‘Ambush Marketing’ at UTMB

From the UTMB Press Kit:

The development of the HOKA UTMB® Mont-Blanc, particularly in Chamonix, and the influx of spectators have created numerous opportunities for brands seeking to reach trail enthusiasts. This has sometimes led to excesses, such as unauthorized advertising and distribution of products, that impact the local community. To deal with these ambush marketing practices and protect the integrity of the event, UTMB Group has put in place several strict measures…

This is a new one in the press kit, as far as I can tell, and clearly with ultra trail running spanning miles and miles of trail there are tons of opportunities for “non-sanctioned” brands to get in on the action, on the cheap. Don’t pay the sponsor fee, but show up and try to draw attention to your products in a creative way.

UTMB isn’t the Olympics (yet), but they also ask for lots of cash from their sponsors and in exchange need to protect these partnership by giving these brands exclusive access.

To promote an environment of cooperation, the HOKA UTMB® Mont-Blanc opens a dialogue with brands to validate their promotional activities in advance of the event. In exchange, the brands undertake to sign a charter respecting local marketing rules, in accordance with the Chamonix advertising regulations.

They have thought about it and can’t lock down the entire valley and give it to Hoka – even if they’d probably would love that. There’s a Salomon store in town, The North Face has special events planned all week and many other brands as well. Brooks has ads on the back of buses and the AlpyTransfer I took from Geneva to Chamonix and they had a paraglider with the Brooks logo on their chute, flying over the city all day. Surely these efforts are fine and acceptable, but I wonder where this crosses the line?

For example, if a brand would setup an additional aid station along the course at one of the Refugios, this would be one step too far.

I heard that Nike had a shoe giveaway at this year’s Western States and was offering all runners with a valid bib a free pair of shoes if they showed up at their pop up store set up somewhere beyond the main festivities. I wonder how Western States sponsor Hoka felt about that? And I wonder if there’s something that even can be or should be done about this?