketing :- When a brand seeks to align itself through reference or a
suggestion, without trying to associate with the event.

Types of Direct Ambush Marketing :

 Predatory Ambushing
 Coattail Ambushing
 Property Infringement
 Self-Ambushing

Types of Indirect Ambush Marketing :

 Associative Ambushing
 Distractive Ambushing
 Values Ambushing
 Insurgent Ambushing
 Parallel Property Ambushing
Predatory Ambushing

It refers to a marketing activity which confuses the consumers/audience regarding the official
sponsors of an event, athlete or an organization. For eg : In 1994 Winter games, the commercials
by AMEX resulted in the consumers considering them as official sponsors although VISA had
paid the sum to be the official sponsor.

Coattail Ambushing

When a certain individual or a related event is sponsored by a company which gives them the
required exposure and attention, it is known as coattail ambushing. For eg : In Atlanta Olympic
Games, athlete Lindford Christie had a lens which had a Puma logo in the pupil. This resulted in
Puma getting more brand coverage than Reebok, who were the official sponsors.

Property Infringement

It is defined as an intentional and unauthorized use of any protected intellectual property.

For eg : The explicit use of words ‘Euro 2008’ by the Polish magazine leading to the event.

Self Ambushing

It is the practice of breaching or misusing the sponsorship rights by executing activities which
are not a part of the sponsorship agreement. For eg : In 2008 European Football Championships,
Carlsberg distributed t-shirts and headbands with their logos on it which was not mentioned in
their sponsorship contract.
Associative Ambushing

When certain imagery is used to create an illusion, showing a link between the organization and
the event. For eg : Philips used the opportunity to exploit the logo of ICC 2003 world cup which
eventually resulted in consumers recognizing them as the official sponsors.

Distractive Ambushing

It is defined as a promotional technique when a presence is created in or around the event

without any specific reference about the event. For eg : During the open championship 2008,
Bentley had set up a line of cars outside the Hillside Golf Club, which helped them in getting
more attention than the official sponsors, Lexus.

Insurgent Ambushing

The use of an unconventional and a surprising promotional strategy by distributing certain

goodies etc. For eg : During French Open 2008, an enormous purple K-Swiss branded tennis ball
was set up on top of a crashed car, ambushing the rivals Lacoste and Adidas.

Values Ambushing

It is the practice when some certain values or themes are focused upon by a brand which only
involves the same values or themes. For eg : Involvement of Pepsi in Cricket World Cup, 1998.

Parallel Property Ambushing

Capitalizing or capturing the main event’s goodwill by creating or initiating a similar event
parallel to the main ambush target event. For eg : Seven days after the Beijing Olympics, Nike
ran an event ‘the human race’ across 24 cities which eventually helped them gain worldwide
popularity.
Advantages of Ambush Marketing

1.Increase in Brand Awareness : Since ambush marketing results in more media attention
because of its unique nature, there is a hype created about the brand which results in an increase
in brand awareness. Word of Mouth plays a huge role in this process.

2.Reduction in prices : As more companies compete with each other through ambush marketing,
it results in reduction of the prices of products or services provided by them because of
competitive pricing. Hence, it is very advantageous for consumers.

3.Inexpensive technique : Ambush Marketing is recognized as one of the cheapest and most
inexpensive mode of a marketing activity since it does not involve high investment etc. All that
is required is to make use of an opportunity or a situation in the market.

Disadvantages of Ambush Marketing

1.Unhealthy Competitive Environment : Since the techniques involved in ambush marketing

focuses on indirectly attacking the competitors, it can create a very unhealthy environment
among the competitors in the market and can also destroy their industrial relations.

2.Degradation of the value of event : Sometimes ambush marketing strategies are given too
much coverage or importance that it eventually overshadows the event which decreases the
commercial value of it.

3.Loss in trust of official sponsors : The companies opting for ambushing usually creates more
revenue and reap higher benefits than the official sponsors themselves which eventually results
in companies opting out from sponsoring the events.
About E-Commerce Industry

The E-Commerce industry in India is one of the fastest growing industries because of the ever
increasing users of Internet in the country. Around 450 million internet users have been
identified which is about 40% of India’s total population. The development in the field of
technology and communication has led to easy and inexpensive access to internet to the people
in any part of the country which is the major reason for such rapid growth.

But, in spite of all this, e-commerce industry in India has not grown in the same pace as
expected. The rate of penetration has been low as compared to other countries but there has still
been an unparalleled growth as 6 million new entrants are added every month. The biggest
reason for this continuous growth in the industry is the attractiveness of the international
consumer products in the modern world. E-commerce provides a perfect platform to browse
through all categories and varieties of all types of products and order them easily with just a click
on an electronic device. Flipkart and Snapdeal have continued to be the major players driving
the success of e commerce industry in India.

Road Ahead

The E commerce industry has been directly affecting the micro, small and medium scaled
enterprises (MSME) in India by providing a huge platform for their growth and development.
Since the young generation is a tech savvy one, e-commerce has to be the future of marketing in
India. The aggregate size of the industry (just B2C e tail) in India is estimated upon to reach
around US$ 101.9 billion by 2020 which is a very bright statistic for all the marketers. It
signifies that the industry has a very bright future in the country because of the continuous
development and advancement in the country as the nation is going towards digitalization. E-
Commerce industry will be the major contributor to the GDP in years to come.
Major Players in E-Commerce Industry

1. Flipkart : It is the standout company amongst other e-commerce organizations in India.

Established in 2007 by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, the organization is enrolled in
Singapore, however has its headquarters in Bangalore.

2. Amazon : Amazon.com, Inc. regularly kown as basically Amazon, is an American electronic

commerce organization with headquarters in Seattle, Washington. By total market capitalization,
it is considered as the biggest Internet based retailer in this world.

3. Paytm : Paytm is an Indian web based business site headquartered in Noida, India. Owned by
One97 Communications, it was launched in 2010. Mobile recharge was the first service that was
provided by them. They later expanded their domain in e-commerce and bill payment services. .
In 2015, it additionally included booking transport travel.

