3.       Kia motors utilizes medi icons for 2012 superbowl advertisements 

South Korea’s largest car manufacturer Kia Motors dished out the 3.5 million dollar price tag(according to Forbes) to advertise the 2012 Kia Optima in this year’s Superbowl XLVI. Adding to the already astronomical price of this commercial for the 2012 Kia Optima, Kia hired celebrities including model Adriana Lima, UFC fighter “The Ice Man” Chuck Liddell, and Rock Band Motley Crue to make appearances in the commercial.

The overall cost of Kia’s commercial and the Ad campaigns on Facebook and Twitter that stemmed from their commercial surely accounted for a large portion of Kia America’s advertisement budget. However, this proves the lengths that large companies with big budgets will go to utilizing media icons and popular music (Motley Crue’s “Kickstart my Heart”) in order to sell their product. 

2.                                    Marketing Professional Surfing

The marketability of professional surfing has been a problem facing the sport since the  first contests emerged in California and Hawaii in the 1960’s. Contest organizers struggled to attract the attention of the major sponsorships and more importantly the general population due to the inaccessibility of the sport to viewers. In the 60s and 70s major sponsors began to show interest in the sport due to the California surf craze started by the TV series Gidget and The Beach Boys. Soon enough, by the mid 1980s contests started popping up around the globe until the ASP(Association of Surfing Professionals) was forced to break the contests into a two-tiered rating system in 1992 Called the WCT(World Championship Tour) and the WQS(World Qualifying Series). From that point in time the world of professional surfing changed dramatically. Contest organizers, who had typically held contests on popular weekends in summer in order to fill grandstands with onlookers, were seeing a decline in interest. The reason for the decline was because the contests were held at beaches with marginal waves, in seasons with the minimal swell activity. The result of these large bandstand style events held in summer was boring, noncompetitive surfing and fans were taking notice.

Hoping to go in a new direction, the ASP began encouraging promoters to stage events in prime surf locations. The surf industry took notice and soon big-name sponsors began hosting contests in exotic locations around the globe during peak swell seasons. This resulted in the current ASP world tour that hosts contests in exotic locations around the world including Fiji, Hawaii, South Africa, Brasil, and Portugal. The sport has drawn big sponsorships due in part to 11 time world champion and surfing icon Kelly Slater and now offers contest winners prize packages of up to $500,000. Part of the popularity has been due to the sport’s recent investment in broadcasting it’s contest live on the internet. Now, fans can watch their favorite surfers LIVE on the internet, a smartphone or on FUELTV which recently joined forced with the ASP.

Now, the sport of surfing has been made accessible to audiences around the world and the popularity of sport is growing tremendously. The waiting period for the ASP’s next contest in Rio de Jeinero, Brasil begins in two days (May 9th) and a $500,000 prize will be up for grabs. The ASP has evolved it’s brand to bring the most exciting surfing contests in exotic locations to our living rooms. Now the brand-ASP- stands for something it has never before- being at the forefront of technology. 

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(via thethoughtsofbots)

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(Source: adventurestoneverland, via crystal-clear-blue)