FORT WORTH -- Nov 22, 2004 -- C I Host, a global leader in Web hosting and software development, today announced a full-court press in the world of guerilla marketing antics – a bounty to brand the moronic behavior that broke out in a recent professional basketball game. C I Host, the owners of stunts including The Human Billboard and The Wi-Fi Guy, offers to pay $10,000 to the first person – player or fan who took or threw a punch captured in TV news coverage – if they will permanently tattoo the hosting company's logo on their fist.
"We do not condone or support this type of behavior under any circumstances," said Christopher Faulkner, CEO of C I Host. "But chances are these people will be on camera again – at one point or another – so let's see if they want to launch a marketing career. Of course, they will have to prove they were in the fray."
C I Host, the largest privately held hosting company, was the first company to advertise on the trunks of a Heavyweight prize fighter, embroidering its logo on the waistband of Evander Holyfield in 1999. Next, on eBay, C I Host found an entrepreneur auctioning off advertising space on his head. The Texas-based company was the highest bidder, inking a deal for $7,000 for five years of exposure. The Human Billboard now has a 5-by-5 orange and blue C I Host tattoo on the back of his shaved head. The Human Billboard directly has led to 800 new accounts for C I Host.
"You might say, we are all about 'top of mind' awareness," Faulkner said. "If we can get some tattooed fists spreading our brand, that should add a little punch to our guerilla marketing."
Faulkner's company also is the official sponsor of The Wi-Fi Guy, www.wifi-guy.com, a blog in which a journalist traveled 18,000 miles, covering 43 cities, to explore and review wireless Internet access points, or hotspots. To date, The Wi-Fi Guy has received an estimated $1.2 million dollars of media coverage. Perhaps, more conservative than the other stunts, the site has become a respected, albeit somewhat colorful media for the wireless industry.
About C I Host
C I Host (www.cihost.com), based in the Dallas/Fort Worth market, is a Web hosting and Internet solutions provider, domain name registrar (DNR) and application service provider (ASP) serving 210,000 individual consumers and businesses in 190 countries worldwide.
