My wife Tweeted me this morning to tell me that I have an unusual FedEx package waiting for me at home today, five chocolate grasshoppers and a link to this video:
It turns out that 5000 of the most influential people in North America have been sent five chocolate grasshoppers with the hope that they will inspire, engage conversation and raise awareness for the services of Grasshopper.com (formally gotvmail.com).
Several brands are reaching out to America’s entrepreneurs, looking to them to be the ones who pull us out of the great recession (with the aide of their business products, of course). Grasshopper.com pimps out a small business’ phone service to make businesses look bigger than they are.
What does this have to do with chocolate? I have no idea, but I’m always up for a bribe and an ego stroke. I have a feeling that there are other bloggers in the 5k list who are similarly motivated.
There’s a good lesson in the combination of direct mail and influencer outreach, particularly in the digital space. You might remember the well-received outreach program which recently marked the opening of “Coraline” in which 50 bloggers were sent handcrafted boxes of movie relics taken directly from the film. I worked on a program last fall with War Child in which we sent several bloggers an empty pre-post paid box addressed to the Congo with a message requesting knives for child soldiers. The idea was to underscore the point: if you’re doing nothing to stop it, you’re actually supporting the use of child soldiers.
The Coraline campaign was amazing, and the results of the WarChild outreach returned above our goals. This trend is a good one and most bloggers are always up to reviewing free samples. ( This blogger included. Hint Hint: beer companies, Triumph Motorcycles, Apple computers and the Tesla Roadster 
Unfortunately the Grasshopper.com 5k entrepreneur outreach program is a creative and radical trust meh. The message from the chocolate is not integrated well with the message in the video, yet technically this a good mass awareness play… Let’s see if it returns more than the typical woulda-shoulda-coulda pundit response from the blogosphere (as I have just done, proving that this campaign is a success… so meta 
).
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18 Responses to “5000 packages via FedEx? Don’t expect crickets.”
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May 11th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
You should consider giving your wife your phone number (or at least your email address).
May 11th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
@EdenSpodek I ate a couple of grasshoppers, Danielle chickened out. I don’t know why,They tasted like a bite sized KitKat. http://is.gd/z12a
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May 12th, 2009 at 11:13 am
@CollinDouma I question the mass mailing of dead mascots. By that logic Geico could win positive buzz with chocolate-covered lizards.
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May 12th, 2009 at 11:13 am
@jeremyburgin I think you are touching on the flaw in the integration, I agree, what does dead grasshoppers have to do with entrepreneurs?
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May 12th, 2009 at 11:14 am
Should I be relieved or offended that I didn’t receive chocolate grasshoppers like @collindouma and 4,999 others?
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May 12th, 2009 at 11:14 am
Ha! I was kidding. I thought it was an interesting post and unusual concept worth sharing. @collindouma always has a unique perspective.
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May 12th, 2009 at 11:23 am
@oliviahayes I wonder what dead chocolate covered grasshoppers have to do with entrepreneurs? #badidea http://is.gd/z12a
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May 12th, 2009 at 11:26 am
@jeremyburgin @CollinDouma Good point, we see a close connection with the brand Grasshopper and the item, not chocolate. Love feedback, send
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May 12th, 2009 at 11:30 am
@CollinDouma Marketing gimmick! I thought it was pretty cute, and check out the Twitter chat about it: http://tinyurl.com/q5lhml
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May 12th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
Dude, I’m waiting to hear whether you decided to eat them or not. We need a report!
(Trying to decide if I am happy or not that I didn’t receive them myself….)
May 12th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
Oh i ate them. They taste like Kit Kats!
May 12th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
Somehow I am both impressed (that you ate them) and disappointed (that they weren’t completely disgusting). Well done.
May 12th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
It crossed my mind that this could be some sort of move to destroy 5000 bloggers in one foul swoop to save some publishing company or newspaper or something, but the chocolate looked so tasty
May 12th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
Yeah, no kidding. Will have to keep it in mind for future evil campaign.
May 13th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
what if they sent you chocolate covered crickets?
z
May 13th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
I admit it. I’d eat’em probably. I ate brain with Jen Evens and Sulemaan Ahmed once… so what’s the harm in a crunchy cricket?
June 15th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Ya, but, you know, chocolate…
September 30th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Got one. Ate ate it. It was not good.