Havas Adds To U.S. Capabilities With Ignition Acquisition

Havas Media has acquired U.S.-based experiential marketing agency, Ignition, with offices in the USA, London and Moscow. The acquisition is part of an effort to grow the agency's brand engagement offerings ahead of global sporting events like this Summer's Olympic games and the 2014 World Cup. The move will bolster Havas Sports & Entertainment’s presence and capabilities in North America. ...

Car Brand Creates Animated Twitter Ad 140 Characters At A Time

How do you keep your company twitter feed from looking like, well, a company twitter feed? The marketing folks at edgy compact auto brand, Smart, took that challenge head on by creating what seems to be one of the first animated ads to fit within a compact 140 characters. You can see how this works for yourself by going to Smart's Twitter page and holding the "J" key down as the distinctive Sma...

Cessna Courts Well-Heeled Travelers With PGA Tour Deal

Cessna Aircraft Company has signed a three-year sponsorship to become a PGA TOUR Official Marketing Partner through 2014. The Wichita, KS-based company becomes the "Official Business Aircraft Manufacturer of the PGA TOUR and Champions Tour." Cessna says it will utilize its relationship with the PGA TOUR for brand-building purposes, developing customer relationships and identifying new business...

This Is How TNT Brings Action-Drama To Belgium

How do you get 4 million YouTube views in less than a day? Apparently, you turn a small town into a real-live action drama. To launch Turner's TV channel TNT in Belgium, the company pulled off a marketing stunt of epic proportions. It started by placing a big red push button in the central square of what they say is an average-size town. The button included a sign with the text "Push to add dra...

Iceberg Vodka Takes Heat For Titanic Event Sponsorship

A new book about two Titanic survivors is drawing criticism for one of the launch party's sponsors, Iceberg Vodka. The vodka company, which has featured references to the Titanic in its marketing creative in the past, will apparently provide bottles of their alcoholic beverages for the sponsored launch party. Relatives of the survivors criticized the sponsorship saying that it's “in poor tast...

Cigar Maker Ups Commitment to Art

Davidoff, headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, will become a major sponsor of Art Basel's two international art shows as it looks to strengthen its ties to the arts. The significant relationship elevates Davidoff into the top tier of Art Basel sponsors, which include UBS, AxaArt and Netjets. Under the agreement, Davidoff will be an Associate Sponsor to Art Basel, at both its shows in Basel, Sw...

London 2012 Ambush Police Called 'Most Stringent Ever'

Getting into the Olympic spirit may be a bit tougher for businesses not among the 53 official partners of the 2012 London Olympics. The legislation passed around this year's Olympics is being called the toughest ever. From the Guardian: "With just a little more than three months to go until the opening of the London 2012 Games, attention is increasingly turning to what many legal experts con...

Google, Others To Woo Sponsors With Upfront In May

Major digital properties are turning to a tried and true method of rolling out original content on Madison Avenue, the upfront. Google, among others, will be hosting the first digital upfront for brands and their agencies in New York this May, showcasing the newest channel content and opportunities for marketers. "More than at any point in the last decade of online advertising, we're at a poi...

A Certain Marathon Picked A Bad Day For A 404 Error On Their Sponsor Page

Sponsors like John Hancock, Sam Adams, JetBlue, and others, who spent major bucks to be a part of today's Boston Marathon will no doubt be displeased to find a 404 error on the event's sponsor page. Clicking to any sponsor logos on the bottom of the BAA's homepage at the moment leads to an error page. In the meantime, you can of course learn more about the Boston Marathon and its sponsors on th...

Here's Your Chance To Win A 3-Month Professional Subscription

As you may have noticed, we just launched a new Facebook page last week. To kick things off, we ran a little promotion in the SponsorPitch Linkedin group last week and as a result one lucky SponsorPitch member won a three month, free professional subscription to SponsorPitch. Now, we're opening up the same opportunity to the whole 8,200+ member SponsorPitch community... Now through Monday, Ap...