Comedian and filmmaker, Mark Malkoff, is no stranger to promotional hijinks.

In 2007, he made a purchase from each of the 171 Starbucks in Manhattan — in a single day.

In 2008, while his apartment was being fumigated, he spent a week living in an IKEA. 

This past June, Malkoff, in order to get over his fear of flying, logged 135 flights on AirTran and set a Guinness World Record. 

Now, the comedian is driving around the country in a Ford Fusion Hybrid, convincing mayors to hand over the keys to their cities.

The project, called Keys to the City, started when Malkoff realized that “in New York City, Mother Theresa has a key and so does Dolly Parton.” This got him wondering: What are the criteria for earning a key? And, what would he have to do to earn himself 100 keys?  

Soon, he developed a treatment for the project and pitched it to Ford. “I really, really liked what Ford was doing with social media,” said Malkoff. “They think out of the box.”

According to Ford Car Experiential Marketing manager, Jeffrey Eggen, the project fit “in well with our strategy to raise awareness of our new Ford vehicles by getting real customers behind the wheel and letting them tell their own story.”  

So far, on day 15 of the quest, Malkoff is halfway to his 100-key goal. Many of the cities he’s visiting have never given away a key, but Malkoff tells mayors he’s working on a video project that will feature their city in a positive light. For each key, he also does community service.

In Lancaster, PA, he cleaned up after police horses. In Clifton, VA, he served firefighters ice cream while dressed as an ice cream cone. In Fairfax, VA, he donned a wetsuit to retrieve the coins from the town fountain.

His adventures are being chronicled through posts on Twitter, Flickr, and Facebook. In addition, he and his five-person film crew are shooting videos of every mayoral challenge. (See video of Fairfax, VA challenge below).

The project is mutually beneficial for Malkoff and Ford. The comedian gains the resources to pursue a project he’s passionate about, and Ford promotes the fuel-efficient Fusion through several social media platforms.

Malkoff’s initiative ends November 1st. Follow his progress on www.markmalkoff.com/keystothecity.

"The Taste of Yellow Chocolate" spokesman, Josh Winger

Last year, New Zealand’s yellow pages, known as Yellow, created a publicity stunt that got people talking. The company built a tree house restaurant only using businesses found in its listings.   

Now, Yellow has launched a reality TV-inspired campaign with a similar premise. The campaign, called “The Taste of Yellow Chocolate,” stars 27-year-old spokesman Josh Winger. Winger, a former photocopier salesman, will have six months to create, manufacture, advertise, and distribute a chocolate bar that “tastes like yellow.”

Josh has no related experience, but was selected for his “Kiwi ‘can-do’ attitude.”

On the campaign’s website, he asks for feedback. Should his chocolate have more conventional “yellow” influences like honey or vanilla? Or, should it taste like a sunset or a VW Beetle? 

The website also features blog posts, pictures, and video updates. Videos show Josh behind the scenes touring his new office, contemplating how to fix the toilet, and buying a computer. He also posts updates on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

The campaign adds relevance to the phone book as a printed artifact. It also adds value to Yellow’s customers by listing every business Josh uses on the entertaining website.

“If your business isn’t in Yellow,” Josh says, “then people like me won’t be ringing you.” Clearly, the company is banking on its spokesman’s likability.

Like a TV show, the campaign draws people in with plot, character, and conflict. Will the public like his chocolate? Will he rise to the challenge? Will he complete the project in time? Stay tuned to find out.

There are 159  Hard Rock Cafes  in places as widespread as Bahrain, Fiji, and Ho Chi Ming City. Each location displays rock relics from the company’s 70,000-piece collection (the most prized relic being the Hard Rock’s first  – Eric Clapton’s red Fender guitar).

So, what do you do if you want to see an artifact from their collection, but you’re not near the location housing it? The Hard Rock has solved that problem (in Las Vegas, at least) through digital signage.

In the Hard Rock Cafe Vegas Strip, there’s an eighteen-foot-long HD touch screen called the Rock Wall. The Rock Wall allows visitors to tour the restaurant’s locations and explore the memorabilia collection virtually. A deep zoom feature can give you a close enough look at the relics to see the tears in Jimi Hendrix’s coat or where the paint’s chipping on Slow Hand’s Fender.

