The impact of name and shame disclosure strategies on sponsor and ambusher brand attitude

Official sport event sponsors are increasingly confronted with companies that try to create an association with the event without paying sponsorship fees (“ambush marketers”). This study explores if, why, and when official event sponsors can gain from disclosing ambush marketing activities with negative communication frames (“name & shame” disclosure). Three experiments show that with name & shame disclosure, ambush marketers perform worse than brands with no link with the event. In addition, event sponsors benefit from name & shame disclosure. Results indicate, however, that name & shame disclosure is effective only if disclosure information is highly accessible in consumers' mind. Implications of these findings for sponsorship research, event organizers, event sponsors, and ambush marketers are discussed.