Guinness World Records, Omnicom Partner For Marketing Events

Guinness

Last summer, thousands of people attempted to set the Guinness World Record for the fastest time scarfing down a 12-inch pizza. Open to all comers, the stunt was sponsored by Papa John's, which made eating its Tuscan Six Cheese the path to immortality.

Actually, that didn't happen.

The record -- about a minute and 45 seconds -- was set at a sponsored event in New Zealand two years ago, where for some reason, the winner used a fork.

A unit of the Guinness records company, however, is setting up shop in the U.S. and looking to offer similar experiential marketing opportunities. GWR Live! has operated internationally for some time and will work in partnership with Omnicom agency GO!/C2 out of New York.

Best-known for its annual compendium of 3,500 records, Guinness World Records has a side business organizing live events, where regular Joes can walk off the street and try to set a record. Or perhaps a renowned man of steel -- say, the Texas man who sat in a bathtub with 87 rattlesnakes -- can try to set a new mark. And marketers can plug related products or look for media attention.

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GWR Live! sends an official Guinness "adjudicator" to validate an achievement. Most of the records -- 250 have been set from Dubai to Tokyo -- don't make it into the 55-year-old signature book. But a winner can proudly claim to be a Guinness World Record holder.

Pay enough and Guinness will organize a challenge at your company picnic. Or help attract more attention, than free squeeze balls at a trade-show booth. (The company did not release any costs.)

GWR Live! rolled out at last weekend's X Games in Los Angeles by staging opportunities for fans to break records in BMX and skateboarding.

In Europe this year, it linked with a large mall operator on a road show, setting up events where stores such as Ikea and Marks & Spencer backed relevant products.

Guinness World Records, which also has licensing and TV production operations, was acquired by Canada's Jim Pattison Group two years ago. Privately held Pattison Group has some sort of monopoly on the wild and wacky, also controlling the Ripley's Believe It or Not! museums.

Pattison Group's ventures also include Canadian radio stations, an out-of-home advertising company, magazine and book distribution and supermarkets.

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