B-to-C Events

Much like Vancouver’s ski slopes, Coca-Cola went ultra-green at this year’s Olympic Games. As the longest-standing Olympic sponsor on the roster, this year Coke committed to executing a completely carbon-neutral event presence, and according to inhouse estimates, the beverage giant succeeded. The initiative was part of the Vancouver Olympic Committee’s (VANOC’s) Vancouver 2010 Sustainability Star program. The program recognizes initiatives by Games partners, sponsors and VANOC that demonstrate positive and measurable social, economic and environmental benefits.

Last month, West Coast-based financial services company Wells Fargo teamed up its New York-area financial advisors with a local fund-raising bowling event for 350 guests. On March 2, the brand sponsored Brian Leonard’s Rally at the Alley, which raises money to help New Brunswick, NJ-based Embrace Kids Foundation fight cancer (Leonard is a former New Jersey Rutgers star and current Cincinnati Bengals running back).

Brand mascots have inhabited advertising since the dawn of time. Ask any self-respecting baby boomer about Charlie the Tuna, Tony the Tiger or the Pillsbury Doughboy, and chances are he or she still recalls the ads that starred these icons. Not all were cartoon characters, either. Madge the Manicurist touted the magical qualities of Palmolive dish detergent (“You’re soaking in it!”) for 26 years. And remember the Dunkin’ Donut man and Charmin’s Mr. Whipple?

Terminix is taking its mobile insect museum on a cross-country tour to educate family decision-makers about pest control. Dubbed Harry’s Big Adventure: My Bug World, the tour sprung from Terminix’s presenting sponsorship in 2008 of the grand opening of the New Orleans-based Audubon Insectarium, the only insect museum in the country. The sponsorship resulted in a few mini tours that served as a springboard for its current 3,500-square-foot mobile insect museum launched on Feb. 12, and on reserve for four months at the Memphis Children’s Museum.

Many brands are exploring the third dimension through technologies like holograms, Augmented Reality and 3D video interactives. But there’s another “3D” strategy that can turn up the volume on your corporate brand at trade shows and events without the high-tech investment. Event graphics, those vinyl signs and suspended logos once relegated to the 2D world, are getting an upgrade as marketers find more creative, immersive and multi-dimensional ways to mix their corporate i.d.s with live activations on the ground.