Advertising on Times Square New Year’s Eve Confetti
Every year on New Year’s Eve more than one ton of confetti falls on New York City’s Times Square. Do I smell marketing opportunity?
This year, people from all over the world can have personal messages printed on the confetti for free by visiting the Times Square Information Center or a special Times website that is being called a New Year’s Wishing Wall Online by the Times Square Alliance who organizes the annual ball drop and New Year’s event.
This year it’s personal messages, but what will it lead to next year? The marketing opportunities are endless from advertising to branding, I’m sure many companies would be more than willing to pay to have their messages printed on that confetti.
What do you think?
Photo © Bebeto Matthews/AP
Tags: advertising, Branding, event-marketing, Marketing, new-years-ball-drop, New-Years-confetti-messages, New-Years-Times-Square, New-Years-Wishing-Wall, Times-Square-Alliance, times-square-information-centerRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Marketing, advertising
2 opinions for Advertising on Times Square New Year’s Eve Confetti
Laurence Vincent
Dec 31, 2007 at 3:56 pm
Location. Location. Location. Having your brand cascade upon consumers in one of the world’s premiere intersections is certainly alluring. But what is the context? Would it make sense for Crest or Coke to advertise on the back of confetti? Perhaps, if you consider scraps of paper just another form of viable consumer media. But the companies that would really benefit would have some natural link. Weyerhaeuser. Staples. Fidelity. The sponsorship would make even more sense if it were linked to a well-promoted cause: say, recycling, for example.
There are downsides to these opportunities that must also be considered. If one brand bought the whole opportunity, there’s the risk of over-exposure, with consumers groaning at the blatant brand placement. And, in this green-conscious era, the wrong brand could easily get blamed for environmental transgression. It doesn’t matter that the paper would have been dropped anyway. When a consumer sees a brand they already suspect, they convict first and try later. Lastly, you may not want your brand scattered all over the dirty New York streets. If you’re aiming for a pristine brand identity, the association with garbage might cost more than the sponsorship fee.
Susan Gunelius
Dec 31, 2007 at 10:25 pm
Great ideas, Lawrence. Thanks for sharing. I particularly like your mention of recycling and the environmental aspect of event marketing tactics like this. While the opportunity is certainly there, the outcome needs to be well-balanced with those types of concerns.
Happy New Year!
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: