Phoenix-Based Mag To Host A-B, Bacardi, Sprint At 'Super Village'

Phoenix-based regional lifestyle magazine 944 has recruited Anheuser-Busch, Bacardi and Sprint, among others, for "a three-day branded-entertainment experience known as the 944 Super Village, which will occupy four acres of space in downtown Scottsdale" during Super Bowl week, according to Andrew Hampp of AD AGE. The publication's target audience are consumers ages 21- to 28; it publishes versions in the Phoenix/Scottsdale, San Diego, Miami, Las Vegas, and Orange County, California, markets, and has a total circulation of 250,000.  The multimillion-dollar Super Village is "one of the most ambitious on-site marketing events in the Super Bowl's history."  944 Media CEO Marc Lotenberg is already planning for future Super Bowls. Lotenberg: "Our goal is not to do this one time and walk away from it. We want to be known as producing the biggest and best Super Bowl."

SPONSORS: Bacardi "envisions the 944 Super Village as an opportunity to speak to the legal-drinking-age" consumer, through "experiential marketing opportunities such as a mojito-mixing VIP lounge and the Bacardi mobile tour bus." Bacardi USA Marketing Manager Courtney Winter: "We'd rather do a dozen key promotions throughout the year rather than do a ton of promotions where no one remembers what they had a sample of." Sprint hopes to increase subscription rates for its mobile-entertainment service by partnering with 944 for "exclusive streaming content of footage from the official Sprint Yellow Room," where celebrities and athletes will give interviews. The content will be available to all Sprint users with a mobile handset. A-B VP/Sports & Entertainment Marketing Tim Schone added, "We've been investing in [the Super Bowl] for years and years, so from a local standpoint, doing another Bud Bowl-type of promotion with 944 was just another great idea from a consumer-marketing standpoint" (ADAGE.com, 1/10). 

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