4. Makemytrip : Founded in 2000 by Deep Kalra, Makemytrip has a national as well as

international presence with offices in New York City and Sydney. It is known for its solid online
presence as it has emerged to be one of the most famous travel companies in India. The
organization gives whole range of travel services including flight, tickets, hotel booking, holiday
packages etc. With a launch of various travel apps, it also provides various travel packages of all
significant tourist locations.

5. eBay : One of the most successful e-commerce companies in India, Ebay was founded in 1995
by Pierre Omidyar. It is headquared in San Jose, California. The company is considered to be an
e-commerce giant in the world. It is an online business organization which functions on both
B2C and B2B plan of actions. It is among the top 10 e-commerce organizations in India.

6. Bookmyshow : Launched in 2017, the company has offices in all metro areas. With its head
office in Mumbai, it has emerged to become a leading online platform for booking of all
entertainment related things like plays, tickets, movies and sports events.
About the Company – Snapdeal

Snapdeal is one of the most successful e-commerce companies in India. Based in New Delhi,
Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal started this company in Februrary 2010. The company had initially
started as a daily deals platform but gradually expanded to become one of the largest online
market place in the country.

The company has expanded itself to over 6000 towns and cities in the country as of now. It
presently sells around more than 30 million products across more than 800+ different categories
from over 1,25,000 brands all over the world. It has acquired FreeCharge for around $400
million. Snapdeal is ranked 325 as per Alexa Rank.

Investors in Snapdeal include Ru-Net Holdings, Tybourne Capital, Alibaba Group, Bessemer
Venture Partners, Kalaari Capital, eBay, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Blackrock, Nexus
Ventures, SoftBank Corp, IndoUS Ventures, Intel Capital, Foxconn Technology Group,
Temasek Holdings, Saama Capital, PremjiInvest and Ratan Tata.

Its annual growth is almost about 600%.The average age of the workforce in the company
is approximately 25 which signifies the fact that the youth has been entrusted upon to
develop the company for the future. The key values of the company are – Innovation,
Change, Openness, Honesty and Ownership which has been the driving force to guide them
towards their path of success.

The company has experienced a phenomenal growth throughout these years but it is their
continuous efforts to bring the best available things to the market and their determination
to succeed as one of the best B2C (Business to customer) marketplace is what sets them
apart from other companies. Snapdeal has achieved success because they have never been
afraid to implement new and different ideas in the market. They have achieved positive
results because of their ability to read the market situations and take risks to make use of
the available opportunities in the market.
 CHAPTER 2:
REVIEW OF
LITERATURE
Review of Literature

Marc & Pascale (2010) studied on the effects of the disclosure of activities of ambush marketing
on the attitudes of the consumers towards the brand of the ambusher. The attitude towards the
ambusher’s brand was eventually measured by the effect on brand effect, perceived integrity and
purchase intention. A total of 40 people were questioned for each experimental condition i.e
before/after group, after only control group and unexposed control group. As an explanatory
factor of exposure to the disclosure, multivariate analysis of variance was used. The study
concluded that ambush marketing comes up with its own risks. According to the research, when
the ambusher’s activities are unmasked and disclosed, there is a negative impact on the attitudes
of the consumers which can have serious implications on the image of the brand.

Monica (2012) focused her study on the importance of preventive steps before the execution of
an ambush marketing campaign to avoid any legal repercussions. The case of 2012 UEFA
European Football Championship was studied to analyze the preparations made my Poland to
take preventive measures against any legal action involving ambush marketing. Reactive and
Proactive are two types of preventive strategies that have been identified as the significant ones.
It was realized that although guarantees provided to UEFA were fulfilled by Poland, but they
didn’t introduce any special or additional regulations to prevent the rights of the official sponsors
from practices like ambush marketing etc. It was concluded that the solution of accepting the
facts without making any possible amendments in the legal system could have positive results as
Poland could host many more big events like this in the coming years.

Paul & Patrick (1998) focused on the four ethical perspectives of ambush marketing namely
utilitarianism, stakeholder analysis, duty-based ethics and virtue ethics which were devised on
the basis of basic factors like justice, equality, freedom and truth. An ideal marketing strategy
should not ignore any of the factors mentioned. They wanted to highlight the fact that one must
not rely exclusively on economic or legal aspects while studying about ambush marketing. It was
very significant to consider the ethical principles as well. According to the research, it was very
important to set some ethical standards so that companies can devise their strategies and plans
accordingly.
It was concluded that absence of ethical standards was considered to be a major cause of all the
issues relating to ambush marketing which could be solved by this framework of ethical
perspectives.

Barbara (1993) states the problems and confusions involved in the process of event marketing
and ambush marketing. Various examples are discussed to understand the reasons of the
development of uncertainties like Kodak and Fuji, Visa and American Express etc. It eventually
raises the point of development of various regulations that protect and assure the official
sponsors from being ambushed. According to the research, the task to prevent ambushing lied in
the hands of event organizers as they were supposed to avoid confusing layers of sponsorship.

Michael (1998) states about the fact that Olympic Games provide a very big platform for ambush
marketers to execute their strategies and attract a huge crowd. But, he believes that there should
be no place of these kinds of activities in the field of sports as it affects the integrity of such big
events. According to him, ambush marketing is an extremely unethical practice as it aims to
misguide the consumers to believe in things that are not true. Also, the official sponsors have to
bear the consequences which should not be acceptable in the spirit of marketing and advertising.
It was concluded that these type of activities should be separated from sports to protect the honor
of sports.

Edward and Kristin (2005) talks about the existence of ambush marketing in various countries
across the globe and tries to study the relevance of these practices on an international level.
Various cases prevalent in those countries are analyzed to draw some significant conclusions
about the same. It was realized that ambush marketing had some really positive results as it
increased the competition in the market, eventually improving the quality of products and
services provided by the companies. It was concluded that in most of the countries, the practice
of ambush marketing was still considered as a controversial one and hence, companies preferred
not to use them.
Bodo and Gerd (2014) focused on a quantitative approach to measure the effectiveness of
various ambush marketing campaigns across the period of 2004 to 2012 during which events like
world cup and European Championship took place. It was an empirical study conducted where
Google data was used for the analysis. It was realized that these practices can result in giving
quite a lot of attention because of their attractive nature. It is a major threat for any official
sponsor as non-sponsors can achieve greater attention. It was concluded that one could reach the
target consumers were effectively using ambush marketing at a really affordable cost which is a
positive sign for any marketer.

