Stunts

Intel took to the streets to present The Ultrabook Pop-Up Theater, a stunt showcasing the Ultrabook laptop and some of the cool things it can do when you get 60 people to hold them up in front of their faces. The video was shot in Los Angeles and is meant to highlight the computer’s design and “responsiveness.” Not sure that’s what I think of when I see this clip, but take a look and decide for yourselves.

Separately, The Ultrabook Project sent Will.i.Am all over the world to use the computer to write a song based on the cities he visits. Perhaps a better way to highlight the computer’s selling points, but then you have to listen to music by Will.i.Am.

Happy V-Day folks. Are you feeling the love? Maybe the smooth sounds of Ted “Golden Voice” Williams talking about some mac & cheese will make your day a little brighter?

In 2011, Williams became a sensation when he was discovered by a Columbus Dispatch reporter. From that day forward, for both Williams and Kraft, it was a “lemons to lemonade” story.

Today, Kraft is sharing that “golden voice” with all of us. Tweet him a message with the hashtag #voiceoflove and Williams will record the message. Kraft is also making a Mac & Cheese donation to Feeding America for each tweet received, up to 100,000 boxes.

The lesser-known, and perhaps more feisty groundhog Charles G. Hogg (a.k.a. Staten Island Chuck) is making a play for publicity over his rival, Punxsutawney Phil again this year.  And Chuck is just one spot behind Phil on the Twitter Trends list at presstime (#4 Happy Groundhog Day, #5 Punxsutawney Phil, #6 Staten Island Chuck).  Perhaps it’s those thousands of underdog residents tweeting and retweeting like crazy, or perhaps it’s because Chuck is betting on an early spring.  Phil is not.

Read more

To promote the new film Chronicle, marketing firm ThinkModo rigged up three “custom-made aircraft” and flew them around New York City landmarks (above).

Gothamist notes that there wasn’t a lot of talk about any flying objects around the Brooklyn Bridge or Statue of Liberty recently, kind of strange in this post-9/11 world. But there has been some media coverage featuring the clip. ThinkModo, which describes itself as a “viral marketing company,” was responsible for the Times Square billboard hacking to promote Limitless and the “iPad head girl” stunt to promote Cosmo for Guys.

Read more

Photo: Mirrorpix, Splash News / Newscom

From fascinators to cowboy hats, Kate Middleton — the Duchess of Cambridge and most-talked-about bride of 2011 — has worn headgear of every shape and size. Which is why she’s The Headwear Association’s “Hat Person of the Year.” Whoopee? That’s almost as great as being the Queen of England.

While we’re not sure the royals are planning to mark the occasion with castle festivities or some sort of Beefeater revelry, this is quite the publicity stunt for the obscure, century-old organization. The announcement has spawned much more coverage than the Headwear Association has had in a while, to judge by the news section of its website. But, this is the third year for the designation.

The Daily Beast gives the voting process the crooked eye, but The Daily Mail takes the honor much more seriously.

“She has raised the profile, not only of established names like Philip Treacy and Sylvia Fletcher of Lock & Co, but also little-known designers such as Rose Cory and Vivien Sheriff,” the paper writes.

My headline is obviously misleading.  Though other much more distant stars are available for naming rights, our own fiery orb is not for sale at this time–so Tropicana Juices decided to build their own, and rise it in dreary old London.  The campaign was more than local, of course, and is well-socialized through a coordinated Facebook campaign (which includes a chance to win an ocean of the stuff).  View the above, then view the video after the jump to see how they did it.

Read more

Photo: AP

When The Donald announced that he wasn’t running for President back in May, we’d hoped we were done with his political antics. But alas! He has re-inserted himself into the fray with the announcement that he will be moderating a GOP debate in Iowa on December 27. More than that, he’s billing himself as the GOP’s ultimate endorser.

“Some magazines have said I am the single most important endorsement a presidential candidate can have. I don’t know if that’s true, but it wouldn’t surprise me. I don’t say that to brag; I just tell it like it is,” Politico quotes him saying.

A couple of candidates aren’t buying it. Jon Huntsman has declined (Trump says he’s the decliner), with Huntsman’s peeps sending a message on Twitter: “Lol. We look forward to watching Mitt and Newt suck-up to The Donald with a big bowl of popcorn.”

And Ron Paul’s campaign chairman (oh you Ron Paul!) also responded, saying Trump’s inclusion “is beneath the office of the Presidency.”

Haha. But seriously, you know Donald Trump doesn’t give a damn what they say.

Read more

Fun Friday story! Obermutten is a Swiss village with a population of 79 but thousands of Facebook friends around the world.

Upon launching the town’s Facebook page, the mayor said all friends would be acknowledged with their image posted on the town’s bulletin board. With that, people from around the world liked the town, and Obermutten residents struggled to keep their word. The town has more than 9,400 likes, more than some other popular European cities and traffic to the town’s tourism site has spiked.

But just as impressive is this figure: four out of five people who have liked the town’s page interact with it. The video above says that’s more than Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, and Coca-Cola.

[via Creativity, h/t @SkinnyNYC]

Is Rainn Wilson, star of NBC’s The Office, tweeting for the Del Taco fast food chain?

Earlier this week, Wilson tweeted, “Joanne – tell @DelTaco I will accept $12,000 to plug their shitty food. Thanks, Rainn.” In a follow up tweet, Wilson asked readers to disregard that last message because it was for his assistant then went on to talk about the goodness of Del Taco food.

Media reported it as a gaffe, but maybe it’s a Twitter campaign posing as a gaffe? Mashable corrected its original story to state that the tweets were satire and Wilson wasn’t paid. Intrigue!

ABC News notes our previous coverage of celebs that are paid to tweet, noting a bit of Kim Kardashian stickiness over tweets promoting Carl’s Jr. Either way, I’d never heard of Del Taco before this, so PR success.

You can’t swing a dead honey badger these days without hitting a hipster drinking one of thousands of obscure small batch IPAs.  So what’s a brewer to do to get attention for a new launch?  In the case of Stone Brewing Co., the PR team put out a press release insulting the “sheeple” who drink “fizzy yellow nonsense,” basically daring you to try their new brew.

Stone doesn’t think you have the stones to try their new Double Bastard Ale (Availability: Limited draft, 22oz and 3L bottles,  ABV: 10.5%  IBUs: CLASSIFIED).  If you think you might be one of the “Worthy craft beer cognoscenti,” belly up to the bar and bring a dictionary.  You’re going to need it to read this press release (available here, or full text after the jump).

Read more