From the Underground

It's been a fun week in the world of underground marketing.

I read today that the "My Box in a Box" girl wasn't just some girl at all, but a girl hired by Agency.com to show off their madd viral skillz. While I found this video pretty much patently unfunny, I am nonetheless surprised to find out it was a publicity thing. That said, I don't know how much it really shows off -- the video is primarily boobies. Wow, those are popular on the web? Meh, interesting realization nonetheless.


Of course, by now, the whole world has seen the did-she-or-didn't-she fiasco now known as "Bride Has Massive Hair Wig Out". Now we all know the truth: she didn't. The girls are all Canadian actress wannabes. While I wanted it to be real for the sake of hilarity (and nobody will deny that this was awesomely funny, fake or not), it wasn't particularly shocking to find out that it wasn't the real deal (well, except for the hair chopping). Yet! I just read allegations this afternoon that the whole shebang was a guerrilla tactic created for Sunsilk (they apparently pulled out at the last minute, details surely to come in the next week) by Marketing's most recent Agency of the Year, Capital C Communications. Is this indeed the case? If so, why did they pull out? How were they connected? What would the connection have been? I'm waiting with bated breath.

And -- and! -- who could forget the Boston light bright crisis? CNN, Fox News, and journalists all over North America were giddily crapping their pants at the prospect of a true new terror alert, despite the fact that the Aqua Teen Hunger Force street-level campaign had been on the streets of cities over the US for weeks already. The fallout? Oh, y'know. Peter Berdovsky, 27, of Arlington, and Sean Stevens, 28, of Cambridge have been arrested by the Boston PD for "disorderly conduct" related to their role in placing these devices. Who are these dudes? Oh, you know, probably some guys who work at some agency who are -- the cynic in me suspects -- taking this minor legal hit for the sake of a really, really killer bout of crazy publicity for the Turner show. I mean, seriously -- after pleading not guilty and being confronted by reporters, the duo claimed to only be taking questions about 1970s haircuts. (Awesome.)

Boston mayor Thomas Menino was quoted as saying: "It is outrageous, in a post-9/11 world, that a company would use this type of marketing scheme." Wha? Really? It's really so shocking that a company would place little glowy billboards featuring cartoons giving the finger? Really? Oh, but dear sir -- isn't your fury the "proof that the terrorists are winning" that Americans so despise?

I love this stuff.