Counter Counterfeit Commission

[Keith Chester]

Protect yourselves!

http://www.counterfeitmini.com/

[Mike]

I hope this isn't real
=(

[sanddrag]

The scary thing is that you can actually put in your credit card info to buy the DVD.

[Joe Matt]

I think this is viral marketing by BMW for the Mini, a great site with lots of tounge-in-cheek comedy.

[Keith Chester]

www.inactionheroes.com

Nothing more than taking advertisement to the next step.

Here's a challenge for all of you - design a new way to advertise online, make a couple billion dollars. What do I mean?

Click through rates have dropped to .87% of the internet! That's right, only .87% of web viewers click on web advertisements. Companies have resorted to barraging you with ads, making ads look like system alerts, pop unders, spyware/adware (which should be illegal btw), mini flash games in the ad (hit the monkey), spamming e-mail, spamming forums, spamming blogs and creating false blogs, taking over your computer to spam people, outright lying, offering free ipods for the prostitutization (major spell check there) and so so much more...

And still, internet advertising is become harder and harder to do successfully... so create an ethical way to raise that percentage, a new method of advertising. Even if it only works on, say, 1% of the internet population, you'll become a billionaire, I guarentee.

Just a thought.

I wonder... is there a thread for these kind of easy laugh web sites already that I missed, or could we just post them here?

[sanddrag]

I was just watching TV and I saw a commercial for how to spot a counterfeit mini! This is nuts! Does it even have anything to do with BMW?

[Keith Chester]

Ha ha... I thought it was obvious in the commercial, but I guess I could see how you could think it's real.

NO! It's uber clever and extreme advertising. The DVD is nothing but an extension of the funny advertisement. People collect clever advertising- they sometimes form pop culture.

For instance- one of the counterfeit Mini Coops is two motorcycle bikes duct taped together... I mean come on.

I must say it's working... I'm tempted to get one now. Now if only I had more than 150 bucks in my bank account.......

[Adam Y.]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

I was just watching TV and I saw a commercial for how to spot a counterfeit mini! This is nuts! Does it even have anything to do with BMW?

Yes. Just like that walking robot animation that was posted here a few monthes ago was related to BMW(yeah I know it's odd but these are two ads from the same firm). It's the same ad campaign and is called viral marketing or advertising by using word of mouth. It actually works fairly well especially since this is the second viral ad to be mentioned on chiefdelphi (the first being the walking transformer). Other viral ads are subservient chicken and gmail probably could count as a viral word of mouth advertiser. It's odd though logically. What is the point of an ad if the person doesn't even realize the ad is an ad?

[Joshua May]

Yes, viral marketing is becoming a more and more popular tactic. Another instance where viral marketing was used was for The Ring back when that movie was first coming out. One of my friends was given the video from the movie at a concert, and many copies of this video were distributed as a way to build intrest before the trailers came out.

[Not2B]

My wife is in advertising... and man, they will do anything to get you to pay attention.

Tivo is kicking the butt of TV ads, no one looks at internet ads... so they have to get funky. My favorite one lately has been

Subservient Chicken

It's for Burger King. It's funny. Just tell the chicken what to do.

[kjohnson]

Originally Posted by Not2B

Subservient Chicken

It's for Burger King. It's funny. Just tell the chicken what to do.

The chicken is so funny - its weird how it knows what to do. I had sent it to some friends of mine a while back - we were all amazed.

Our robotics sponsor has a Mini Cooper - I sent the link to her. I can't wait to see if she believes it.

[Keith Chester]

Lol, I just tricked some friends into believing the subservient chicken was live 24/7.

them: "But what if he has to go to the b-room?"
me: "It's for BK Chicken nuggets..."
them: "That doesn't answer my.... oh."

Advertising will do anything to get your attention. As long as it's not borderline illegally taking over my computer or doing something unethical like false system alerts or buying the rights to name someone's child, I'm all for the creativity. Sometimes I'm pretty sure that some ads are more popular than the items.