Visiting Times Square for New Years? Why not self handedly power that dropping ball?

As much as I’d love to, I simply won’t be in Times Square for the big ball drop into 2010. But just because I’m not there doesn’t mean I’m missing out. Some would argue that staying home (or at least indoors) is a much better experience as you get the benefit of countless camera angles, more coverage of the event, and of course a surrounding air temperature above freezing. The latter of which is a big one for me seeing as how I hate the cold.

Since most party goers will start arriving late tonight/early tomorrow for the festivities and taking into account they’ll have to remain motionless to keep their spots as close to the excitement as possible, boredom will no doubt set in. On a completely different and unrelated sidenote: Powering that giant 9,500 LED strong dropping ball takes a fair amount of juice even considering the LED, eco-friendly/hug a tree technology.

Energizer has a solution to kill two birds with one stone — enter the Smart Power Lab. Energizer is setting up a mobile pedal powered smart lab (say that ten times fast) that will give bored/cold onlookers the chance to supply energy to power the ’09/’10 ball. Simply give a few minutes of your time and have the energy created stored for later use tomorrow night. The coolest part is that their are screens showing you how much energy your currently producing as well as telling you overall how much you’ve produced.

It’s a novel concept to say the least. One which goes to show how clever advertising and customer involvement can better market a brand.

Anyone headed to the Big Apple within the next 24 hours care to share a few snapshots of the events and a few of yourself on the mobile power lab bikes?