Kudos to Red Bull for creating Flugtag, an annual publicity stunt that has taken place in numerous locations around the world since 1991. Each year, it generates tremendous buzz for the company reinforcing its advertising slogan: "Red Bull gives you wings." Flugtag is a tongue-in-cheek flying event judged on three criteria: distance, creativity and showmanship. What constitutes a craft is purely up to the imagination of the participating teams.
The first Red Bull Flugtag took place in Vienna, Austria, in 1991. Since then, more than 35 Flugtags have been held around the world -- from Ireland to San Francisco -- attracting up to 300,000 spectators. The record for the farthest flight-to-date currently stands at 195 feet set in 2000 at Flugtag Austria. The U.S. record stands at 155 feet set in Nashville, TN in 2007 (see video below from Red Bull which documents this flight).
I was impressed to see Red Bull's Flugtag event featured on the front page of The Oregonian, my daily newspaper, this past Saturday with a photo of a contestant getting ready to jump off a ramp. Clearly, a great photo was the clincher to secure such prime coverage since the article didn't cover the contest rather it merely noted the deadline to apply for the event in August is less than two weeks away.
Yes, Red Bull and other companies have discovered that publicity stunts can still break through the commercial clutter and generate tremendous media and public attention provided they meet some basic as I explained in this post.
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