Event Marketer

The smart fortwo car (check out smartusa.com for a visual of the diminutive two-seater) is making its U.S. debut in U.S. car marketing style: by getting as many butts in seats as possible. But unlike the big auto campaigns smart is skipping the SUV-sized advertising blitz and is instead going grassroots.

Three characters from Tamagotchi the virtual pet tech toy brand are hitting the road this summer in search of real-life summer jobs.

When the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco sold out all 20 000 of its slots for the Oct. 21 event in a matter of hours the shoe maker reached out to its Nike+ consumer base to extend the marathon’s capacity to suburban streets running paths and anywhere else runners want to get their jog on. The Nike+ Virtual Half Marathon also on Oct. 21 invites runners and walkers to become official finishers by logging 13.1 miles on their own and then logging onto nikeplus.com to document the run.

Smoothie King Franchises’ first-ever event tour is focusing on getting consumers to take a taste of the company’s beverages. The events revolve around a fully customized van—named the Orange KaBAM Van after a menu item—where the Smoothie King crew whips up its fruity concoctions.

Hitting fairs festivals and sporting events the tour unfolds into a 40-by-15 foot display where consumers can sample smoothies and receive coupons that drive them to local stores.

ING announced last week that it will add the Denver Marathon to its expanding portfolio of marathon sponsorships. The multiyear deal also makes the company the title sponsor of the ING Marathon Relay a four-person relay “race-within-a-race ” to be held on Oct. 14 the same day as the marathon.