What is the most unusual advertisement that you have ever heard of? Well, Mark Bowie, owner of Balloon Promotions, knows all about unusual advertisements due to the nature of his business. Bowie markets hot air balloons to promote companies such as Bryan foods, Ball Park hot-dogs, and Mossy Oak camouflage.
 "I had some friends of mine introduce me to the sport," He said.  "I went to a balloon event down in Baton Rouge (LA.) one weekend. I saw a bunch of different corporate balloons and decided that somebody in Mississippi needed something like that. So I set out to try and sell a cooperate balloon program."
  Bowie started Balloon Promotions in Greenwood, Miss., about 10 years ago and now has nine employees out of which six, including himself, are licensed pilots for balloon flying. Balloon Promotions also operates a flight school for FAA balloon pilot licensing.
  "We have our balloons manufactured all over the country and some even manufactured in England," He said. "Our biggest manufacturer is Lindstrand out of Illinois."
  Bowie said that basically what Balloon Promotions does is sell ads, design the advertising program for the client then take the advertising program and manage it for their customers.
  "We also do a lot of stuff that is not balloon oriented," Bowie said. "We operate the NASCAR show cars for companies at track events."
  Most recently Balloon Promotions flew a giant golf ball with a changeable advertising sign, that was promoted by the U.S. Women's Open in golf.
  "Balloons are just a different type of advertising," Bowie said. "This type of advertising generally doesn't offend anyone, if done properly. It appeals to so many people, old and young alike. People want to know how the balloons work and what they are made of. There are not many advertising avenues that can capture the consumers inquisitiveness about the advertising media."
  He said that each balloon is specially made for each advertising company and that the balloons cost anywhere from $40 thousand to $150 thousand to make.
  "We are always expanding," Bowie said. "With each year we face a different set of expansion problems but we are concentrating now a lot on promotional management, not necessarily with balloons but with other promotional ideas."