(Thanks John. Thanks Kristen).

The above video showcases the work of EasyWeb, a French company that creates “Monumental Video Projections.” To produce the projections, EasyWeb first maps the building’s exterior using architectural plans, photographs, and laser quotation. The laser quotation process allows them to calculate distances and map minute details of the structure.

Once the mapping is complete, they recreate the building’s exterior on a PC using 3D software. 3D software is also used to create the dynamic effects and graphics of the projection show.  

Finally, light “beamers” project the 3D effects onto the façade.

“Our technology is ‘very handmade,’” says EasyWeb’s PR & Project Manager, Pierre Caulet. “Like fashion designers, the production team creates unique video shows [which play] with volumes and architecture.”

EasyWeb’s goal is to create a new event marketing approach. The company delivers a spectacular visual experience sure to attract crowds and get people talking. We look forward to seeing how brands will use emerging video projection. What will they say and do for their customers once they’ve gotten their attention? A question like that’s important to answer ahead of time.  

(Thanks, Shawn T.)

Yesterday, we wrote about Clay Shirky’s idea that technology doesn’t become interesting until it gets boring. Once people understand a technology’s function, they can focus on putting it to use in creative ways. A perfect example of this idea is the music video for the Japanese band, Sour.

Sour’s video for the song “Hibi No Neiro,” is posted on hundreds of blogs and (as of this writing) has received 660,000 views on YouTube alone.

How’d they get so many people to take notice? They didn’t need HD cameras or CGI. Instead, they relied on fan collaboration, commonplace technology, and choreography.   

Dozens of fans were instructed to film themselves with web cams as they performed choreographed moves — taking a photo, spinning in their chairs, holding up a piece of paper. They sent their videos to a team of directors who weaved the segments together. The result is a unique video mosaic that uses “boring” web cam technology to connect people in new ways.

Have a quirky project that needs funding? A website called Kickstarter.com might be you the platform you need to make your dream a reality. The site showcases creative projects and allows people to pledge money to the projects they like best.

Among the projects on the site: A filmmaker wants to finish his documentary on The Kinks. . . . A puzzlemaster wants to create a suite of themed crossword puzzles . . . A designer wants to paint a series of “Choose Your Own Adventure” robot pictures.

One person who has used the site to find backers is Andy Baio. Baio is looking to recreate Miles Davis’ “Kind of Blue” in an 8-bit format (imagine jazz played from a Nintendo Entertainment System). He calculates that he’d need $2,000 to complete the project and has already received pledges three times his funding goal.

On his blog, Waxy.org, Baio writes: “Some people seem to misunderstand what Kickstarter’s for, expecting it to work like Kiva, where there’s a pool of investors waiting for neat projects to throw their money into. In reality, I’d expect very, very few projects to be backed by random people stumbling on it from the Kickstarter website. It hinges on your own social network, your ability to promote your project, and the demand for what you’re offering . . . ”

But, as the Kickstarter site notes, “a good idea, communicated well, can spread fast and wide.”

So, how does the funding process work?

People post their projects to the site. They write a description, upload  photos and videos, and plead their case to attract backers.

Project creators also set how much money they need and for how long the pledge period will stay open. If a project does not reach its funding goal before time expires, no money changes hands. It’s all or nothing. (All funding is routed through Amazon.com.)

To entice donators, project creators use tiered incentives (a la Josh Freese). For some projects, these incentives are the key to their success. What value can you give the people who pledge money to your project? How creative can you be with your incentives? For $2,500, musician Allison Weiss offers to write a song about a topic of your choice and perform it live at an acoustic concert in your hometown. Though no one has pledged this amount yet, it’s an attention-grabbing offer.

For project creators, the site allows you to gauge public interest in your idea, gain exposure, and get funding. Also, you keep 100% creative control.

For project donators, you get the perks offered by the creator and the entertainment of watching an idea turn into a completed project.

Does knowing how to make people laugh make you a better businessperson? Peppercom, a New York PR agency, thinks so.

The agency’s co-founder and managing partner, Steve Cody, thinks that having the skills of a stand-up comic makes for employees who are more likeable, have greater confidence, and show more poise when speaking. To test his theory, Cody brought in comedian Clayton Fletcher to work with his staff.

