Escaping the Clutter - Frozen Awareness

The sports marketplace is cluttered. Who are we kidding? Can consumers really differentiate among team sponsors, radio sponsors, television sponsors... the list goes on? Sponsors are continuously looking for new ways to escape the clutter but are repeatedly being sold the same, stale assets by properties. Here is a unique ambush/guerilla marketing tactic that can be used to drive brand awareness among large crowds at-venue:

The tactic, entitled Frozen Grand Central, demonstrates the power of an orchestrated group of individuals (207 to be exact) to immediately capture the attention of a mass group of people. As an avenue to integrate this "awareness measure" into the sports marketplace, sponsors can implement a similar guerilla/ambush marketing tactic at a racetrack's Speedway Boulevard, Home Depot's College Gameday set, or other crowded areas of venues.

How does this translate to sports?

Companies seeking brand awareness drivers (or ambush initiatives to break through exclusivity barriers) could implement a similar tactic within large crowds. Red Bull could stage 300+ persons in Speedway Boulevard of a race weekend to immediately stop and pause in their tracks.

After five minutes, branded Red Bull girls could come around and distribute product and give them wings (simulating the fact that they are receiving an energy boost). In the end though it comes down to "What does this do for the brand?" Unfortunately, this measure does not do more than drive awareness, although some creative thinking could make it a more impacting impression.

Industries/Companies for Consideration (among others):

• Sprint/Alltel/Motorola/Verizon/AT&T (have actors stop in different conversation poses)
• Energizer/Duracell (Plug in batteries to battery packs strapped on actors backs and they re-continue movement)
• Red Bull/Monster/Amp (Energy drink example provided above)