When I was in college, my ambition was to be a writer who could write like Nathan Rabin, Tasha Robinson or Scott Tobias from The Onion.
I’ve been a fanboy since the late Nineties and The Onion is still one of my top reads because of its constant ability to innovate and create the freshest content; the CIA jokes never get old.
While you’re at the site, check out Our Dumb World, powered by Google Maps.
I was having so much fun reading the facts on the map that it was almost twenty minutes later that I realized I was actually engaging a product demo!
What I thought was just another cool new section on the site turned out to be a promotion of content that’s available in The Onion’s new book, Our Dumb World: Atlas of the Planet Earth.
The cool thing was that book wasn’t advertised as a book, but as engaging content that could lead to a purchase. Because the experience was framed in such an unobtrusive manner, I never developed a mindset that I was being forced to try something new; on the contrary, I was surprised that I could buy a copy of the book for only $23.95.
“For more soul-crushing information in a handsomely bound volume, purchase Our Dumb World: The Onion’s Atlas Of The Planet Earth.”
Now, that’s great advertising.
