There’s a zebra missing – being kept somewhere in South Africa
by Fred Roed on 23/03/09 at 5:02 pm
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This is hectic. Whoever heard of a zebra being kidnapped?
I first got wind of this a while back, but now it’s getting ridiculous. It’s been 2 months now, and the Perdeberg zebra is still missing. Surely something’s got to give soon. The kidnapper is still at large. Merlot (the zebra’s name) has been away for longer than the SPCA recommended time away from an animal’s owner.
For those of you who’ve not heard of Perdeberg’s kidnapping saga, it happened in January (read the full story here). Merlot, the zebra that you see on all Perdeberg wine bottles, was kicking it at his luxurious stables in Paarl when all of a sudden, some nefarious criminal kidnapped him under winemaker Riaan Moller’s nose.
As I understand it, Merlot sort of represents Perdeberg’s mojo. The stripey little guy is like the winemaker’s muse – like Ken to Perdeberg’s Barbie, or Barbara to George’s Bush. In other words, the end product is just not the same without him. Now, since Perdeberg sells millions of rands worth of wine each year, this can become a really big problem really quickly. Riaan has done what any self-respecting, enlightened winemaker in the 21st century would do. He turned to the internet.
To cut a long story short (and this is sort of interesting to me, since I run a digital marketing company), Riaan is using digital means to rope the kidnapper to justice. Via a blog, a newsletter campaign, online advertising and the Perdeberg website, the Perdeberg team are blowing the lid on this whole thing. Think Mel Gibson in Ransom. Riaan and the dapper Detective Swart are publishing the clues given by the kidnapper each Monday, and roping the online community in to help solve the case.
That’s where you come in.
This post serves as Ideate’s bit to help Merlot’s cause. I’m no animal lover, but I can’t sit back while a half tonne wild animal is being housed somewhere, all to serve some crazy kidnapper’s sick musings.
If you’ve got a heart (and half a brain to help solve the kidnapper’s clues) click here to get involved. The best bit is, if you figure out the clue, you get rewarded – big time.
Rian really wants his zebra back. You can help.
Tell your friends. Spread the word. Send pigeons.
And if you’re still not convinced about the seriousness of this plea, check out this video…
Fred Roed is the marketing guy in the Ideate crew. Fred is the CEO of web marketing company World Wide Creative and the co-founder of online learning portal Heavy Chef. Fred loves writing about people out there doing marketing right. Follow Fred on Twitter here. View more articles by Fred Roed.
Tags: advertising
