Off the radar
“Off the Radar” spotlights interesting culture bytes outside of the SMU campus. It appears every Thursday in “The Mix.”
When long-time Wal-Mart employee Brandon Wertz began looking for something to propel him from the Erie, Pa., 9 to 5 workaday rut he was in, he knew he could find something if he just used his head. His thoughts didn’t go much further than that.
Wertz, 25, is offering the back of his shaved skull to advertisers looking for a unique way to spread their message. He’s seeking a corporate sponsor that will pay him to tattoo its logo or slogan on his cranium.
“Some people will think it’s insane, but how is that relevant when I got to choose?” he said. “After all, how many people really feel they have a choice regarding their careers?”
According to the contract stipulations he has posted on his Web site, www.savemymelon.com, Wertz is looking for at least a five-year obligation that will include paid vacation, medical benefits, a company car and a regular salary.
For advertisers looking for a way to reach customers who are numb to the white noise of more traditional advertising techniques, these outlandish techniques might put them at the head of the pack.
“I’m willing to provide a service that very few people would participate in,” Wertz said.
But apparently, he does have some competition in the field of head marketing. Wertz has received several e-mails from other people interested in selling their heads, too, raising the question of what type of pate should rake in higher ad revenue than another.
“I don’t want to be selected by a company and then be distracted by running my own head-selling agency,” Wertz said. “But I might consider selling my dot com to a serious agency who can perform this service in a much more structured and professional manner.”
A few companies are biting. Although he was hoping that Microsoft would approach him to rent his head for the launch of the XBOX game system, so far he has been approached mainly by smaller startups.
“I turned down a condom company,” he said. “I can’t really walk around with Trojan man on my head.”
Notwithstanding what his critics think of the stunt, Wertz may prove to be valuable capital in the growing segment of identity marketing that seeks to use people as walking billboards.
Two years ago, the Internet Underground Music Archive paid a couple in Kansas $5,000 to name their baby boy IUMA after their Web site.
Acclaim UK, a video game design company that sells the popular Turok series, offered approximately $500 to people willing to change their name to Turok for a year.
After the announcement drew in 3,000 applicants in less than two days, the American division of the company decided they would go bigger.
With the release of Turok: Evolution, Acclaim Entertainment Inc. announced yesterday that it will pay $10,000 to the first family that gives birth on Labor Day and names the baby Turok. Already 60 couples expecting around Sept. 1 have expressed interest in the contest.
“While names like Michael and Hannah are very popular,” said Tom Bass, a senior brand manager at Acclaim, “they hardly instill fear in the hearts of playground bullies and closet monsters.”
So, while his friends can claim their namesakes were family members or movie stars, little baby Turok can claim that he was named after a time-traveling American Indian who slays bionically enhanced dinosaurs. How do you explain that one at parties? Maybe you don’t.
Compiled from online sources by Jeremy Roebuck, News Editor. [email protected].
