Jul 15 2009'Rad To The Power Of Sick' BMX Bike Actually (Successful) Experiment In Creative Marketing
That's right, the infamous 'Rad to the power of Sick' BMX bike ad on eBay was actually created by a couple guys doing an experiment (The Wicked Sick Project) to determine if some creative marketing could drive up an otherwise regular item's sale price. Obviously, it worked. And, keeping with today's theme of Geekologie's world domination, your favorite website makes a cameo in the video at 2:55. I guess what I'm getting at is this: WHERE'S MY CUT OF THE PROFITS YOU SONS OF BITCHES?! You think the booze that fuels Geekologie pays for itself? You think my girlfriend doesn't make me pay the water bill for staying with her? You think strippers tip themselves just because I'm handsome? Okay, the last one is actually true. Go ahead Savannah, give yourself another single -- you've earned it.
Thanks to mike, whose bike horn alone is enough to get women pregnant.
Reader Comments
1. Genocide - July 15, 2009 4:47 PM
I hate Liars!!!! I wanted that sweet bike.....
basterds
2. tobyraider - July 15, 2009 4:47 PM
TSRIF
GW's getting mad promotion today....
3. ian - July 15, 2009 4:47 PM
first
4. $.02 and a pocket full of FAH-Q - July 15, 2009 4:54 PM
GW - We both know you don't pay the water bill... You buy dinos with that money
5. Ubu7 - July 15, 2009 4:59 PM
I hope the guy that bought it sees that video and realizes how hard he got taken. 'cause he got taken HARD.
6. Angel Mass - July 15, 2009 5:07 PM
Rofl, they got us all real big time. Time to sell everybody!
7. Harold - July 15, 2009 5:11 PM
Those guys are so good, I bet that video is selling us something and we don't even know it!
8. mike - July 15, 2009 5:22 PM
i took a lesson from this and tried to sell a rad to the power of slap yo bitch ass face off dvd player. i said that it has played many a terminator and rocky movie (only rocky iv and below), not to mention its domination of awesome was so sick that once it completely stopped working and now refuses to play any dvd's, THATS HOW BAD ASS IT IS. basically its just a broken dvd player and nobody bid on it. :(
9. naas - July 15, 2009 5:25 PM
As a kid I turned in all my homework in that same manner for 2 years straight, cept my sick name was NastyBackflips Morengo & I never lost points for turning it in late
10. bringerzl - July 15, 2009 5:33 PM
Im selling a used condom with creativity. So far the bidding price is at $367
11. Tennist0 - July 15, 2009 5:36 PM
That feuled my comments on GW for days, this was a rad to the power of sick experiment, will do same but with bath soap
12. Ubu7 - July 15, 2009 5:54 PM
Bad news. Rad to the power of sick has been around since the late '70's, early '80's. Right about the time I showed up on the scene. No, it's not coincidence. And yes I did wheelies, endos, squeekers, tailwhips and a skid on naas' Mom. The skid alone cured cancer in a 300 meter radius. Afterwards I ate spaghetti in the bath while she washed my hair.
13. JK - July 15, 2009 6:03 PM
@3
Epic Fail, Douche.
14. Jerry - July 15, 2009 6:27 PM
I need these guys to market my willow branch baskets. They're just not moving...
http://bootelicious.mybrute.com
15. Pew³ - July 15, 2009 6:30 PM
Aren't you glad your'e not "The Guy" at the end of the video that purchased that bike.
It's one thing to pay too much for something. It's entirely another to be posted on the internet as "that guy".
16. Daisy - July 15, 2009 7:07 PM
FAKE!!!!
This is a complete photoshop job. You can tell its a fake because the shadow's are all wrong.
This is exactly like that scene in the movie Never Back Down where Max was training to ride in bicycle races. He wore gay shortys and spoke italian. When he finally got to race with the italians they stuck a tyre pump in his spokes.
17. shorty - July 15, 2009 9:54 PM
Dayum, Geekologie Writer..........YOU SCARY!!!
18. Gino - 2 Guys in the Morngin - July 15, 2009 9:56 PM
We used the "Rad to the Power of Sick" method to sell my old 3G iPhone, I mean this thing was almost dead but still got $400 for it with this ad.
It was all in the advertising...
You can check out the clip below...sorry to say...phones already sold
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5G7xyq7tLo&feature=channel_page
19. Annie - July 15, 2009 10:08 PM
Lawl! I get women pregnant just by looking at them.
20. Ptentacle - July 15, 2009 10:15 PM
Whatever. You don't have a girlfriend. Oh, no....that's me. (I'm so lonely)
21. bunkgoats - July 15, 2009 10:26 PM
I wonder if these people are also behind the review of the three wolf t-shirt on amazon too.
22. xD - July 16, 2009 5:19 AM
I've been selling stuff like this to idiots for a long time, I hope I wont be facing more competition now.
23. BigTony - July 16, 2009 6:51 AM
advertising executives. dont be fooled by the t-shirts and long hair. after 15years they have discovered the internet. maybe TV might be safe to go back to.
24. Jaded Icon - July 16, 2009 8:08 AM
@ 23
They just wish they had the same charisma as the Shamwow guy.
25. Pat - July 16, 2009 8:50 AM
Good job, guys!
BTW, I still use "sick to the power of rad."
26. Sal Paradise - July 16, 2009 2:04 PM
I think that their claim that the "Creative Marketing" drove up the price 500% is a bit bogus. Don't get me wrong, that ad was hilarious, and I laughed my @$$ off, but what drove up the price was everybody seeing the ad on websites like Geekologie etc etc... Were it not for that exposure I doubt the "creative" ad would have driven the price up nearly as much. @8's dvd player probably would have sold for something if it went viral...
I guess they could claim that all the media attention is part of the result of their "creative" selling, and therefore it's justified, but the dropoff after this first initial sale is going to be crazy. Unless every ad they create gets media exposure like this one did, it just won't have the same result. Buddy probably paid so much just so he could own "That BMX bike that's all over the internet".
If they really want to test the pure effect of creative marketing on the same product using the same medium (ebay) they need to eliminate the variable of international media attention than any other add would not receive!
27. Captain Walker - July 16, 2009 4:04 PM
The good news: You've discovered advertising.
The bad news: Advertising has long existed.
The good news: You don't care because you think everything you've ever done has never been done before by anyone.
The bad news: You've only discovered how to advertise to your own demographic.