One Billion for Perfect Brackets

Meanwhile ... we are all obsessed with the Super Bowl this week, and rightly so.  And right on the heels of the Super Bowl are the Olympics.  It's a mad rush of events this season, one after another.

Meanwhile ... in comes a brand that is jumping way ahead of us to March Madness, creating a promotion that not only captures our attention, but leverages a known consumer behavior to its advantage, with stunt-like qualities.

Plus a little "how are they going to do that?"

Quicken Loans (along with Berkshire Hathaway) ... offering a billion dollars for anyone that gets all of the brackets perfect for March Madness.

A billion dollars!  Could it be that hard to get perfect brackets?

The math experts say it's unlikely anyone will win, even less likely that two people will have to split the billion bucks.  But I still think it's a pretty brilliant scheme, one that I may even try.  It's bringing almost instant awareness to a brand by connecting it with something that people obsess about ... March Madness is a massive pop culture event that connects people together.  A little stunt like this merely puts the brand into a conversation that's already happening.  The timing is also brilliant as we obsess about a different sports event, tagging along on all of that conversation as well.

There are a couple other layers that are cool two:  the twenty closest brackets each get $100,000 and two charities in Detroit and Cleveland each get $1million to help educate intercity youth.

This is a big bet ... hope they have insurance!

What's your experience?  JIM.

PS - Join us for live tweets during the Super Bowl, all about the advertising, at #SBExp.