Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Patricia Odell

The glorious cows of CowParade, those memorable herds of dozens of colorful and funky fiberglass bovines seen grazing along sidewalks and in plazas in various cities across the U.S. since 1999, are about to wow Japan and other parts of Asia.

In a five-year deal with licensing agency Amana Images Inc., likenesses of the entire collection of more than 5,000 cows are being offered to Japanese advertising and marketing agencies that will pitch the images to about 500 of the top Japanese corporations and other businesses to promote the Year of the Cow in 2009.

“Our cows are unique,” says CowParade President Jerry Elbaum. “It will be a major program and it's obviously very apropos because of the Year of the Cow.”

In Tokyo, the CowParade is already well known, making the pitch to use the bovines in marketing materials all the easier.

Exhibits were held there in 2003 and again in 2006 when 65 cows were placed around the Marunouchi district, a large commercial shopping area considered to be the most upscale area of the city.

The 2009 exhibit, to be held throughout September, will be sponsored by the Mitsubishi Estate Co., the real estate arm of the Mitsubishi Group. The centerpiece of the district is the Marunouchi Building, the headquarters of Mitsubishi Estate. The building houses the most upscale mall in all of Tokyo. There, a retail store will open to offer CowParade products for sale during the event.

In Taipei, FunCapital, a Taiwan-based public relations and marketing firm, will sponsor the CowParade during the first quarter.

Design House, a media and publishing company in Korea, is staging a show in Seoul. The show will open in January 2009 and run for six months, the longest time period for a single CowParade display.

Executives of Design House are recruiting prominent Korean designers to create the 65 cows. Design House publishes a magazine for the upscale Hyundai Department store chain, which is already selling CowParade figurines.

“This has a lot of legs,” Elbaum says.

Plans call for a CowParade in Shanghai during the last quarter of 2009, but that has not been finalized.

Once the exhibits close, the bovines are auctioned off to the public via live and Internet auctions with a substantial portion benefiting charities. More than $25 million has been raised so far, Elbaum says.

The Chicago auction raised $3.5 million, including $1.4 million online and $2.1 million at the live auction assisted by Sotheby's. The average bid price on the 140 cows was nearly $25,000, with the top cow, HANDsome, selling for $110,000. The CowParade New York 2000 Charity Auction raised an equally impressive $1.4 million benefiting several New York City charities. The highest winning bid was $ 60,000, for Tiffany Cow. The average bid was $18,257.

Before each event, a call goes out inviting local and regional artists to submit designs. The event sponsor then selects the artists and designs.

The lift-size cows, billed as the world's largest public art exhibit, have appeared in 60 exhibits so far.

CowParade has also spawned product lines including replica figurines, housewares, apparel and giftware, which are sold at www.cowparade.com and by thousands of retailers around the world.

This year about 60 CowParades are being held across the globe, including an event now taking place in Tijuana, Mexico, and one to open in Madrid, Spain, in October.

For more articles on promotional marketing go to www.promomagazine.com

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