Event Marketer

Sunoco is bringing together four of NASCAR’s top drivers—Dale Earnhardt Jr. Tony Stewart Kasey Kahne and Jimmie Johnson—with Orange County Choppers (of Discovery Channel’s “American Chopper” fame) to design a custom motorcycle for each driver. Sunoco is the fuel category sponsor of both NASCAR and OCC. The drivers put their own personal touches on the design and each will be immortalized with his bike on an autograph trading card called a “hero card ” complete with a photo of the driver and his bike on the front and vital stats on the back.
 

Visa is taking a cinematic approach to its newest sponsorship. The company has partnered with the 48 Hour Film Project (48HFP) the oldest and largest international timed filmmaking competition as sponsor of the 48HFP 2007 Tour and title sponsor of the “Life Takes” Invitational which will provide one amateur filmmaker with the opportunity to showcase his or her work in front of entertainment and advertising executives. The grand prize winner also will receive a Visa prepaid card worth $10 000 to help fund future projects.
 

Lucky Brand Jeans is touring the country this summer in a psychedelic bright orange and yellow 1949 vintage Flxible bus. The jeans brand is taking the interactive mobile tour called Denim Highway to music festivals and college campuses offering custom jeans fittings giveaways and tequila shots. After they try on the jeans visitors receive a size “prescription” that they can take to a Lucky store and purchase jeans at a discount.
 

Sharp Electronics kicked off its three-year deal as the HDTV category sponsor of Major League Baseball with a major on-site presence at the 2007 MLB All-Star Game held last week in San Francisco. The company featured MLB content on its AQUOS HD LCD TVs in three locations including a 40-foot-by-40-foot sports den (think fantasy living room for dudes) at DHL All-Star FanFest a 40-foot-by-50-foot tent in the Sponsor Zone and at three gaming stations and computer kiosks where consumers could enter the Sharp MLB Sweepstakes which launched at the event.

In a move the company is calling reverse product placement 7-Eleven has given extreme makeovers to 12 of its stores in the U.S. and Canada to make them resemble the fictional Kwik-E-Marts made popular by “The Simpsons” animated TV series. The one-month co-promotion with Twentieth Century Fox leads up to the July 27 “The Simpsons Movie” release and features limited-run products on store shelves including Squishees Buzz Cola KrustyO’s cereal and Homer’s favorite—the pink sprinkliciousdoughnut. Squishee’s come in collectible Slurpee cups with magnetic straws.