Erazono (2003) discusses about the fact that in spite of all the drawbacks, ambush marketing
actually does work as is proven by the results. Various examples like Pepsi, Adidas etc. have
been mentioned to reinforce the point that ambush marketing campaigns can be very effective
and successful. The author believes that ambush marketing strategies will be continuously used
in all major big events because of the affordable costs involved in them. It was concluded that all
the officials and sponsors must always be prepared to face these type of activities in major events
otherwise they would not be able to deal with it.

Mcdermott (2012) talks about the evolution of ambush marketing because of the development of
internet and technology in the modern era. It is realized that the practice of ambush marketing
has taken a completely different form because of the use of social media. The use of YouTube by
Nike in FIFA world cup and Twitter by Dominos in Winter Olympics are some prominent
examples discussed to reinforce the fact that social media provides a huge platform for ambush
marketers to promote themselves ad attract a larger audience. It was concluded that it was
necessary for sponsors to market themselves adequately and efficiently in marketplace as well as
social media to ensure that the activities of ambushers do not really effect them.

Nina (2010) talks about the case of FIFA world cup 2010 when all the major brands were
planning to make use of the limelight provided by such a major global event. It is mentioned that
although Adidas had grabbed the official sponsorship deals worth millions, other rival brands
like Nike were already planning to steal their limelight by using the ambushing strategy in some
way or the other.
Around 3300 rights infringements cases were reported in the previous world cup and the author
believes that the number would only increase in future. It was concluded that since Nike was not
revealing anything about their marketing plan, there were definitely planning to ambush the
event which they eventually did.

Sarah (2006) discusses about the scope of ambush marketing and the laws preventing such
practices in various events that were scheduled to happen in New Zealand like Rugby and
Cricket world cups. The author mentions the fact that although FIFA have been very lenient in
imposing laws regulating ambush marketing practices, the New Zealand government had decided
to protect the rights of all the sponsors by introducing various legislations. It was concluded that
ambush marketing practices were required to be regulated because they can actually damage the
rights of sponsors and sports organizations.

Dheeraj (2013) discusses about one of the most successful ambush marketing campaigns in
India, ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. The author mentions where instances how these practices
were used during the event which creates a conflict in the minds of the audience to some extent.
The study was conducted across 150 respondents before and after the world cup to compare the
‘attitude towards brand’ and ‘brand purchase intentions’ among sponsors and ambushers. It was
concluded that there was a positive impact on brand perception in both cases but purchase
decisions were not really impacted. Hence, both ambushers and official sponsors had a similar
impact only on the consumers.

Peter (2013) focuses on the basic understanding of the term ‘ambush marketing’. He believes
that there was still a doubt in the minds of marketers and consumers as to what actually ambush
marketing meant. He found the definition by Lee as the most appropriate one which defines
ambush marketing as the technique of associating yourself with an event without paying the fees
of sponsorship. It was also mentioned that ambush marketing laws should not become so
restrictive that they don’t allow any kind of creativity or innovation in the market. It was
concluded that a balanced approach as suggested by lawyers and advertisers is the key to success
for any ambush marketing campaign.
Bruce (1995) discusses about the measures that were taken to ensure that ambush marketing was
reduced to a major extent in the 1996 Olympics. It is mentioned that a special team was created
to keep an eye on ambush marketers who were falsely creating impressions in the minds of
people that they were the official sponsors by using images of Olympics in their ads. They were
eventually forced to stop running those type of ads and if they refused to do so, lawsuits were
filed against them. It was concluded that such type of preventive measures was a really good
approach to ensure the reduction of fraudulent marketing practices, although it killed the
competition in the market at the same time.

Pippa and Nick (2006) talks about the possible changes in the field of ambush marketing that
could happen in 2012 London Olympics. The objective of all the big brands would be to get a
good amount of commercial benefits without actually having to pay for the association rights.
But, the danger of failure still looms around because of the increasing popularity of corporate
social responsibility among various corporates as well as consumers which could eventually
result in those techniques getting backfired.

Simon (2012) states the fact the practice of ambush marketing is all about winning and the
results prove that it is actually a really successful strategy in this competitive market. The author
mentions the successful campaign of Coca Cola’s polar bear characters who were reacting live
through a website designed by them. The popularity was so much that it got an edge over the
official sponsors, Pepsi which eventually was seen in the amount of Twitter followers as Coca
Cola saw a rise of around 12% followers on Twitter during the American football game. It was
concluded that ambush marketing might come with its own pros and cons but over the past few
years, it has proven itself to be a very successful competitive strategy in the market which has
always yielded positive results.

Stephen, Dan & Nicholas (1998) talks about the risks or dangers imposed because of ambush
marketing tactics and the legal mechanisms which can help preventing them. According to them,
it is very important to develop new legal measures because the existing copyright laws do not
really protect from ambush marketing.
In case of various events, the governing bodies must exercise full control over the marketing
campaigns by various organizations and must ensure that the event is conducted in an ethical
manner. It was concluded that ambush marketing is a very attractive strategy and must be used in
the market but certain regulations and governance is very important to restrict these activities to
a certain limit.

Mei (2008) talks about the efforts made my Chinese government leading to Beijing Olympics in
2008 to impose certain restrictions on the ambush marketing campaigns. According to him, the
Chinese government had ensured to protect the rights of almost more than 60 official sponsors.
This was regarded as one of the biggest initiative by any country’s government to protect the
official sponsors from getting ambushed. But, in spite of all this, Nike was getting the benefits by
sponsoring some athletes or federations ahead of Adidas who were the official sponsors.
According to him, ambushing an event like Olympics can destroy the integrity of the game as the
focus shifts away from the game which is not a very encouraging sign. There should be a proper
balance maintained between ambush marketing and the event.It was concluded that ambush
marketing must be regulated to a certain extent, especially in events like Olympics to keep the
spirit of sports alive but it is impossible to stop those activities completely as they are legally
allowed.

Results of study by Lyberger & McCarthy (2001) provided a very significant information for the
ambush marketers. It stated that most of the respondents were not at all concerned about the
strategy being unethical. They were completely fine with it and it had no such negative
perception on their minds. This was the time of the beginning of a modern marketing era where
the consumers were becoming open minded and were enjoying the intense competition between
the brands as it eventually resulted in low prices and better quality.

