Crashed Ice: A Sport With One Message

After reading about Red Bull’s creation of a brand new sport through which to market the energy drink in last weekend’s New York Times, I have to say… this is pretty interesting. Why be one of many advertisers in an arena or add your brand name to a single event? Red Bull has sidestepped the clutter in the traditional sports marketplace by creating an entirely new competition and owning the concept. The sport has drawn a large amount of attention, with 35,000 people watching a recent outdoor event in Quebec and 14 events being held throughout the U.S. The risk is a sports landscape littered with invented, branded competitions. But no one’s confusing this with ESPN’s X Games. And that problem is a long time coming, I think.