Robin Majumdar 2.0

Ah, after a nice Angus Burger from McD… a lunchtime article.

Well, Tom Dickson of Blendtec must have been amongst those waiting in line for the iPhone 3G as they’ve pulled off another one of their “Will it blend?” campaigns, only this time it’s with an iPhone 3G. Yes, the point is to display how powerful the somewhat pricey Blendtec blenders are.

This is a classic example of Web 2.0 mashed-up with Marketing 2.0 … brilliant strategy.

Check out the Blendtec iPhone 3G blending video:

As with the first Blendtec iPhone (1.0) that was turned into dust, the iPhone remains and blender are being auctioned off on eBay with proceeds going to the children’s charity Primary Children’s Medical Center.

I guess you could call this the ultimate “unlocked” iphone hehe.

Well, they still have their excellent $275 Cash Back offer for all inclusive service; Internet, Television and the whole works…. but that does not mean it is “unlimited”. All authorised Comcast affiliates were sent the following email from Daniele at Comcast who manages their affiliate relationship network:

From: Comcast.com [mailto:owner-membermessaging@mx5.cj.com]
Sent: April 11, 2008 11:57 AM
To: ***********
Subject: Use of the term “UNLIMITED”

April 11, 2008
Dear Valued Comcast Affiliate:
It has been brought my attention recently that Comcast affiliates and partners have been utilizing the term “UNLIMITED” when referencing Comcast services in ads, landing pages, promotional materials, etc. Be aware that this is a direct violation of the affiliate guidelines. If you are using the term “unlimited” please replace with “all inclusive” or remove completely.

Comcast is being closely scrutinized that they and all of their partners are in compliance with this issue and I cannot stress the importance/urgency regarding this matter enough.

Bridgevine and Comcast are regularly reviewing affiliate sites/ ads and anyone found to be in violation of this guideline will be terminated from the program immediately and permanently. Comcast has an absolute zero tolerance policy regarding affiliate violations.

We appreciate your immediate attention to this matter. Please email *******@comcastspecial.com or call 772-539-0709 for questions or concerns.

Regards,
The Comcast Affiliate Marketing Team

So, be it officially know, the Comcast $275 Cash Back offer promotion is one smoking hot deal to take advantage off, but the Comcast subscriber backlash on DIGG has obviously hit home.

Well - just a heads up to my black hat umm…. friends and associates that Syndk8 will be down for some scheduled maintenance; it is extremely rare that I’ve seen Syndk8 announce any sort of downtime, so it must be for some serious and significant site upgrades (or fixes).

For those wondering, Syndk8 is a black hat SEO (search engine optimization) forum for those who prefer to do their Internet business in a more… err, ruthless way ? Not that I condone or recommend it. Keep in mind that the best White Hat hackers have to keep in touch with what’s up on the dark side.

—–Original Message—–
From: Syndk8 Black Hat Seo Forum [mailto:noreply@syndk8.net]
Sent: April 2, 2008 5:37 PM
To: **************
Subject: New announcement: Syndk8 Scheduled Downtime Sometime Soon.

Hey Everybody

I need to make some important changes over the next few days to allow for the future growth and development of Syndk8.

You may see a blank page or a timeout for a few hours.

Please be patient and come back a few hours later.

You may need to flush your dns or cache to see the forum when it comes back up.

If you dont know how to flush your dns use google to find out how.

Thanks for your patience and best regards.

Earl Grey rockon

To unsubscribe from these announcements, login to the forum and uncheck “Receive forum announcements and important notifications by email.” in your profile.

You can view the full announcement by following this link:

http://syndk8.net/forum/index.php?topic=16299.0

Regards,
The Syndk8 Black Hat Seo Forum Team.

Updated July 16 : Blendtec has blended the iPhone 3G (!) and the remains are on eBay - see the video and auction.

Original iPhone article:

This is quite curious… the brilliant marketing ploy by high-end blender maker Blendtec where they blended an Apple iPhone has taken on a strange and mysterious twist.

Blendtec had put up the dusty remains of the blended iPhone as well as a Blendtec blender for auction on eBay and it had gained massive hype and traffic - 53+ bids and over 160,000 views of the auction which at last count was bid up to $1170 or thereabouts.

Well, eBay just announced late last night that they had pulled the auction.

Here is a copy of the eBay notice sent out to bidders on that auction:

(account-sensitive information has been replaced)

Dear xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,

Thank you for your bid on the following auction-style listing:

Item number: 170129995323
Title: Apple iPhone and Blendtec Total Blender

Unfortunately, eBay has removed this auction-style listing. All bids or offers on this listing have been canceled. Because the listing was ended, you no longer have any obligation to purchase this item. If the seller chooses to relist the item, you’re welcome to bid on it again.

Listings are removed for different reasons. For example:
- The way the item was listed may violate eBay policy.
- The removal may be part of a separate action taken by eBay that is unrelated to the listing itself.

We hope you understand that, due to privacy concerns, we’re unable to discuss the details of why this listing was ended. However, please note that the removal of this listing should not suggest that this seller’s standing in the eBay Community has been called into question.

For more information on why eBay may remove a listing, please go to:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/tp/listing-ended.html

For information on how you can protect yourself and help ensure a positive buying experience in the future, visit:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/buyer_checklist.html

We’re sorry for the inconvenience and thank you for your understanding.

Sincerely,

eBay Trust & Safety

The net being what it is, I suspect that the truth (or further hype) will be revealed. Perhaps stage 3 in the Blendtec PR hype machine?

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