Meenaghan (1996) points out the fact that the number of opportunities for ambushing an event
have increased drastically because of the increase in awareness about the laws by various
companies. The situations which they didn’t make use of earlier because of the fear of breaking
the law started to be exploited as the loopholes in laws were identified. Various types of events
and situations were being ambushed by various brands to compete against their rivals.
There was a sudden increase in the number of ambushing campaigns because of the legitimate
opportunities being identified.

Graham (1997) talks about the growth and development of ambush marketers in particular.
According to him, the credit of all the success that this technique has achieved must be given to
the marketers who have executed them. He believes that the ambush marketers have become
more clever, sly and innovative in their approach where they can make use of every opportunity
by ambushing an event very easily by exploiting the loopholes in the law system. It is realized
that the ambush marketers must constantly update their knowledge about the market environment
to survive in the system.

Sullivan & Murphy (1998) focused on the most important aspect of ambush marketing which is
its ethical acceptance. Initially, ambush marketing was supposed to be recognized as a devious or
an unethical technique which could have negative impact on the minds of the consumers. But
according to the authors, things have changed. Hence, to understand that, they provided an
ethical framework for ambush marketing which was based on 4 perspectives - duty-based ethics ,
utilitarianism, virtue ethics and stakeholder analysis. This framework was used to analyze and
interpret the extent to which people found ambush marketing to be ethically acceptable. It was
concluded by them that ambush marketing has now found its place in the market as an ethically
acceptable and a legitimate market strategy.
 CHAPTER 3:
RESEARCH DESIGN
3.1 OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS

Ambush Marketing

It can be defined as an advertisement which the consumer is eventually exposed to in the market.
Any kind of effort or an idea would constitute to be a part of ambush marketing campaign in this
case.

Consumer Awareness

It is defined as the extent to which a consumer correctly understands the message of the
advertisement. Positive consumer awareness would mean that most of the consumers understood
what the marketer wanted to convey. Negative consumer awareness would mean that the
consumers were confused after going through the advertisement as they didn’t understand the
meaning or the message as conveyed by the marketer.

Consumer Perception

It can be defined as to how and what the customer actually feels about the whole campaign.
Positive consumer perception would mean that the consumer actually liked it and was impressed
by the campaign which resulted in them talking good things about the brand i.e positive word of
mouth. Negative consumer perception would mean that the consumer did not like the campaign
as he found it to be ethically wrong or disturbing which would result in them spreading negative
things about the brand.

Consumer’s Buying Behaviour

This is the final stage of any marketing campaign. It is defined as the final decision to purchase a
product or a service from a particular organization. It is a product of a lot of factors which affects
the buying behavior of the consumers.
3.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Although ambush marketing has proved to be a very dynamic strategy in the modern era of
marketing, it has also faced various criticisms. There are still doubts in the minds of marketers
that consumers might perceive ambush marketing as an unethical practice which can lead to a
negative perception about the brand. Also, there is an uncertainty as to how a good ambush
marketing campaign should be planned and executed. This study is designed as an attempt to
provide a proper ambush marketing design and answers to the above mentioned problems.

3.3 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

The objectives of the study are as follows :

 To measure the impact of ambush marketing on consumer awareness.

 To verify the role of ambush marketing on building consumer perception.
 To analyse the impact of consumer awareness and perception on buying behavior.

3.4 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

A proper ambush marketing campaign is dependent on this model. It is important to study the
impact of independent variable (Ambush Marketing Campaign) on the dependent variables
(Consumer Awareness and Consumer Perception) which eventually acts as independent variables
affecting the final dependent variable (Consumer Buying Behaviour).
3.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

H0: there is no relationship between ambush marketing and consumer awareness

H1: there is a relationship between ambush marketing and consumer awareness

H0: there is no relationship between ambush marketing and consumer perception

H2: there is a relationship between ambush marketing and consumer perception

H0: Consumer awareness and consumer perception have no impact on buying behavior.

H3: Consumer awareness and consumer perception have impact on buying behavior

3.6 RESEARCH DESIGN

Quantitative research design has been used after collecting data from e-commerce users in
Bangalore through a structured self-administered questionnaire, which was based on a five point
Likert scale. The probability and convenience sampling techniques were used for the collection
of primary data. The sample size was 275.

3.7 DATA ANALYSIS

IBM SPSS software has been used to analyse the data. The information was divided on the basis
of the variables and correlation & regression analysis were performed to find the results and test
the hypothesis.

3.8 LIMITATIONS

1. The sample size can prove to be insignificant to come to a generalized conclusion.

2. The impatience of people and casual attitude might lead them to fill the questionnaires without
reading it carefully, giving manipulated results.
 CHAPTER 4:
DATA ANALYSIS
 Table 4.1 Gender of the Respondents

INTERPRETATION

As the sampling method chosen was convenience sampling, there was not much control on
keeping a balance between the gender of the respondents. Hence, we see that around 80% of the
respondents were male and 20% were female. There was no transgender as a respondent.

Figure 4.1 Gender of the Respondents

 Table 4.2 Age of the Respondents

INTERPRETATION

As the research is mostly focused on a technique for future, it was very important that most of
the respondents belong to the category of youth as their opinion matters the most in this case.
Hence, we observe that around 85% of the respondents belong to the category of 18-25 years age
group. There were a few senior citizens as well as 4% of the respondents were of the age group
>55. All the other age groups had around 3% of the total respondents each.

Figure 4.2 Age of the Respondents

 Table 4.3 Qualifications of the Respondents

INTERPRETATION

As most of the respondents are young, we observe that around 70% are just high school
graduates and around 25% have a bachelors degree. There were only around 5% of the people
who had done their masters as well. Respondents with Doctrate or a Professional Degree were
were few.

Figure 4.3 Qualifications of the Respondents

 Table 4.4 Occupation of the Respondents

INTERPRETATION

We observe that around 80% of the population belong to the category of students which is a very
important statistic in this research. As this research is based on how useful ambush marketing
can be in future, it was important that most of the students had voiced their opinion. There are a
few government employees and private sector employees as well.

