No such thing as bad publicity?
In case you were wondering why March 1 was late by a day this year, it is because 2008 is a leap year and last Friday was February 29, a day that only comes around once every four years --- much like the Olympics, minus the fire.
Anyway, this once-in-a-blue-moon occurrence caused the sound-minded individuals at Cash Tomato (an Internet video sharing site --- much like YouTube, minus the popularity and selection) to hatch up this marketing gem:
Raise publicity by handing out $29 to random pedestrians passing through busy Union Square, located in New York City.
Brilliant, right? In defense of Cash Tomato, the little-known company has successfully pulled this stunt before in three British cities, as well as San Francisco and Berkley, California. Never underestimate New Yorkers, however. The money giveaway turned into a near-riot as the impatient crowd grew tired of waiting for their FREE money, resulting in one person being hospitalized and intervention by police and paramedics.
Such a shame.
Now, two questions come to mind:
First, when did this country sink to the point where employees at a fledgling video sharing site (that offers a selection of just 250 videos) can't put on tomato costumes and hand out money to a swarming crowd of New Yorkers without a brouhaha breaking out?
Second, if you look past the riot and minor injuries, wasn't this ploy a resounding success? I mean, the whole goal of the giveaway was to raise awareness of Cash Tomato's existence. And now that the event has garnered national news coverage, I think it is safe to say that the mission was accomplished --- you know, once again, minus the injuries. Now I don't think Cash Tomato is ecstatic with the result of the giveaway, but I am sure all of its employees discreetly gave each other fist bumps when they picked up the newspaper on Saturday.
Your thoughts?
posted by Chris Agostini @ 7:35 AM
2 Comments
2 Comments:
I agree completely. Even though the event turned out to be a complete disaster, they expanded their reach dramatically. By handing out free money im sure Cash Tomato only expected to have the buzz of a few city blocks, now they have national media attention for practically the same price. They aren't necessarily going to be held accountable for the actions of the rioting New Yorkers, and yet they get to reap all of the benefits of the attention that the "riot" gave them. I know that I have never heard of Cash Tomato before this press release, and before long I found myself on their website looking at their videos. All in all, the promotion was a failure in the fact that it turned into a riot and you can be sure that they will not be doing it again any time soon. However, there is still a very large upside to this that just goes to show that any exposure is good exposure for a new start-up like themselves.
I agree with both of you. I had never heard of cash tomato before this and I’m sure the same was true for a lot of other people as well. While no one wants to see someone get hurt I’m sure they created more of a buzz from this incident then they did with any of their previous attempts in other cities, which was of course their goal right? I guess it’s just hard to draw the line when it comes to guerilla marketing campaigns because so much of it either goes unnoticed or completely controversial. I guess the hard part is finding a balance, which clearly they didn’t.
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