Kenneth Briodagh

During the Atlanta Hawks vs. Cleveland Cavaliers game on Saturday Jan. 21 in Atlanta, the Georgia Lottery activated a 3D light show during halftime to introduce the new $2 Powerball game. The game was launched throughout the Lottery’s more than 40 participating Powerball states on Jan. 15. This was the first time that any of the Lottery regions executed an experiential campaign to educate the public about the game, and the Georgia Lottery decided to do it during the basketball game to promote the program on a large scale to a diverse audience, and capitalize on its sponsorship.

Madria Sangria, an E&J Gallo Wines brand, has been hitting non-traditional venues to showcase its fruit flavors with its Fruit Stand sampling experience. The brand hit the Houston Tamale Festival, Oktoberfest and Step Up Women’s Network Members Celebration in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Ski and Wine Expo, Taste of Orlando in Florida and The Wedding Salon Bridal Expo in New York City. The stand was a basic sampling program, but Madria says it finds that its fruit flavors draw in people (mostly women) who are looking for a more refreshing beverage at the events.

In our Then and Now series, EM revisits old event marketing trends to find out where they’ve gone since we first reported on them. Are they old hats and has-beens? Or is that past up-and-comer a future best practice that’s now an industry standard? In this rolling installment, we re-examine some of 2007’s most popular rigs, which we covered in our February issue.

Korean automaker Kia Motors has unleashed an augmented reality activation at the North American International Auto Show, which began in Detroit on Tuesday, that ties into its popular “Party Rock Anthem” commercial. The technology, which is the centerpiece of the brand’s new exhibit for this year’s auto show circuit, is called “Close Encounters” and features the brand’s now-infamous dancing hamster spokes-rodents, known as the Hamstars.

There are brand ambassadors and there are Marquee Brand Ambassadors—those top-tier representatives that are highly trained and deeply trusted to be the face and voice of the brand in even the highest stakes marketing environments. Rich Varga is the latter, a front-line brand evangelist charged with representing the style and chic of the Chivas Regal brand at events all over the country. He was trained in Scotland by Chivas Master Blender Colin Scott and has perfected his skills as a Scotch expert for years since.