Figure 4.4 Occupation of the Respondents

 Table 4.5 Income of the Respondents

INTERPRETATION

As most of the respondents are students, 80% of them belong to the category of no income. This
is a positive statistic for the research as the respondents can give their honest opinion about the
strategy as they are not concerned about the prices or other factors. Their opinion is just based on
how they found the strategy to be which is the major outcome required from this research.

Figure 4.5 Income of the Respondents

 Table 4.6 Marital Status of the Respondents

INTERPRETATION

We observe that around 88% of the respondents are single and around 12% are married. This
again signifies that most of the respondents were quite young and they represent the future.

Figure 4.6 Marital Status of the Respondents

 Table 4.7 Religion of the Respondents

INTERPRETATION

The best part was that there were respondents from almost all religions. Although around 90% of
the respondents were Hindus, there were a few from Jainism, Islam, Sikhism, Buddhism and
Christianity as well.

Figure 4.7 Religion of the Respondents

 Table 4.8 Regular readers of Newspapers

INTERPRETATION

The results state that more than 4/5th of the respondents i.e 80% are regular readers of
newspapers which implies that opting for ambush marketing on a platform like newspaper is not
at all a bad idea. Hence, people might argue that the platform chosen by Snapdeal might not be
the best decision by them but the advantages of low costs of newspaper advertising coupled with
the results of this research prove that it was a very wise decision by Snapdeal to use newspapers
as a platform for their ambush marketing strategy.

Figure 4.8 Regular readers of newspaper

 Table 4.9 Observer of billboards

INTERPRETATION

The results state that out of every 10 consumers, 9 of them observe billboards on roads carefully
which is a very surprising, yet positive figure for ambush marketers. Billboards and hoardings
can prove to be a very good platform to target a large crowd. Only drawback that people usually
observe is that most of the consumers don’t observe them carefully which is contradicted by the
results of this research. Hence, this can prove to be another major platform for all ambush
marketers after newspapers. The success of Snapdeal’s strategy lies in their understanding of
customers better than competitors as most of them thought that billboards and hoardings are not
the best platforms for advertising whereas Snapdeal decided to use that mindset against those
competitors and gain an edge over them.

Figure 4.9 Observer of billboards

 Table 4.10 Newspapers and billboards as a good platform for marketing

INTERPRETATION

Around 95% of respondents believe that newspapers and billboards are a good platform for these
type of strategies which is a very inspiring number for any marketer because of the eventual
result of low costs and more consumer accessibility.

Figure 4.10 Newspapers and billboards as a good platform for marketing

 Table 4.11 Awareness about the term ‘Ambush Marketing’

INTERPRETATION

Not many people are aware of the actual meaning of the term ‘ambush marketing’. The results of
the research also states the same. Around 70% of the respondents were unaware that the strategy
used by Snapdeal is an example of Ambush Marketing. It is also possible because of the one
dimension of Ambush Marketing involving sporting events and sponsors. The other aspect of
ambush marketing has not really got much attention as of now. That is why, lack of awareness
about the actual understanding of the term in this case is observed.

Figure 4.11 Awareness about the term ‘Ambush Marketing’

 Table 4.12 Understanding of the meaning of the advertisement

INTERPRETATION

It is often argued that ambush marketing strategies are a bit too out of the box which decreases
the understanding level of the customers. But, in this case, we observe that around 90% of the
respondents clearly understood the meaning and objective of the ad by Snapdeal which signifies
that the consumers are more intellectual than what the marketers perceive them to be.

Figure 4.12 Understanding of the meaning of the advertisement

 Table 4.13 Receiving of some new information

INTERPRETATION

Providing new information is one of the most important element of any successful market
strategy. Snapdeal were successful in that as around 75% of people agreed to have been provided
with some information they were unaware about. Every marketer must aim to reach this figure of
creating awareness before designing any strategy.

Figure 4.13 Receiving of some new information

 Table 4.14 Paying Attention to these type of ads

INTERPRETATION

Now, this is a very important figure in the context of this research. Around 75% of the
respondents believe that they would pay more attention to these type of ads i.e Snapdeal’s
ambush advertising as compared to other advertisements. Since most of the respondents were
students and they prefer creativity over simplicity, the future of ambush marketing looks very
promising as the consumers become more open minded.

Figure 4.14 Paying Attention to these type of ads

 Table 4.15 Strategy to be attractive and creative

INTERPRETATION

Although this strategy by Snapdeal was supposed to be quite attractive and creative and 40% of
the respondents agree to this but the other side of the data is not too bright. Around 60% of the
respondents were not very sure about this which signifies the fact that marketers need to find
ways to be more creative and attractive to rule over the minds of the consumers as the
expectations of consumers are ever increasing day by day.

Figure 4.15 Strategy to be attractive and creative

 Table 4.16 Information provided by Snapdeal

INTERPRETATION

Another not so inspiring data i.e only around 25% of people were fully convinced to believe in
the information provided by Snapdeal. The uncertainity in the minds of around 67% of
respondents represents the lack of convincing skills in that ad which must be taken care of while
designing an ambush marketing strategy by any marketer.

Figure 4.16 Information Provided by Snapdeal

 Table 4.17 Negative perception about Snapdeal

INTERPRETATION

It is often believed that ambush marketing can result in creating a negative perception about the
company using it. But, the results of this research states that it is not actually the case. Most of
the respondents were very neutral and diplomatic in their response as they neither agreed nor
disagreed to this statement which means that the strategy adopted by Snapdeal did not really lead
to a negative perception in the minds of the consumer.

Figure 4.17 Negative Perception about Snapdeal

 Table 4.18 No effect on Decision making

INTERPRETATION

This is one of the foremost aim of the research as if there is any effect on the final buying
behavior of the consumer or not. Around 65% of the respondents believe that this strategy by
Snapdeal might have lead them to change their original buying decision which means that the
strategy was effective and influential.

Figure 4.18 No effect on Decision Making

 Table 4.19 Encouragement to check the prices of Snapdeal once

Around 90% of the respondents agreed that they would want to have a look at the prices of
Snapdeal as well before making any decision. Hence, the purpose of attracting the consumers
towards them is fulfilled which makes this strategy a successful one although it doesn’t
guarantee the final results.

