Top > Business > 2006 > January > 2006-01-23

The Best Advertising Campaign

With the plethora of online businesses on the web it seems like everyone is thinking of new ways to have their company standout in a sea of millions. From pixel ads to outrageous marketing tactics, it seems that nothing is to big, or small. One small online business owner took advertising to extremes by thinking of a new, and cheap way, to direct the world to his website. He tattooed his sites URL, bsleek.com, to his forehead. After reading about a publicity stunt done by GoldenPalace.com when they paid a man $1999.00 dollars to tattoo their website address on his forehead, bsleek.com owner Spencer Allen decided he could do the same thing, but due to a tight budget, instead of paying someone else to adorn their forehead, he?d do it himself.

When asked about the method behind his madness, he responded, ?I started marketing my company on a shoestring budget and the business was growing at a turtle?s pace. I needed to do something drastic to get the word out about my company. At first I was really scared about the idea. I thought that everyone would think I was crazy ? and I was right! They do think I?m crazy, but it?s great because when someone meets me they tell all their friends about me and they tell their friends and they tell their friends and so on and so on. It has been a marvel in viral marketing?.

The logical question that arises when examining this method of advertising is, has he gone too far? Is this marketing brilliance or complete lunacy? The answer is that it?s a combination of both. Yes, Allen will be bound to finger pointing and endless conversations explanation about the tattoo for the rest of his life, but on the bright side, he?ll have no shortage of traffic to his web site based on the public?s curiosity. Since being permanently branded traffic to his site has gone through the roof. He went from a 2 man company to a 10 person team in less than a year.