Arctic Cat Help Snowmobilers Hunt Moose

Snowmobile maker Artic Cat has launched Moose on the Run, a quirky microsite with all sorts of tips for moose hunters. There's the usual game, moose translator, mini movies in which moose ride snowmobiles, moose pictures, moose profiles, a moose trap contest (which is closed) and, unlike some other non-transparent marketing efforts, an actual link to the Arctic Cat website. It's good work.

Dell Promote Ditty With Fat (Not Phat) Site

Dell has gone all out to promote its semi-new Dell Ditty, a USB MP3 player with 512MB of storage, with dozens of slow loading, bandwidth-hogging videos featuring a goof Mitch Ferrins who attempts to teach dance steps K-tel style. Oddly, there's so many videos, it's unlikely they could all fit on the device being promoted. Yea, we know Dell is going for Kitch factor here but nothing's funny when it takes eons to download.

Mortal Combat Viral Answer to Meeting Insanity

Celebrating the beauty of violence and glorifying its callous regard for it, Mortal Kombat has launched a new viral (or, at least an online film they hope goes viral - after all, it's ain't viral until it becomes viral), called Blood on the Carpet, to promote the new Shaolin Monks game. The film was directed by Seamus Masterson of Maverick and will be tracked by Viral Chart. Violent or not, you have to admit, after day-long, mindless, chest-thumping, group hug, brand-building blather sessions, this is exactly what you'd want to do to the pontificating, puffery-spewing idiot sitting next to you.

Pepsi Australia Spoofs Own Campaign

Spoofing its own Pepsi Max Heaps Rich campaign, Pepsi Australia has launched a viral advertising campaign called Heaps Poor Pepsi Min which, over the past three weeks, has been viewed by 160,000 people. The site features a spoof of Pepsi's currently running promotional television spot along with purposefully bad prizes and a game that lets visitors determine how boring they are. Some nice insiderishness here.

Pink Thong-Clad Clinton Promotes Wife for President

Left-wing grassroots organizer Tom Kertes has launched Bill For First Lady 2008 which is being promoted by a viral of a Bill Clinton look-a-like dressed in pink and modeling, disgustingly, a thong. The site explains the effort thusly, "It's serious fun. It's a serious strategy. All laughs aside, Bill-for-First-Lady.com is about serious politics. It's about taking back the White House in 2008. But serious politics doesn't need to be boring politics. (We'll leave that up to the Republicans.) The Republican attack machine is already going after Hillary. That's because they know that she's the most popular and electable Democrat." Seriously, wouldn't that be hilarious if Bill actually did become First Man?

The site's got all sorts of logoed promotional items such as trucker hats, caps, mugs, t-shirts, buttons, bumper stickers and even thongs.

Old Lady Whacks Car, Air Bag Explodes, IKEA Promoted

This viral video which pits an old lady against a pompous jerk with no patience promotes an ethereal website for IKEA which challenges you to imagine odd combinations which, together, form useful home goods. Well sort of. We still don't know why anyone would need bamboo sticks to clean a house.

The site explains, "IKEA asked 28 designers to explore and experiment. To test new materials, techniques and new ways of working. But most of all, to have fun. They responded with a cavalcade of ingenious and madly innovative ideas for every home bold enough to be unconventional and the results can be seen throughout this website."

Family Guys Gets Subservient Chicken Treatment

To promote the release of FOX's The Family Guy DVD, Fuel Industries has created a Subservient Chicken-like site, called Stewie Live, featuring the character Stewie. As is usually the case with these command-based sites, Stewie, of course, burps, farts and has sex. Beyond that, Stewie reacts to 160 commands so far and the list will surely grow. To view an homage to the grand daddy of this genre, be sure to type in the word "chicken."

Virgin Mobile Viral Helps Kids Beg Parents For Phone

Called Parental Enlightenment Kit, this site is packed with ammunition and propaganda kids can use to convince their parents they really, really need a cell phone. With pressurePoint presentations, pre-written emails, stickers, iron-on t-shirt patches, a tear-inducing thank you card, wallpaper kids can put on their parent's computers, and other stuff, the site arms kids with all the tools they need for the snow job.

American Skiing Company Uses Viral to Build Offline Database

To insure skiers and boarders hit the slopes in droves this winter, American Skiing Company, parent to Killington, Sunday River, Sugarloaf and others, has launched Skier Intervention, a viral site with characters that dish out tough love in hopes people will get off their butts, head North, buy a season pass, make American Skiing Company rich and...oh yea...get people to take up the winter's best sporting and leisure activity. After all, skiing's not just about sliding down snow-covered hills but enjoying warm fires, cozy condos, beer and cheese fondue.

Unfortunately, there's a big problem with this viral. It can't be sent unless senders enter name, address, city, state, zip code and email. That's a lot to ask of someone just to pass along fun little viral. The site explains the information is needed to send various prizes, earned based on referrals to friends, such as season pass discounts, accommodations drawings and free lift tickets. While we can't fault a marketer for collecting leads, there's really no need to collect that information until after a person has actually won. To make matters worse, deep inside the privacy policy, which no one ever reads, it says the collected information may be used for offline direct mailings from ASC or "trusted partner companies." Just what we need - more crap in our mailbox. It seems this online viral is just a disguised direct marketing database-building mechanism for future offline marketing efforts.

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Cheeky Spoof Site Promotes French Shoe Retailer

To promote Courir, a chain of French footwear stores, Paris agency Mask has created Everyday Sneakers, a spoof site which features the fictitious Takeshi Mushido, a Japanese business man who claims his company has dramatically increased productivity because all his employees wear sneakers to work. He even sings a hip-hop tune to get the point across. The site includes a Mushido interview with a stuffy French talk show host, Mushido's philosophy and even a book, Everyday Baskets which further illuminates Mushido's philosophies. It's all got just enough tongue and cheekiness to work.