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Quicken Loans' billion

Quicken and Warren Buffett are offering a Quicken Loans Billion Dollar Bracket with Yahoo Sports for this year's NCAA perfect bracket. / Quicken

There must be a billion ways for a company to create buzz.


Quicken Loans picked the billionth - and won.


Say what you will about the Quicken Loans Billion Dollar Bracket Challenge with Yahoo Sports. But the contest, which magically latched on to the mania of March Madness with the promise of a possible $1 billion prize for anyone who picked the winner of every tournament game, put Quicken Loans in rare PR air.


How rare? Try 1 billion social media and PR impressions since the contest began, estimates Jay Farner, president and chief marketing officer, in an interview with USA TODAY. This comes at a time when Quicken is on a marketing roll. In its bid to reach young folks ready to buy homes, Quicken on Monday announced a PGA sponsorship. It recently announced a second NASCAR race sponsorship.


What's more, brand awareness for Quicken - the second-largest retail lender in America, next to Wells Fargo - shot up a whopping 300% since the contest began vs. prior to February, he says.


Then there are new customer leads. While Farner is reluctant to be specific on this, he says the contest elicited 'millions and millions' of new customer leads - though that wasn't its focus, he says. The focus, he says, was 'engagement.' The contest, which was free to enter, had a limit of 15 million entries - but he declined to state if it reached that number.


In effect, it was a wildly successful 'data generation exercise,' says Steve Barrett, editor in chief of PR Week. 'Once you have the data, it's like gold dust.'


The stunt already is being recognized by some as 2014's best PR move. 'This is easily one of the best PR stunts of 2014,' says PR veteran Peter Madden. 'They created a tremendous campaign - part magic and part madness.'


It's a one-in-a-million promo 'that works at all levels,' says brand guru Robert Passikoff.


Did we forget to mention that it even linked-up with Warren Buffett - whose company insured the 9.2-quintillion-to-1 bet? (Odds so good, that the possibility of a billion dollar winner were eliminated days after the three-week tournament began.) Still, $2 million in prize money will be divided up among the top 20 bracket winners. And another $1 million goes to youth charities.


So successful has the ongoing contest been, that executives already are discussing next year's version. Buffet Buffett, too, has publicly stated interest 'though we haven't had a specific conversation with him,' says Farner.


The only potential downside for Quicken: Buffett may have garnered even more 'attention' than did Quicken, says Barrett.


Buffett might not have been rooting for a $1 billion winner, but if Farner had his way, somebody would have won the big prize. 'I'm paying him for the insurance. I wanted someone to win this thing.'


Read the original story: Quicken Loans' billion-dollar gamble pays off


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