Digital Journal — In a world where it’s getting harder to get noticed, online casino GoldenPalace.com hit a publicity grand slam by paying $28,000 (US) for a partially gnawed grilled cheese sandwich on eBay. The seller claimed an image of the Virgin Mary graced the snack.
If you squint, the sandwich does bear a likeness to the Immaculate One — although personally, I could have sworn it looks like Marlene Dietrich. Drew Black, spokesman for the eight-year-old company, says, “I think the media value for that is close to the millions.” For example, an episode of CSI mentioned the sandwich.
When I called Golden Palace, I described their tactics as “guerrilla marketing” but I was soon corrected.
“I don’t know that I would call it guerrilla marketing,” says Black. “Guerrilla’s involved. Guerrilla was more like stuff that happened the year before; the streaking and stuff.”
The streaking and stuff was grilled cheese before anyone knew grilled cheese would be cool. The company paid people to run naked through some high-profile sporting events wearing nothing but temporary GoldenPalace.comtattoos. They struck at some memorable moments: the Super Bowl, the U.S. Open (featuring a porn actress named Britney Skye) and the 2004 Summer Olympics — which actually put an end to those types of stunts.
One would think that these kinds of tactics would eventually lose their shock value and novelty. But they don’t…
This article is part of Digital Journal‘s Spring 2005 issue. To read the rest of this story, pick up your copy in bookstores across Canada or the United States!
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