domingo, janeiro 15, 2006: The final frontier media buy

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The Web's bizarre bazaar now offers adventures in nearly naked capitalism.

Four college dudes at Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz., are using eBay to auction ad space on their bodies to fund a bacchanalian spring break trip to Mexico in March.

At least the money will go to a good cause.

The guys' 10-day auction began at noon Friday, with bidding starting at the customary eBay price of 99 cents.

To quote from the auction page: "Think of all the advertising you could get when four college guys strut their stuff with your logo, Web site name, or product plastered all over their body! And the few times we HAVE to wear shirts, we are more than willing to wear anything related to your company! Feel free to give us temporary tattoos, t-shirts, hats, sweatshirts, sandles [sic], or anything else you think we could use to promote your company!"
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The ASU guys promise to mark their bodies with anything -- "unless it hurts, or is permanent." Which is a little disheartening. I mean, if they're really moving into the final frontier media buy -- selling space on the human body -- they should show some commitment and toughness and go hard-core. They should be willing to tattoo a corporate logo into their flesh. For the right price, of course. Oh, sure, Kittleson talks a big game -- "I live by the theory that there is a price for everything" -- so I asked him what it would take to, say, tattoo a Nike swoosh into his cheek.

"On my cheek? Oh, jeez," he said. "I would do it but it would definitely have to be enough to retire on."

In addition to being product-neutral on advertising -- "if you're a retirement community, we want you; if you're an explicit porn site, we want you," Kittleson said -- the boys will travel anywhere the ad-buyer demands: "If Coke [buys us] and says, 'We need higher distribution in Cabo, don't go to Cancun,' that's fine," he said.
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Advertising Gets Personal: Rule No. 1 -- Sell Yourself

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