Starting, Owning and Marketing A Restaurant Blog|Starting and Owning a Restaurant - Construction, Planning, Marketing, Opening and Managing a New Restaurant

When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hosted the Green Bay Packers for many years, one of our restaurants always had a banner welcoming the Green Bay fans for the game. Many of them stayed nearby at hotels also advertising their welcoming hospitality to the traveling Packer fans. Over the years the game became a friendly rivalry that brought annual guests that enjoyed the verbal exchange about who would win the game.

If major event promoters get their way, this form of so called “ambush” marketing will be prohibited in any form of advertising - unless they pay for the rights. Sound crazy? Do a little research online and you will find that by 2010 the NBA, NCAA and Olympic games are starting to negotiate with the host cities to require a ban on using the event name within a preset distance from the event. That means if you have a bar, restaurant or any other business, you could be fined for using the event name in your advertising!

Besides the fact that the expression of hospitality is warming to visitors, our tax dollars are used to provide support in many different ways for these events. Some tax dollars even build the venues where the events are played. Now you may have to pay for the right to advertise your support for the event - what’s missing in this picture? The “hoopla” and excitement that keeps fans coming back would be gone.

Ambush marketing is a term probably created by promoters who want a bigger slice of revenues generated from taxpayers support. Could these sporting events be done without the support and investment of tax dollars? If not, then the public, including businesses should have the right to advertise and encourage visitors to utilize there service or product as part of the event attendee’s experience.