An incredible way to personal brand a company can be through advertisements, billboards, as well as sporting events. For instance, March Madness receives enormous amounts of popularity, recognition, and of course, money and a lot of it. Well, one rich man and one rich company teamed up and created a little twist to the NCAA bracket. If one can correctly choose the winner of all the tournament's games, then one will win a billion dollars.
First, create a Yahoo account and be one of the first fifteen million contestants to enter. After completing your bracket, sit back and enjoy the tournament. Sounds easy, right? Well, a math professor at DePaul University, Jeffrey Bergen told USA today that if you know something about college basketball, your odds are one in 128 billion. Quite frankly, this seems impossible. Since 1998, there have been over 30 million entries in ESPN's competition and none turned out perfect. So, if the chances are so ridiculous, why is Warren Buffet and Quicken Loans creating this opportunity?Well, Warren Buffet did this for his own personal pleasure. He wanted to be creative and develop an impossible competition for fun. He told ESPN's Rick Reilly, "I just sat right in that chair and I did the calculations. Took me about 10 or 15 minutes. I hope I did it right." This challenge seems literally impossible. However, Quicken Loans is awarding the top 20 contestants a $100,000 prize.
Quicken Loans teamed up in attempt to personal brand. Before people even can begin their bracket, they must fill out a questionnaire or survey developed by Quicken Loans to broaden their target market and get their contact information. In other words, a big company name participated in the development of the competition in order to gain popularity, publicity, and ultimately, money.
For more information about the contest or challenge, please click on this link. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/early-lead/wp/2014/03/16/why-you-wont-win-a-billion-dollars-with-warren-buffetts-bracket-challenge/
I think this was a brilliant move by Warren Buffet and Quicken loans. Most people probably don't take the time to think of what their chances actually are, and the few that do still enter. Why? Because we are obsessed with getting our hands on free money, even if that means entering a contest with basically 0 chance of winning. Before the creation of the "Perfect Bracket" I didn't know of Warren Buffet or Quicken Loans to be honest but now the name sticks. I consider that a job well done.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Avery, this was an great move for Quicken Loans and Warren Buffet. It is giving them so much attention and making them so relevant in today's society. Not that they were irrelevant before but, this is just allowing society to refresh their memories of Buffet and Quicken. I relate this bracket challenge closely with what Miley Cyrus did at the VMAs. Not because they grinded on someone practically naked and stuck their tongues out but, because they are making people talk about them and think about them and creating a stir about what they are doing. Great marketing tactic on their part.
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