Figure 4.19 Encouragement to check the prices of Snapdeal once

 Table 4.20 Motivation to shift from Flipkart to Snapdeal

Now, this is a very interesting observation from the responses. Ambush marketing strategy by
Snapdeal might change the perception of consumers, attract them towards their site etc but still it
does not ensure if the consumers will buy from them instead of the competitor. It does change
the minds of consumer and the buying behavior is affected but it is not enough to ensure 100%
conversion rate. Hence, we understood that ambush marketing needs to be complemented with
some other strategies to increase the conversion rate of consumers to influence their final buying
behavior.

Figure 4.20 Motivation to shift from Flipkart to Snapdeal

 Table 4.21 Acceptance of ambush marketing as a competitive strategy

INTERPRETATION

The respondents had a one sided response in rating the competitive nature of the strategy adopted
by Snapdeal as most of them found out to be a technique which should be used more often by all
the companies to survive in the market. It can be understood that ambush marketing has a good
potential to succeed in this healthy competitive market.

Figure 4.21 Acceptance of ambush marketing as a competitive strategy

 Table 4.22 Ambush marketing as an unethical strategy

INTERPRETATION

One of the major drawback of ambush marketing is that marketers believe that consumers might
feel that it is unethical in nature which can create a bad impression about the company using the
strategy, hence most companies prefer to avoid using ambush marketing. But, the results of this
research are very promising for all marketers as around 75% of the respondents don’t find any
problem of the strategy being unethical.

Figure 4.22 Ambush marketing as an unethical strategy

 Table 4.23 Ban of Ambush marketing

INTERPRETATION

Around 80% of the respondents believe that there is no point of banning these marketing
strategies at all as they are completely ethical and legal in nature. Market has become so dynamic
and competitive that these type of techniques are necessary for companies to gain some
competitive advantage over others.

Figure 4.23 Ban of Ambush marketing

 Table 4.24 Ambush marketing as a profitable strategy

INTERPRETATION

One of the major questions from a marketer’s point of view is if it will lead to profits or not.
Although 1/4th of the respondents believed that it can be a profitable strategy, most of them were
not very sure and had a neutral point of view. The dimension of effect of profitability must be
explored in some other ways in future.

Figure 4.24 Ambush marketing as a profitable strategy

 Table 4.25 Failure of Ambush marketing in India

These type of aggressive strategies might not often succeed in India because of its rich culture
and beliefs. The results also provide a very neutral approach and respondents were not very sure
about the future of ambush marketing in India because of various reasons. The marketers must
dig deep into this and must try to find out reasons for this uncertainity in the minds of the
consumer to develop strategies to tackle and solve them.

Figure 4.25 Failure of Ambush marketing in India

 Table 4.26 Ambush marketing as the future of marketing

This a very significant statistic in the field of marketing. When 4/5th of the respondents believe
that ambush marketing has a bright future ahead of it in the field of marketing then marketers
must put a thought into this. With the ever increasing competition, the strategy adopted by
Snapdeal might act as a benchmark for a number of similar ads to be seen in future. This might
just be the start of a modern marketing era with ambush marketing leading the table.

Figure 4.26 Ambush marketing as the future of marketing

 Table 4.27 Scope of a career in ambush marketing in future

INTERPRETATION

With the scope of ambush marketing looking bright in future, it will also lead to various opening
up of new job opportunities in the same field. Various qualified people like analysts, social
media managers, innovators and creators will be required to execute ambush marketing
strategies. Around 90% of the respondents also believe that there is a huge scope of a career in
this field and various institutions might start thinking of providing a specialized or a niche course
in ambush marketing to develop the future marketers.

Figure 4.27 Scope of a career in ambush marketing in future

 Table 4.28 Reliability Test of the Questionnaire

The Cronbach’s Alpha value of 0.427 states that the questionnaire was not reliable to come to a
certain conclusion. There was a need to remove certain unreliable questions which could
manipulate the results. Eventually, the test was conducted again on the following 10 questions :-

Q1. I am a regular reader of Newspapers.

Q2. I observe billboards on roads carefully.

Q3. Using these type of ads on newspapers and billboards is a good idea.

Q4. I understood the meaning of the ad as soon as I read it.

Q5. It provided me with information I was unaware about.

Q6. I would pay more attention to these kind of advertisements

Q7. I would want to have a look at the prices of Snapdeal also before making the final decision.

Q8. I believe that this is a very competitive strategy and should be used more often.

Q9. Ambush Marketing is the future of marketing with the ever increasing competition.

Q10.There is a huge scope of a career in Ambush Marketing in the coming years.

Table 4.29 Reliability Test of 10 Questions

The eventual value of Cronbach’s alpha was 0.710 which states that these 10 questions are
reliable and acceptable to come up to a certain conclusion. The major reason for the reliability
being less is that it is a primary research done on the basis of a self-administered questionnaire.
 Table 4.30 Relationship between Consumer Awareness and Ambush Marketing

INTERPRETATION

We observe that the level of significance (0.000) is less than 0.05 and hence, we will reject the
null hypothesis. We will accept the alternate hypothesis that there is a relationship between
ambush marketing and consumer awareness which is further strengthened by the R value. R
Value of .442 proves that there is a strong positive relationship between ambush marketing and
consumer awareness. R square value of 0.195 signifies that 19.5% of variance can be explained
which is not very impressive but still a positive figure . The data leads to an understanding that
ambush marketing creates a significant amount of awareness in the minds of the consumer about
the brand/product/service. A successful marketing strategy is measured as to how well it can
create an awareness to begin with and the results of the research prove that ambush marketing
passes this test with flying colors.
 Table 4.31 Relationship between Consumer Perception and Ambush Marketing

INTERPRETATION

We observe that the level of significance (0.000) is less than 0.05 and hence, we will reject the
null hypothesis. We will accept the alternate hypothesis that there is a relationship between
ambush marketing and consumer perception which is further strengthened by the R value. R
Value of .385 proves that there is a moderate positive relationship between ambush marketing
and consumer perception. R square value of 0.148 signifies that 14.8% of variance can be
explained. The data leads to an important observation that ambush marketing affects the
perception of the consumers to a good extent which is a very motivating statement for any
marketer or an advertiser. If a marketing strategy can affect the consumer’s perception even to a
small extent, it is considered as a good strategy because one of the biggest challenges in the
market for any marketer is to deviate the perception of consumers.
Table 4.32 Relationship between Consumer Awareness, Consumer Perception and Consumer’s
Buying Behaviour

