Businesses get in on the act of breaking world records
By H.G. | SEATTLE
AFTER being approved by Guinness World Records to try to break the world record for “loudest stadium crowd roar”, Volume 12, a group of Seattle football fans, spent two months spreading the word to fill CenturyLink Field’s 67,000 fixed seats. At last month's game between the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers not only did the home fans successfully beat the world record at 136.6 decibels, but the stadium beat its own attendance record, with 68,338 people watching the Seahawks romp to victory.
People like to break records, and to watch them do it. Guinness World Records, which adjudicates the veracity of many world record-breaking attempts, has sold more than 130m copies of its books in 100 countries since 1955, and around 750m people watch its branded television shows across the globe. Businesses have cottoned on to how lucrative breaking a record can be, and the promotional dividends that come with it.
For example, Vim, a washing liquid made by Unilever, set up a world record for the longest line of washing by scrubbing 17,000 dishes with a single bottle of the soap and linking the event to a TV advertising campaign. De’Longhi, best known for its coffee-making machines, created the world’s largest cup of coffee, a caffeine overload holding 13,200 litres of steaming Joe (the cup was exhibited at London’s Canary Wharf Tube station). In South Africa, an event by Virgin Mobile at the opening of a new store broke the world record for the most people to fit into a Mini Cooper (a very snug 25).
Guinness World Records receives 50,000 applications and inquiries a year. In 2012, 92% of those came from a business or other commercial entity. Alistair Richards, its president, says it is easier for a business to get the money and round up the people to beat a record than it is for an individual. Businesses have the added motivation of hoping a media fuss about the record will rake in more money.
In 2008 Guinness World Records started to help businesses with this type of record-breaking activity. That was when it was bought by the Jim Pattison Group, a privately held Canadian conglomerate. “None of our previous owners were keen on our using our own money to follow our own desire to grow or expand our business,” explains Mr Richards. But with its new owner they could do just that.
Now Guinness World Records charges a fee for guiding companies as they try to smash records. It often thinks up the feat that would be best for the business, or it will send a judge to the event to provide immediate feedback, such as with the Seattle Seahawks game. (Seahawks’ fans didn’t hold the record for long: it was broken on October 13th at a Kansas City Chiefs game. Their fans roared the team on to a win over the Oakland Raiders by chalking up an ear-splitting 137.5 decibels.) Businesses pay because they want the stamp of approval from Guinness World Records. It can lead to a featured spot in its book on world records, a successful advertising campaign, or packed-out stadiums with headache-inducing spectators.
