free money

A small promotion army was handing out flyers wrapped around one dollar bills this morning in Times Square. The flyers read:
Anything FOR SALE by owner . com
You Keep the Profits.
It's always greener on our side of the fence.
List your item for $1 FREE until 12/31/07
And enter to Win an iPhone
www.AnythingForSaleByOwner.com

Great promotional idea for consumers - who doesn't love free money?? However, it doesn't seem like such a good idea for this new company, who won't be drawing any revenue until next year! A cost of $1 per flyer handed out seems like a lot compared to the other samples we've received. Also, this new website with the ridiculously long URL address is basically a new online classified ads site, with a prettied-up interface. Why bother using a new website when craigslist is already free with many users, and much faster with its text-only links?

There were camera crews getting footage of these promoters, with suits observing the activity from the center median. Yesterday there was a different kind of frantic promotion on the next block, also with camera crews, and the rumor is "The Apprentice" celebrity season is currently taping.

We shouldn't be too surprised about a free money giveaway associated with Trump's TV show. Recently at Donald Trump's NYC book signing, according to the New York Times:

The Learning Annex gave each of the first 100 people in line a $100 bill. According to the ad, the next 200 people were to get $50 each and the next 1,000 people were to get $10 each

Location: Times Square at between 43rd & 44th Street, both sides of the street!
More information: http://www.AnythingForSaleByOwner.com or AFSBO.com

Smithsonian's Museum Day - Saturday, September 29th

Smithsonian Magazine is offering free admision to numerous museums across the country on Saturday, September 29, 2007.

Units obtained: each admission card is good for 2 people
More information: http://www.smithsonianmagazine.com/museumday

MENTOS Fruit

This week I got samples of Mentos, fruit flavored. The samples were normal-sized rolls. I haven't tasted them yet, but I bet they are fresh and fruity!

Location: Times Square at 44th Street, NW corner
Units obtained: 4 (2 from each distributor who were standing 4 feet away from each other)
More information: http://www.mentos.com

STRIDE gum

Stride gum, sweet peppermint flavor. It's blue, always a nice, refreshing color for gum. Tasty. Not too much different than other gum brands.

Location: Times Square, 7th Avenue & 42nd Street (if I recall correctly)
Units obtained: 1
More information: www.stridegum.com

WASHLET promotional button and map

A Washlet billboard made local headlines when it depicted numerous bare rear ends each with a happy face smile superimposed on it. Washlet's motto is "clean is happy". What is Washlet? it is a toilet seat that has 2 features, a "wand" that sprays water, and a warm air dryer. Sounds useful if you like that sort of thing. Washlets are on display in various showrooms, as shown on the map included in the handout. Anyway, I like the smiley face buttons they handed out (with no graphic of a rear end!).

Location: Times Square
Units obtained: 2 buttons, one purple and one green
More information: cleanishappy.com

BALANCE BARE "nutrition energy bar" Sweet & Salty Yogurt Nut

On this particular day, I was really hungry but didn't have time to grab a snack. So this "nutrition energy bar" really hit the spot. The sweet & salty made the bar very snack-like in taste, while still eating something relatively healthy. I usually keep some kind of granola bar in my purse in case I ever get hungry, and these Balance Bare bars are very handy, they are a substantial size, somewhat hold their shape, and come in a durable wrapper.

Location: Times Square, NE corner of 45th & Broadway
Units obtained: 1 (I got a whole bunch at a later date)
More information: www.balance.com

ECLIPSE FUSION

ECLIPSE FUSION sugarfree gum, peppermint berry flavor

"with micro mints inside"

"also available in spearmint melon flavor" - I wouldn't mind trying that!

Units: 1
Location: Times Square (NW corner of 42nd and 7th Avenue)
Company link (with not much information): http://wrigley.com/wrigley/products/products_eclipse.asp

JAMBA JUICE All Fruit smoothie

Last year at some point I filled out a comment card at Jamba Juice, which had just opened up many locations in NYC. A few weeks ago I received a postcard mailer introducing their new All Fruit smoothie line, that included a coupon for a free All Fruit drink. Cool!

Each All Fruit has 5 servings of fruit, and does not contain anything but fruit. No added sugar or yogurt, and this seems to keep the calories down. Did you know a typical Jamba Juice has around 800 calories?? The All Fruit original size has around 300 calories. There are 5 varieties: Pomegranate Paradise, Peach Perfection, Strawberry Swirl, Mega Mango, and Rasberry Rainbow. I had the strawberry one which contains strawberries, bananas, and juice (from apples, pears, and strawberries), and it was nice and berry! Didn't taste different from a regular Jamba Juice smoothie, so I say the calorie-savings is totally worth it.

Units: 1 (coupon was for "sixteen" 16 oz. size, but was given an "original" taller size, probably because they blended too much)
More information: http://jambajuice.com/menuguide/allfruitfaq.html

OSCAR MAYER Deli Creations

Yesterday at lunch time, I saw the Oscar Mayer wienermobile parked in Times Square in front of ABC's studios where they broadcast "Good Morning America" from every morning. The ABC video screen was playing a continuous loop of a commercial for Oscar Mayer's newest pre-packaged convenience product Deli Creations.

The studios were opened up to the public, and folks were consuming sandwiches. They were giving away autographed photos of Eric Mabius (from "Ugly Betty") if you signed up for their mailing list, and at noon they gave away lunch with Eric.

What is Deli Creations? It's separately packaged bread (a "sub roll"), lunch meat, cheese, and packets of mayo and mustard that you heat up in 60 seconds for a hot sandwich lunch.

There are 5 different varities. The first one I got was Shaved Honey Ham and Swiss. The second one was Oven Roasted Ham and Cheddar. They have 2 turkey kinds, and 1 "shaved steakhouse cheddar" (now we're talkin!). I haven't eaten any of them yet (I already had decided to have pizza for lunch) and will take these new sandwich inventions to work later on in the week.

Location: Times Square (SE corner of 44th and 7th Ave/Broadway)
Units obtained: 2 sandwiches = 2 meals, not bad!
More information: http://www.kraftfoods.com/DeliCreations/

GOODY ColourCollection

Elastic hairbands in 4 different colors (tan, reddish-brown, dark-brown, black) to supposedly match your own hair color.
The distribution girls were giving away at least 2 units per person, so I hit up 2 distributors. 2 days later I came across another distributor (seeing as I could always use - and lose - more hairbands) and accepted more.

There's a contest on Goody's website for more hair accessories and designer shoes. Apparently there was a ColourCollection kiosk with free coffee and help matching the right accessories to your hair color (perhaps if you are color blind?? this is not a hard process!) The kiosk is done in NYC, but hits Cincinnati and Denver in May.

Location: Times Square (42nd and Broadway)
Units obtained: 7 (2 distribution days)
More information: http://goody.com/Promotions/HeadToe.aspx

Disney's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Broadway Musical poster

I walked down West 46th from Broadway and noticed a lot of folks carrying rolled up posters. The Sunday matinee of Disney's long-running Broadway show Beauty and the Beast was just letting out. On the sidewalk near the doors, they had large tubs of these posters and were passing them out to anyone who wanted them.

It's a full color 2-sided poster with a picture of Belle and Beast embraced, with trivia on the reverse side. This show is closing in July after a 13 year run, and The Little Mermaid will open at that same theatre later this year.

Units acquired: 5
Location: Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, 205 West 46th Street
More information: http://disney.go.com/theatre/beautyandthebeast/