INTERPRETATION

Through this table, we can interpret the impact of one individual variable on other. It states that 1
value of increase in consumer awareness will result in an increase in the value of consumer’s
buying behavior by 0.221 whereas 1 value of increase in consumer perception will lead to an
increase in consumer’s buying behavior by 0.529. Hence, we understand that only creating
awareness or a positive perception might not lead to the desired results. Also, with the level of
significance (0.000) less than 0.05, we reject the null hypothesis and accept the alternate
hypothesis that consumer awareness and consumer perception have an impact on final buying
behavior of consumers. The R Value of 0.542 strengthens the fact that there is a very strong
positive relationship between consumer awareness & perception and consumer’s buying
behavior. It highlights the importance of the fact the best results are achieved only when both
consumer awareness and perception is targeted by the marketer which gives more significance to
the ambush marketing model of awareness and perception.
 Table 4.33 Relationship between consumer awareness and ambush marketing (Gender wise)

INTERPRETATION
The results state that the ambush marketing and consumer awareness is way more strongly
related in case of males as compared to females. It means that males usually understand the
message of ambush marketing campaigns faster than females as the r value of 0.467 is quite
good. Also, it can also mean that females might get confused because of the unique nature of
ambush marketing campaign. Hence, we understand that ambush marketers must ensure that they
make advertisements which are easily processed and understood by both genders. In case of
Snapdeal, they failed in this aspect as most of the females could not really understand the
meaning of the message that the ad wanted to convey, resulting in an r value of 0.002 which is a
very poor relationship.
 Table 4.34 Relationship between consumer perception and ambush marketing (Gender Wise)

INTERPRETATION

The results state that the relationship between consumer awareness and consumer perception is
quite strong in case of males ( r value = 0.376) as compared to females ( r value = 0.102). One
positive sign for the marketers is that the relationship is positive in both cases which signifies
that ambush marketing does not lead to any kind of negative impression on the minds of the
consumers. Although, the statistics state the fact that females are not much affected by the
ambush marketing campaigns whereas men are positively influenced, as revealed in the case of
Snapdeal. Hence, ambush marketers must ensure that they develop strategies that could influence
both the genders in affecting their perception positively about the brand which could eventually
result in positive word of mouth.
Table 4.35 Relationship between consumer awareness and ambush marketing (Age Wise)
INTERPRETATION

The results state that age does not play a very huge role in the relationship between ambush
marketing and consumer awareness. Almost people of all age groups have a similar type of
understanding of the messages conveyed by the marketer. The surprising fact is that people
above age 55 had very strong relationship ( r value = 0.489 ) as compared to people of other age
groups which states the fact that the strategy adopted by Snapdeal was quite easily
understandable by all age groups. The youth i.e people of age between 18-25 showed the
maximum relationship ( r value = .494) which is a very promising figure as they are the future.
Table 4.36 Relationship between consumer perception and ambush marketing (Age Wise)
INTERPRETATION

The results are quite surprising as it is revealed that people of age between 26-45 had a negative
perception about Snapdeal after their ambush marketing campaign. It must be noted that people
above the age of 55 had no issues with the it and were in fact impressed by the advertisement.
The companies opting for ambush marketing must ensure that there is a positive perception
created through their campaign because a negative perception might lead to disastrous results
which can go against the company. The goodwill of a company or a brand depends on the
perception of the consumers which is a key driving factor for their success.
 CHAPTER 5:
FINDINGS AND
SUGGESTIONS
The major findings of the research are :

 More than 4/5th of the respondents i.e 80% are regular readers of newspapers which
implies that opting for ambush marketing on a platform like newspaper can be a good
idea.
 Out of every 10 consumers, 9 of them observe billboards on roads carefully which is a
very surprising, yet positive figure for ambush marketers. Billboards and hoardings can
prove to be a very good platform to get attention of a large crowd.
 Around 95% of respondents believe that newspapers and billboards are a good platform
for these type of strategies which is a very inspiring number for any marketer because of
the eventual result of low costs and more consumer accessibility.
 Majority of the respondents were unaware that the strategy used by Snapdeal was an
example of Ambush Marketing which reflects the unawareness among the people about
the term.
 Around 90% of the respondents clearly understood the meaning and objective of the ad
by Snapdeal which signifies that the consumers are more intellectual than what the
marketers perceive them to be.
 Around 75% of people agreed to have been provided with some information they were
unaware about.
 Around 60% of the respondents were not very sure about the strategy being attractive and
creative which signifies the fact that marketers need to find ways to be more creative and
attractive to rule over the minds of the consumers as the expectations of consumers are
ever increasing day by day.
 Around 75% of the respondents believed that they would pay more attention to these type
of ads (Snapdeal’s ambush advertising) as compared to other advertisements. The future
of ambush marketing looks very promising as the consumers are becoming more open
minded.
 Around 25% of people were fully convinced to believe in the information provided by
Snapdeal. The uncertainity in the minds of around 67% of respondents represents the lack
of convincing skills in that ad which must be taken care of while designing an ambush
marketing strategy by any marketer.
 Most of the respondents were very neutral and diplomatic in their response as they
neither agreed nor disagreed to the statement if it created a negative perception which
means that the strategy adopted by Snapdeal did not really lead to a negative perception
in the minds of the consumer.
 Around 65% of the respondents believe that this strategy by Snapdeal might have lead
them to change their original buying decision which means that the strategy was effective
and influential.
 Around 90% of the respondents agreed that they would want to have a look at the prices
of Snapdeal as well before making any decision. Hence, the purpose of attracting the
consumers towards them is fulfilled which makes this strategy a successful one although
it doesn’t guarantee the final results.
 Ambush marketing strategy by Snapdeal might change the perception of consumers,
attract them towards their site etc but still it does not ensure if the consumers will buy
from them instead of the competitor. It does change the minds of consumer and the
buying behavior is affected but it is not enough to ensure 100% conversion rate. Hence,
we understood that ambush marketing needs to be complemented with some other
strategies to increase the conversion rate of consumers to influence their final buying
behavior.
 The respondents had a one sided response in rating the competitive nature of the strategy
adopted by Snapdeal as most of them found out to be a technique which should be used
more often by all the companies to survive in the market. It can be understood that
ambush marketing has a good potential to succeed in this healthy competitive market.
 Around 80% of the respondents believe that there is no point of banning these marketing
strategies at all as they are completely ethical and legal in nature
 The results of this research are very promising for all marketers as around 3/4th of the
respondents didn’t find any problem of the strategy being unethical.
 Although 1/4th of the respondents believed that it can be a profitable strategy, most of
them were not very sure and had a neutral point of view.
 Around 90% of the respondents also believe that there is a huge scope of a career in this
field and various institutions might start thinking of providing a specialized or a niche
course in ambush marketing to develop the future marketers.
The suggestions are as follows :-

