I find few brand events exciting...but

The Red Bull Air Race is coming to London this July. Besides the fact I absolutely love planes (the history, the feeling of flying them, the irrepressible boylike desire to tweak and tinker with their engines, the freedom of flight blah blah blah). I also happen to think that the Air Race is th eperfect example of a brand running a truly great experiential marketing event.

I get so fed up with experiential agencies telling the client that what they need is a massive party. No they dont. These parties all end up looking the same, a few average DJs, some velvet draped across the average clubs walls and maybe some weird cabaret acts thrown in for good measure....yawn!

Red Bull on the other hand did something totally different yet true to the brand's ownership of adrenaline and excitement. The Air Race is the sort of idea that comes out of a brainstorm and then gets immediately dumped because instinctively the thought of persuading capital cities across the world to let people watch low flying stunt aircrafts at very close range seems frought with health and safety red tape. Yet they persevered, made it happen, it's been a triumph, it has produced loads of original branded content that the brand can uniquely own and distribute around the web....and most incredibly of all for a brand experience....consumers are now happy to pay to attend. Tah-dah...a new revenue stream. Brilliant!