Wait...Where Am I?

Thursday the Motown Winter Blast started in Detroit as part of the Super Bowl week festivities. And wow were the crowds big! I was there working since my company's a sponsor, and literally the hordes descended like locusts right at the 4:00 opening. People walking the streets like it's New York City. Reporters at every turn. Music bouncing from hip nightspots that have opened early. There was even a Times Square-style ad on the side of a building, brilliantly done by Cadillac to promote the Escalade. A giant image of the front of the SUV was posted on the building, and in the building windows all 360 degrees around it, 12 mannequins dressed to look like photographers were hanging out, camera bulbs flashing brightly at various intervals. Very cool, and definitely attention-getting. I should've snapped a picture, since the traffic is New York-style too. I'm actually excited to go back on Saturday and Sunday (mercifully, though, the Blast is shutting down well before kickoff).

Motorola also has some impressive marketing going on. It's more awareness marketing, since beach activities have nothing to do with their products, but Motorola's tents are still the hottest attractions so far. One has a real sand volleyball court inside, warm enough to wear trunks and nothing else. Another tent has a pool with mechanical waves so people can mount a surfboard and hang ten. In the middle of Detroit. In February. Needless to say, the line to get in both was around the block. And many of those people, like me, ran home to blog about it. So I think that's a big feather in Motorola's cap.