In this week's THE BIG HURT (Marketing Mania: The Week In Cross-Promo Frenzy!), Phoenix writer David Thorpe has launched a campaign to send Pitbull to Alaska. No, it's not some brill idea to save Bristol Palin's reality TV career, it's a part of Walmart's plan to send the Miami singer to the store with the most Facebook "likes."
Well, this shit was just picked up by Yahoo! (EDIT: and now, Billboard), and the campaign is going national. Read on, and say yes to Kodiak Island:
As the summer buying-shit season heats up, the cross-promotional spokespersoning frenzy is reaching a boiling point. The newswires are humming with fresh pop partnerships — many of them complicated three-way affairs.
PITBULL TO VISIT HIS FANS’ FAVORITE LOCAL WALMART STORE, POWERED BY
ENERGY SHEETS®’
High-integrity Zumbacore sensation Pitbull is the filling of another fully non-absurd promo sandwich: big-box shopping, Latin club anthems, and tongue-dissolvable caffeine strips.
Energy Sheets® joined forces with Walmart and Pitbull to launch a Facebook page contest among Walmart stores to offer customers the chance to win a visit by Mr. Worldwide. The store with the most new “likes” wins a Pitbull appearance in its hometown.
Even though he’s got a founding stake in the Energy Sheets® brand, you might be skeptical about Pitbull’s enthusiasm. With his jet-setting “Mr. Worldwide” lifestyle, could Pitbull really be excited about some Walmart “likes”? Maybe he’ll let us know somehow:
"I’m excited to find out which local Walmart store has the most new likes so I can share the experience of using Energy Sheets® with my fans," said Pitbull.
I checked the quote with Fuel Partnerships, the PR firm driving this thing, and I was given ironclad assurance of correctness: “Everything in regards to his quote is completely accu-rate.”
Infected by Pitbull’s enthusiasm, I decided to get involved. With the help of some friends on Twitter, including the incomparable @fart (fellow SomethingAwful.com writer Jon Hen-dren), I started a campaign to exile Pitbull to the Walmart on Kodiak Island, an icy, bear-infested locale just south of Alaska. As of now, the Kodiak Walmart has over 22,000 new “likes” on Facebook, putting it far ahead of any other Walmart in the nation — far ahead of Kodiak’s actual population, in fact.
“I hear there’s bear repellant at Kodiak, Alaska @walmartspecials @sheets #exilepitbull,” Pitbull tweeted. “Daleeeeeee!”
Will he be mauled by a Kodiak? Stay tuned for further developments.
DAVID THORPE | dthorpe[a]phx.com
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