In what has to be one of the strangest pairing of television stars I’ve ever seen, Will Ferrell will be facing nature’s wrath alongside Bear Grylls on the season premier of Man Vs. Wild, taking the duo deep into the frozen tundra ‘far north’ of Sweden. It is set to coincide with the release of his upcoming motion picture Land of the Lost.

I wonder who’s idea it was (marketing or talents)?

Discovery Communications ad sales jockey Joe Abruzzese decided to step up and give the typical marketing pat-on-the-back by telling Variety Magazine just how this is a prime example of working closely with advertisers on “content integration.” At least Annah Zafrani, VP of media promotions for Universal Pictures, was put on record calling it the studio’s “most innovative project to date” with Discovery.

Should be fun to watch.

Apparently eBay’s in trouble for their recent $1 Holiday Doorbusters Giveaway, where they ‘randomly’ give out 100 gifts ranging from GPS devices, jewelry and even a new Chevrolet Corvette for only $1 (with a new item given away each day). The catch? eBay isn’t going to tell you what item is being given away each day or even what category it’ll be in….a plan that apparently was full of holes.

The contest was brought down to a screeching halt on Tuesday when hundreds of users began using automated scripts that would continuously bid on items for $1 in an attempt to secure the winning bid even before the actual auction page goes public. This then resulted in a large crowd of the more ‘honest’ users becoming furious at eBay for letting these rogue ‘script kiddies’ get away with cheating the system….evidence of which can be found throughout the eBay public forums.

The script in question is right now all over the internet. You can find it for sale on RentACoder for $20 or even for free in various forums.

Poor eBay.

Remember how I got that ipod shuffle from Startupschwag.com? Well, if you hurry and donate now in the charity drive that Brandon Barr has embarked upon, growing a Picasso mustache for the entire month of May, you could win that ipod shuffle! If at the end of May he reaches his goal of $1000, the ipod will be given away to a RANDOM donator. That means even if you only donate $5, you still have a chance to win the ipod!
Go checkout my post on brentter.com for more details or go directly to the donation site!

UPDATE 5/29/08:He’s reached his goal of $1000!! Thanks to everyone who donated, the drawing for the free ipod will occur on June 1st and we’ll contact the winner via email/phone.

A nice way of promoting the very material that he’s trying to sell, the business of “free.” From what I’ve read so far, it’s all about the marketing technique of providing the user with a free service or product. In return you end up with a company evangelist who will, “potentially,” purchase your products. Not only that, but because they were hooked when it was free, their more likely to relate the brand to a positive experience, which would better enable them to share it with friends/co-workers/family members….. I think you can see where I’m going with this one.

Anyhow, sign up if you’re interested… I just thought that I’d pass the info along.
Once again, here’s the link: Get “Free” for Free.
Enjoy!