 More research should be conducted in the same field of ambush marketing campaigns to
understand the validity of the model.
 Various prestigious institutions of the country must conduct researches to get more inputs
about introducing a course in Ambush marketing.
 The companies must use ambush marketing strategies more cleverly to avoid any legal
repercussions.
 Ambush marketers must ensure that they make the campaigns easily understandable by
everyone so that it could avoid any kind of confusion and can create a positive impact on
the consumers.
 The consumers must welcome ambush marketing as it would result in more competition
in the market i.e better quality and less prices.
 CHAPTER 6:
CONCLUSIONS
CONCLUSION

From the research, we learnt that ambush marketing strategy by Snapdeal changed the perception
of consumers positively, attracted them towards their site and affected their final buying
decision, but only to some extent. It reflects the success of this strategy in influencing the minds
of people. Although, the doubts regarding the fact that people might find the practices to be
unethical were cleared as most of the people found the strategy to be interesting and competitive
but Snapdeal missed a trick while implementing the strategy since their ad created a negative
consumer awareness which had a negative effect to some extent on final buying behavior. It is
concluded that it is very significant for marketers to initially focus on creating an awareness and
positive perception through the ambush marketing strategy which later influences the buying
behavior of the consumers. The failure of Snapdeal to influence the buying behavior to a major
extent proves that the ambush marketing model is a very significant model. Hence, we can
conclude that the growth of ambush marketing is happening in the positive direction but it still
needs to be executed in a proper way to ensure better results and avoiding legal repercussions.
ANNEXURES
Some famous examples of Ambush Marketing Campaigns
 QUESTIONNAIRE
Dear Respondent,

This survey is conducted for writing a Research Paper as it is the part of my BBA Marketing
Degree at Christ University, Department of Management Studies. It was about the Flipkart’s Big
Billion Day Sale, on 6th October in leading newspaper TOI. Flipkart had been campaigning
about their biggest-sale-ever in India from last few days. Snapdeal came into the game and
attacked Flipkart by taking the place just beside the Flipkart’s advert in the newspaper on the
same day. Their ad said, “For others, it’s a big day. For us, it’s no different. Best savings.
Gauranteed. Check Snapdeal before you buy. This is a case of Ambushing an event on
newspapers/billboards.

It would be appreciated if you could complete the following table with respect to the information given
above. I assure you that the information given by you will be considered confidential and shall not be
shared with any other party.

Part- A

Strongly Agree (1) Agree (2) Neutral (3) Disagree (4) Strongly Disagree (5)

Please check the ONE suitable option:

Options
Sl.No. Questions
1 2 3 4 5

1. I am a regular reader of Newspapers.

2. I observe billboards on roads carefully.
3. Using these type of ads on newspapers and billboards is a good idea.
4. I was aware that this is an example of Ambush Marketing.
5. I understood the meaning of the ad as soon as I read it.
6. It provided me with information I was unaware about.
7. I would pay more attention to these kind of advertisements rather than
normal advertisements.
8. It is a very attractive and a creative strategy.
9. It convinced me to believe in information provided by Snapdeal.
10. It had a negative influence on my perception about Snapdeal.
11.
It would not have any affect on my original decision.
12. I would want to have a look at the prices of Snapdeal also before making
the final decision.
13. It motivated me to shift from Flipkart to Snapdeal.
14.
I believe that this is a very competitive strategy and should be used more
often by companies.
15.
These type of marketing activities are unethical and should not be allowed
in the market.
16.
Ambush Marketing should be banned by the authorities.
17.
I think Ambush Marketing can prove to be very profitable for a company.

18. Ambush Marketing cannot succeed in a country like India.

19. Ambush Marketing is the future of marketing with the ever increasing
competition.
20. There is a huge scope of a career in Ambush Marketing in the coming
years.

Part- B
1. What is your gender?
o Male
o Female
o Other

2. What is your age?

o < 18
o 18-25
o 26-35
o 36-45
o 46-55
o > 55
3. What is the highest degree or level of school have you completed ?

o Less than a high school diploma

o High school degree
o Bachelors Degree
o Masters Degree
o Professional Degree
o Doctrate

4. What is your Marital Status ?

o Single
o Married
o Widowed
o Divorced
o Other

5. What is your Religion ?

o Hinduism
o Sikhism
o Jainism
o Christianity
o Islam
o Other

6. What is your Occupation ?

o Student
o Employed in a job/service
o Self Employed
o Homemaker
o Retired
o Other

7. What is your Income ?

o < 2 lakhs p.a

o 2-4 lakhs p.a
o 4-6 lakhs p.a
o 6-8 lakhs p.a
o 8-10 lakhs p.a
o > 10 lakhs p.a
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Meenaghan, T. (1996). Ambush marketing: A threat to corporate sponsorship. Sloan

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Meenaghan, T. (1998). Ambush Marketing: Corporate Strategy and Consumer reaction.

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O'Sullivan, P. & Murphy, P. (1998). Ambush marketing: The Ethical Issues. Psychology &
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Sandler, M. Dennis & Shani, D. (1989). Olympic Sponsorship vs. Ambush marketing: Who gets
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Schreiber, A. (1994). Lifestyle and event marketing: Building the new customer partnership,
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Shani,D. & Sandler, M. Dennis (1998). Ambush marketing: Is confusion to blame for the
flickering of the flame? Psychology & Marketing, Vol. 15(4), July.