We looked at a familiar marketing standard and asked, what if we turn the idea of brand sponsorship on its head? We decided to champion real people. Passionate people.

Rather than connect with one fan base using a single celebrity, we sponsored real people embracing diverse passions. They become motivated, vocal brand advocates and shared our message for us with family, friends and fans. The program has grassroots dynamism. We recruited initially via our email database, then let word-of-mouth extend our reach. Also, we contacted bloggers in various areas of interest and ran banner ads on Facebook and Yahoo!.

Within months, over 800 people have applied and campaigned for over 41,000 votes.

Averaging 34 new applications dailyThe program website draws a far more engaged audience than the brand website. Visitors stay 82% longer and view 74% more pages per visit.

The site has surpassed 70,000 visits and 400,000 page views.

Official Sponsor draws a highly relevant target: 66% experience heartburn (87% of those take Prilosec OTC).

Articles in Advertising Age and trade publications generated 561,000 impressions. 75 blog placements have contributed to over 1,500,000 blog impressions to date. The brand has elected to extend the program indefinitely.