Every few months, Fletcher speaks to employees about stand-up, and discusses how they can integrate the craft into their jobs. The employees give five-minute impromptu performances, which are videoed. Later, a communications consultant goes over the tapes with the performers and gives feedback. 

Says Fletcher: “The marriage between client presentations and comedy techniques is a natural one… The less a pitch relies on PowerPoint slides and the more it relies on human contact, the better. When you make someone laugh, there is [an] intimate human contact between you and that person that even the best PowerPoint slide could never approach.”

Through the lessons, employees also improve their skills in breaking the ice with clients, thinking quickly on their feet, and reading an audience.

As organizations tighten budgets and cut spending, it’s interesting to see a company paying to train its employees in something that doesn’t explicitly generate revenue. But, as Cody says, “It’s probably the single smartest internal investment we’ve made in the agency.”

We first read about this story in Marissa Miley’s Advertising Age article, “Who Says Recession is Nothing to Laugh at?”

Improv Everywhere is a New York comedy group that, according to its website,  creates “scenes of chaos and joy in public places.” The group may best be known for its annual “No Pants! Subway Ride” prank, in which troupe members go about their subway commutes without wearing pants.

In 2002, the prank started with seven participants. This year, 1,200 people participated, and the prank made news. Companies like T-Mobile took notice.

In January, T-Mobile promoted its “Life is for Sharing” campaign by using a Improv-Everywhere-like flash mob.

At Liverpool Street Station in London, people were going about their daily commute when music blared through overhead speakers. 400 dancers in street clothes and station uniforms broke into a choreographed dance. They bopped for three minutes, and casually dispersed.

Using hidden cameras, T-Mobile filmed the event and aired it as a TV commercial, which has been viewed on YouTube over 13 million times.

Buoyed by the success of the train-station dance, T-Mobile created another crowd  event which was recently held in Trafalgar Square. 13,500 people gathered to sing “Hey Jude,” “Summer Lovin’,” “Say a Little Prayer for You,” Hit Me Baby One More Time,”  among others. T-Mobile passed out microphones to the crowd, and a huge screen displayed lyrics and video of the crowd itself.

Again, T-Mobile filmed the event, ran the “Hey Jude” segment as a TV commercial, and uploaded it to YouTube. The company hoped that the thousands of participants would disperse it among friends.

The sing-a-long video has been up for about a week and has received almost a quarter of a million views.  

Thanks to Vanksen Culture Buzz, and their excellent blog, for alerting us to this story.

Radiohead’s pay-what-you-want pricing for “In Rainbows” introduced the music industry to new ways of selling an album. Now, Josh Freese’s sales strategy is taking the next step. 

Freese, the former drummer for Nine Inch Nails, is selling his new solo album, “Since 1972,”  with customer experience add-ons. Customers can still purchase CD/DVD or digital version of the album at a standard price. But those willing to spend more can get more.

According to trend-spotting site, PSFK.

For $50, fans get the album, a t-shirt, and a five-minute thank you call from Freese.

For $500, they get “15 people a signed CD, [a] t-shirt, [a] cymbal, [a] din[n]er with Freese and a session in a sensory deprivation tank.” A sensory deprivation session does not directly correlate to the music per se. But it is a unique, interactive experience.

These kinds of add-ons get wackier and more elaborate as the price rises.

The top tiers of the pricing strategy are for one lucky fan apiece.

For $20,000: Josh writes two songs about you; gives you clothes from his closet; escorts you on a personal tour of Long Beach, CA; and takes you mini golfing with his famous friends, among other things. 

What does $75,000 get you? Oh boy.

For $75,000: Josh gives you his drum set; releases a 5 song EP about you and your life story; joins your band or becomes your personal assistant for a month; and road trips with you in a limo to Tijuana. There are additional add-ons and options for this premium experience, some of which aren’t even legal.  

Who has $75,000 to spend goofing around with a rock star? Tough to say. But Freese does take a creative approach to album pricing by focusing on customer experience instead of a CD or DVD as merely a tangible “product.”

Has your business gotten stale? Inject some new life into it, try something new, consider the impact of truly unique and gripping experiences.