Best Production of an Event (Consumer)

Program Name: Red Bull: New Year. No Limits
Client: Red Bull
Agency: Blue 3 Productions, 775 Productions, Dane Herron Industries

Was that a bird, a plane or Superman flying through the air last New Year’s Eve in Santa Monica, CA? Not quite. It was action sports star Travis Pastrana at the wheel of a rally car trying for the world record for the longest distance jump, the latest installment in Red Bull’s New Year, No Limits campaign.

Before the clock struck midnight on the East Coast on Dec. 31, Pastrana attempted to accomplish the first ever ramp-to-ramp car jump over water, a feat that tested the laws of physics and helped Red Bull connect with spectators across the nation via TV, and the digital world via Facebook. With the Queen Mary docked in the background, Pastrana jumped his rally car off the Pine Street Pier onto a floating barge anchored in Long Beach’s Rainbow Harbor, shattering the existing mark of 171 feet and establishing a new world distance record live on ESPN.

Nine teaser videos released twice a week on redbullnewyearnolimits.com leading up to the event generated buzz and built the story behind Pastrana. Strategic partnerships also revved up excitement. ESPN broadcast the live show to three million viewers. Subaru placed event content on its website, on wrapped cars and on collateral across regional Los Angeles and Orange County dealerships. DC Shoes created a limited-edition t-shirt sold on-site and on DC’s Red Bull: New Year. No Limits online store. It also placed window banners in all DC Shoes stores across the country. More than 200 fans showed up for an in-store autograph signing with Pastrana at DC Shoes Hollywood two days before the event, which also displayed a rally car replica in the lobby. Bartenders at Red Bull accounts on New Year’s Eve wore custom DC Shoes and Red Bull: New Year. No Limits t-shirts, raising awareness and generating word of mouth.

Before the ESPN Live broadcast of the event, a Facebook promotion called The Red Bull Live Show was broadcast live for online spectators, garnering 23,000 streams from fans who interacted with Red Bull athletes via Facebook chat during the show.

More than 75,000 spectators gathered by the waterfront watched the event live for free and also witnessed side acts by the Red Bull TNT Demo team and stunt bike rider Aaron Colton. The TV broadcast reached 10.3 million people, while redbullusa.com achieved 80,000-plus visits. The jump was YouTube’s No. 1 video by Jan. 8 at 3.35 million views. And Pastrana? After shattering the world record he went home feeling pretty red-bullish himself.

Program Name: Human Race New York
Client: Nike
Agency: MKTG INC

Nike hit jogging paths all over New York City from August to October in order to expand its already popular Human Race in New York to include more female runners and boost membership in its Nike+ community. The brand enlisted 250 athletes for a run across the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset and invaded New York City’s most popular running routes with Nike+ running technology housed in three stationary kiosks placed along the routes, and two mobile kiosks that hit retail and other locations in the weeks before the race.

The brand also stationed brand ambassadors along popular running routes in New York City to invite runners to participate in the Nike+ Human Race 10K and registered runners for a Passport program in which participants who scanned a card at five different pods throughout the city on race day would be entered to win $10,000. In addition, Nike produced a dozen events in retail partner spaces.

Online, the brand maintained consumer connections through social media and blog entries. All the activities culminated in the 10K race and after-party in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park that featured a Nike+ Human Race 10K tent village, including a Nike+ technology experience with gait analysis treadmills and shoe trials. By the end of race day, the kiosks had attracted about 3,000 users, there were 876 registered Nike+ Human Race Passport holders and 5,550 runners participated in the race.

Program Name: DeKuyper MixMaster Challenge
Client: Jim Beam Brands
Agency: LimeGreen Entertainment Group

To generate a pool of innovative cocktail recipes that are original and easy to make at any account where the product is served, and to enhance relationships with nightlife influencers, bartenders and media, DeKuyper launched the MixMaster Challenge, a program that incorporated 12 qualifying competitions in key U.S. markets to identify candidates for a national showdown event.

The bartender from each market who had won the preliminary competition by creating the best drink recipe moved on to the national competition in New Orleans, held at one of the Big Easy’s hottest nightspots. At the venue, brand ambassadors greeted guests and distributed ballots. Throughout the club, the brand placed tasting stations, each featuring one of the 12 winning drinks from the qualifying rounds. The bartenders competed against each other for the best scores from celebrity judges, using a different randomly chosen DeKuyper liquor each time.

The program garnered 42 media placements for the national finale, 31 regional media placements, four trade placements, three placements in popular blogs and earned a total of almost 94 million impressions.