Posts Tagged ‘Kevin Bacon’

Viral marketing news and other viral happenings in Denver Metro, Boulder and beyond.

This Shelf for Rent - The Boulder Bookstore is one of my favorite places to visit after a nice meal on Pearl Street. It is also the subject of a lot of recent interest for how it is enabling authors promote their books. Writers who are having a difficult time getting shelf space in the local Barnes & Noble can pay Boulder Bookstore to carry their books on consignment. This program is strengthening ties to the local literary community, and many of the participating authors also end up promoting the store. I think this is an interesting model for local retailers of all sorts. Is there something you can be doing to cultivate a network of ambassadors for your business?

This Dome for Rent – In a trip to Tokyo a few years ago, I was struck by how advertising covered almost every available surface in the subway system. Well, I think this tops anything I saw there. The State of Colorado is looking to sell advertising space on the dome of the capitol building. The purpose of the plan is to raise money for restoration of the dome, and lawmakers seem to be hanging on to the idea that it will be executed in a “tasteful” way. I’d love to see what PETA would do if they got ahold of a giant dome, but I’m guessing that our dome will have to settle for something a little less controversial.

Everything Tastes Better with Bacon – Denver web design firm Data Incorporated created an interactive game called Find the Bacon to showcase Freebase, the “definitive open database of people, places and things.” The game is based on the six degrees of Kevin Bacon concept, and wins points for an engaging UI. What I find most interesting is that Find the Bacon is joining an already crowded field. The Oracle of Bacon has iPhone app for Bacon enthusiasts, and there’s even a thekevinbacongame.com. There may be such a thing as too much bacon. (I’m sure the PETA folks would agree.)

Yarnbombing – I came across this via the Denver Egotist this week, though it’s not a new story. A group of women called the Ladies Fancywork Society have been terrorizing the city with guerilla knitting. In the dark hours of the night they practice their craft by covering bike racks, light poles, sculptures and other urban miscellany with delightful crochet. If there was such a thing as a Nobel Prize for knitting, these women would deserve it for doing their best to cover up the heinous sculpture outside the Performing Arts complex. Knit on ladies, I love what you do!

Topless Gardening – I am starting to work on a taxonomy of viral media, which I will publish soon. In the taxonomy, I am recording the various principles that contribute to an article, video or other media going viral. One of the most interesting principles I’ve found is what I am calling “piggybacking”. This is where a story gains some of its interest by piggybacking on to another story. This week provided a perfect example of this, when a Boulder resident decided to do some topless gardening. The “news” got picked up by a number of sites, in spite of the fact that it is profoundly uninteresting. What I think happened is that this story piggybacked on all the recent coverage of Boulder’s increasingly strict nudity laws (which I mentioned a few weeks back).

I am still pondering on the viral taxonomy of the skunk that got it’s head stuck in a peanut butter jar. I’m thinking that may deserve a classification all to itself.

This is a weekly update, please comment if there are topics or items I have missed.