June 20th, 2006, 10:47 am
You poot, “I pooted” - We all poot
Music editor Heather Kuldell sent around this mystery billboard to CL staffers this morning. What’s the deal?
According to this blog thread, the billboards are part of a Cartoon Network marketing strategy, and they’ve been appearing all over the South.
This billboard appears on North Avenue and Spring.
Update: After consulting a CN source, Heather reports - “I pooted” is in fact an ad campaign for “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends.” This is the beginning of a three-week campaign. After it’s over, a character will be revealed.
June 20th, 2006 at 12:38 pm
i saw the character the other day in a commercial for cn during the previews for the movie nacho libre…. looks stupid if you ask me, but im sure the kids will love the cartoon.
on a side note….. nacho libre was fantabulous!
June 20th, 2006 at 6:52 pm
i almost swerved and crashed into the Varsity when i saw it — not due to the roaring laughter and the frantic picture-phone-taking/text-messaging that i was doing, but rather due to the craning-of-the-neck to see if there was anything else on that damn billboard to give me a clue about what was goin’ on.
…and when i messaged my heather source, she directed me to you. should’ve guessed you’d have the answer… all hail laurafries.com!
June 21st, 2006 at 10:06 am
Yep, I am on top of all things that might be fart-related in the media. This is what I offer the world.
I’m sure there are orphans that Angelina hasn’t adopted right now that need our help so they don’t die of AIDS or malaria or the flies that crawl on their eyes, but me - I focus on things in my own backyard. Fart-related humor.
June 27th, 2006 at 3:17 pm
They also have signs that read “My boogers itch” “Yes” “The Hat means Sandwiches” “Clowns hate Tangelos” and “Shiny, Shiny ,Pretty, Pretty”
June 30th, 2006 at 11:56 am
I saw this Billboard in Hartford, CT….I nearly laughed so hard I alomost drove offf theroad.
July 3rd, 2006 at 12:23 pm
It certainly is attention getting, but not effective marketing by a long shot. I wrote about it in my Small Business blog, but basically good marketing lets you know what is being sold.
July 3rd, 2006 at 6:15 pm
I’m certainly no expert in marketing, but isn’t there a thread of viral marketing that relies on the curiousity of users to discover the message? And isn’t that considered fairly powerful, because the people who spend the time Googling “I pooted” are a more engaged audience than the audience that simply sees a billboard with the information?
To date, this blog post has gotten over 2,200 views … much higher than a typical LF.com post. Peeps wanna know … who pooted?
July 13th, 2006 at 2:27 pm
Yes, but the percentage of people who are actually going to google that is small; most people are going to be curious but forget by the time they get home.
That said, the new ads do a good job of bringing in the old ones and introducing the character. So they’ve aroused interest for 2-3 weeks and then told us who pooted. Overall, a fairly interesting technique.
I’m still not sure they are hitting their target audience, though. Most people who read billboards are adults, not kids, and isn’t it leaning towards the younger (maybe teens as well) audience? I’ll probably have to write a follow-up in my blog, though, after noting the ‘poor marketing’, LOL. It’s not as bad as I thought it was.
August 12th, 2006 at 8:43 pm
omg i love it its from this character cheese from fosters home for imaginary friend and he is awsomeeee