Sunday, November 23, 2008
Blacksburg money-from-the-sky stunt bucks common sense
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Shanna Flowers is The Roanoke Times' metro columnist.
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Every now and then, I get a hankering to give out an award for acts that strike me as just plain silly, insanely dangerous or downright senseless.
Last week, the folks behind a money-grabbing, promotional stunt in Blacksburg hit the trifecta.
The winner of the Shanna Flowers "What Were They Thinking?" award is ... drumroll, please ... the publicity feat dreamed up by an Ohio advertising firm promoting the opening of the new First & Main shopping center on Main Street.
The plan, which was retooled after town officials dubbed it too risky, was to drop 10,000 $1 bills from a helicopter hovering over First & Main the day after Thanksgiving.
Are you kidding me?
The busiest shopping day of the year? People out in droves, and money literally falling from the sky? In an economy like this? Not only would it attract early bird shoppers, but it also would be a cattle call for debt-burdened consumers from miles around, looking to score some extra loot for bills.
Advertising consultant Stuart Moss told me his agency has had three such cash drops and encountered no problems. A few days earlier, Moss told Roanoke Times reporter Tonia Moxley that he's seen "people show up with fishing nets, pillowcases and plastic bags."
Maybe there's no such thing as wind where the agency has held the other drops. Maybe it hasn't held them when roads were clogged with drivers trying to get from one shopping center to another.
Unfortunately, there's always a first time for a mishap. And Blacksburg officials correctly decided they didn't want it to occur in their hamlet. They raised the red flag on the helicopter drop.
"We just didn't think it was safe," Deputy Town Manager Steve Ross said.
"Whether a fight -- money's falling from the sky -- people might react in a way they normally wouldn't," he said.
Ross said town officials put in a quick call to the shopping center's developer, Fairmount Properties of Ohio, to share their concerns.
Quicker than you can say "pennies from heaven," the $10,000 giveaway took on a new format.
The first 2,000 shoppers now will receive an envelope containing a $5 bill. That may not be as dramatic as folks chasing stray dollar bills into the street or playing tug of war with a buck, but it's free money nonetheless.
"It's a little more of a conservative approach than what we're used to," Moss said, "but we're going to do it."
On second thought, let's create another award and give it to Blacksburg town officials.
We'll call it the "Thank Goodness, Cooler Heads Prevailed" award.
Shanna Flowers' column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.
