Hugo Boss Goes Ambush on the British Open

Are you looking for ways to drive brand awareness at premier sporting events without paying large sums for partnership fees? Are you looking for creative ways to leverage sponsorships in the golf space?

During live television coverage of the '09 British Open, Hugo Boss pulled off one of the greatest ambush marketing tactics seen to date at a premier sporting event. The high-end menswear apparel company creatively parked a hi-tech sailboat in the waters off Turnberry, Scotland that appeared in the tournament's worldwide television coverage.

The sailboat's extensive branding was easily picked up on camera, providing extensive media value for the Hugo Boss brand as their target demographic watched from around the globe. While some companies paid large sums of dollars to advertise through ABC's coverage of the tournament, Hugo Boss found a sneaky way to effectively incorporate its brand into the coverage.

Source: Industry.BNet.com

A special thanks to Jeff Snyder of the Kansas City Chiefs for his insights and contributions to this column.

Brian Gainor is a passionate sports marketer with agency experience as well as an extensive background working in the NFL, NFL Europe, and collegiate athletics. Brian completed his MBA/MSA graduate work at Ohio University (Athens, OH) and currently resides in Charlotte, NC. As a Sports Partnership Activation Consultant, Brian created Partnership Activation, Inc. to provide sports business professionals with "industry best practices" - creative ideas that provide opportunities to generate incremental revenue.