Gumball 3000

USPA NEWS - The Gumball Rally circus came to Edinburgh. The Mound was full of onlookers in awe at an array of multi-million pound super cars, from Audi to Zonda. Glamour certainly did arrive in Edinburgh today.

Gumball 3000 was created in 1999 by ex-racing driver, designer and British
entrepreneur Maximillion Cooper; and was born from Cooper´s vision to combine cars,
music, fashion and entertainment to create a pop culture lifestyle brand of the future.
Cooper derived the word “˜Gumball´ from New York artist Andy Warhol after he used it
to describe how the public chew up and spit out popular culture like chewing gum; and
“˜3000´ as a nod to Cooper´s fascination with the future, particularly at a time when the
world was about to enter the 21st Century.

Cooper decided to launch his lifestyle brand
concept by inviting 50 of his influential and celebrity friends to join him on a road-trip
around Europe to experience an adrenaline fuelled-adventure, driving incredible cars
and hosting glamourous parties each evening. This road-trip and its now legendary
parties attended by the likes of Kate Moss, Kylie Minogue and Johnny Knoxville, was
the first “˜Gumball 3000 Rally´ and rapidly caught the attention of the press and public
alike, achieving mainstream media coverage across celebrity, fashion and automotive
publications, gracing the covers of GQ, Esquire, FHM, CAR and The Financial Times.

By 2001, the 6-day rally was televised internationally on MTV and the BBC to record
audience figures, that gave rise to “˜Gumball 3000´ reaching the top of the Yahoo search
engines, a result of which catapulted sales of Gumball 3000 branded T-shirts and
baseball caps from hundreds of dollars to millions almost overnight. The brand was
rapidly gaining the recognition Cooper had set out to achieve.

Over the next decade the concept grew from its origins as an underground “˜rally´
fueled by myth and rumor, into a global entertainment corporation that now commands
multi-million dollar sponsorship revenues and global licensing deals. Described by
Vanity Fair magazine as “˜the most rock “˜n´ roll car rally ever staged´, Gumball 3000 has
built its reputation by creating an aspirational lifestyle and an attitude that challenges
convention.

Attracting the endorsement and participation of pop cultures biggest names
along the way such as David Hasselhoff, Darryl Hannah, Johnny Knoxville, Snoop
Dogg, EVE, Jamiroquai, Swizz Beatz, Bun B, Cypress Hill, Travis Barker, Xzibit, Adrien
Brody, Idris Elba, Hugh Hefner, Tyson Beckford, David Guetta, Tony Hawk, Dennis
Rodman and more, alongside leading influencers and business figureheads including
the founders of Facebook, Pay Pal and Yahoo.

The annual rally has evolved into a week long festival hosted by global cities, closing
off streets to organize music concerts, action sports demos and spectacular car shows
that now achieve live crowds of over a million people, and a televised and online
audience that reaches over 60 million households in over 100 countries. Gumball 3000
promotes safe driving, is supported by authorities and Governments and is sponsored
by global blue chip companies.

The Gumball 3000 Foundation has been established to utilize the wealth and
influence of the Gumball Alumni to benefit underprivileged youths through education
and building infrastructure.
In 2012 the Gumball 3000 Group was valued at over $200m (cit. Forbes) and includes
entertainment, apparel, music and licensing divisions and retailing products in over
3000 retail stores. Maximillion Cooper´s vision to create a lifestyle brand of the future
continues to grow...

Source: Gumball 3000

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