spirits

Brands Line Up For The Countdown To 2009

  • by December 30, 2008
CIROC vodkaTonight, Sean "Diddy" Combs and Diageo's Ciroc vodka take their "Art of Celebration" campaign to the ultra-celebration: New Year's Eve in New York's Times Square.

In partnership with the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission and E! Entertainment, Ciroc says street teams will give $15 debit cards good for cab fares to thousands of adults who are wandering Manhattan streets between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. A message from Diddy reinforcing the "get home safely" theme is also running on taxi television screens through New Year's Day.

The self-proclaimed "Official Vodka of New Year's Eve" also has billboards up around Times Square--and last week, in concert with Diddy, offered to donate $1 million to an unspecified charity if the city would change the iconic New Year's Eve crystal ball to the color of Ciroc's blue sphere logo.

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As of press time, that offer had not been accepted by the city. Indeed, in November, the Times Square Alliance and Countdown Entertainment, which co-organizes the annual ball drop, unveiled a brand-new Waterford crystal ball whose state-of-the-art LED technologies from Philips Lighting can generate not only blue but 16 million other colors. Waterford and Philips are two of the brands sponsoring "Times Square 2009," along with Nivea, 3 Musketeers, Pepsi, Panasonic and Snapple--all eager to reach the estimated 1 million people in attendance--and, for a few minutes at least, a worldwide TV audience.

Nivea may be the most conspicuous brand tonight. It will provide revelers with New Year's Eve hats and blue balloons tied with silver Mylar ribbons, along with Lip Care samples "to keep our lips looking and feeling beautiful for that unforgettable kiss at midnight." There will be a Nivea "Kiss and Be Kissed Platform," which during the long evening will feature a couple celebrating their anniversary, a "welcome home" kiss and a midnight-practice kiss. Nivea branding will also grace the "Countdown Stage," whose highlights during the evening will include Panasonic's annual Sing-Along, this time starring the USO's Liberty Bells leading the masses is singing "America, the Beautiful," "Shout," and "We Are Family."

Pepsi will hand out scarves to keep the throngs warm--and a few minutes before the ball drops, will release 1,000 big, bouncing balloons bearing the words "joy," "hope," and "2009." Such balloons were last used to welcome in 2000 during the millennium celebration.

And 3 Musketeers will provide pom-poms, confetti bags, and chocolate mini-bars.

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