VIVA, Las Vegas! – It’s A Whole New (blog) World!

Image Credit: infohostels.com

VIVA, Las Vegas! – It’s A Whole New (blog) World!

From LA, it’s just a short four hour drive across the desert with the “FM 98&99 - The Highway Stations" filling in on the background while we, at MAXINE press across the winding road to Las Vegas. Starting Wednesday, and continuing through to Friday, a “First Ever” tradeshow catering to individuals and businesses that tie at least some of their efforts to the process of communication and commerce through the computer and the internet.

Featured exhibiting enterprises include weblog advertising agencies, news source aggregators, web-metrics analysis companies, digital to analog (and back) publishers, broadcasting/podcasting audio and video enterprises, search engine and front page information tools businesses, virus security protection companies, investment opportunity enterprises, special interest blog communities, communications associations, application software developers, employment agencies, transportation companies, and website development entrepreneurs.

Beginning Wednesday, a one day conference entitled Executive & Entrepreneur Conference – followed Thursday and Friday by blogworld & New Media EXPO will highlight all that the this brave new digital communications world has to offer. The Executive & Entrepreneur Conference will host sessions that will explore subjects from “The Importance of Blogging & New Media In Your Organization/Strategic Marketing” to Search Engine Optimization: Best Practices, and includes “Going Global with New Media”.

blogworld& New Media EXPO conference continue with two more days of sessions on “Citizen Journalism & Mainstream Media” to “Smart Ways To Monetize Your Blog”, and includes “The Cult of Blogging” featuring radio talk show host, Hugh Hewitt and Blog Entrepreneur, Arianna Huffington.

On the exposition floor, recognizabe WWW. names such as YAHOO!, Microsoft, AOL, Pajamas Media, CAMPAIGNS & ELECTIONS, CLIQ, GodblogCon 2007, ibnma (International Blogging & New Media Association), Kithbridge, podango, PRWeb, SharedBook, SOUTHWEST Airlines, sphere, Technorati, and Townhall to mention a few will all be trying to capture the attention of and create a greater sense of community with - The Blogger. Surrounding activities include a private pre-release movie premiere of Grace Hill Media’s “Kite Runner” with a question and answer session with the star of the movie moderated by respected movie critic and radio talk show host, Michael Medved.

This from Grace Hill Media -

Image Credit: ecj via Grace Hill Media

And a major sponsor pajama party at “The Joint” at the Hard Rock Hotel! This from Pajamas Media -

What Happens at Blog World Stays at Blog World
Posted At Pajamas Media 11-07-2007

On Thursday and Friday, bloggers and blog readers will assemble at the Las Vegas Convention Center for the first annual Blog World Expo. In addition to the non-stop panels, a “Pajama Party” will be held Thursday night at the Hard Rock Hotel. Among the Pajamahadeen on hand: Glenn Reynolds, Roger L. Simon, Rick Moran, Stephen Green, Ed Driscoll and Aaron Hanscom. Read more about the festivities, prizes, and (yes) showgirls…

TRUEVIEW EVENTS - Murder Mystery days, Murder Mystery dinners, Murder Mystery teambuilding events. Film Making days, Advert making days, Treasure Hunts, and many more teambuilding activities. Image Credit: Trueview Events in association with Pajamas Media

It’s Vegas, after all, and when in Rome… Showgirls wearing Pajamas Media sashes. At the Pajamas Media booth, comic Evan Sayet will be holding forth as the “White House Press Secretary” twice a day. Visitors to the booth get a free Pajamas Media sleep mask. And those who are bold enough to hold their own Press Conference have a chance to win an iPod!
Reference Here>>

A new effort that helps to find relevant information, posts, and Direct Media efforts and evaluate them is Kithbridge. At the show, during lunch, Kithbridge software search and display solutions found blog posts that featured blogworld & New Media EXPO which had been published to the web Wednesday morning and placed then in letter by letter motion on screens in the hall for everyone to see. Here is a video example of this post being displayed through the Kithbridge demo over the lunch break.

The point of all of this is to allow the people who participate in this relatively new pursuit of weblog-ing and associated world wide web activity to come together as a community and share in this like minded effort to mix/mingle and communicate. It's kind'a like a "Woodstock for Wordsmiths" ...

blogworld expo

Kwik-E-Mart Debut In Twelve "Springfield's"

Always wondered where Springfield really is? Does anyone really know? Well the folks at 7-Eleven do – in fact they’ve been working very closely with Apu Nahasapeemapetilon. The Kwik-E-Mart was made famous in The Simpsons and has landed in the streets of Burbank, Ca.. Image Credit: 7-Eleven Corporate website - YouTube Video (below) Credit: LAMISCH

Kwik-E-Mart Debut In Twelve "Springfield's"

Just before the release of the feature length movie, "The Simpson's Movie", scheduled for release on July 27th, twelve 7-Eleven convenience stores in North America have been converted to the famed "Kwik-E-Mart" stores.

We, at MAXINE were just minding our own business when all of a sudden we came upon a very crowded store where once a 7-Eleven stood on Olive Avenue in Burbank.

To our amazement, there stood a complete Kwik-E-Mart store and about 400 people were snaked from the front door to around the corner of the building wanting to share in the experience of a real life movie promotion.

It is pretty cool in that the Kwik-E-Mart not only looks like a Kwik-E-Mart, but it will sell products only found at the fictional store in Springfield. That's right, Buzz Cola, KrustyO's cereal and Squishees, the slushy drink knockoff of Slurpees.

Every promotion though has something that can kill a BUZZ ... no, really!

You are correct in guessing that there will be NO BUZZ BEER sold at the Kwik-E-Mart.

That is a Buzz Killer for sure!

Excerpts from AP via Yahoo! News -

7-Elevens become Simpsons 'Kwik-E-Marts'
By DAVID KOENIG, AP Business Writer - Sun Jul 1, 7:44 PM ET

DALLAS - Over the weekend, 7-Eleven Inc. turned a dozen stores into Kwik-E-Marts, the fictional convenience stores of "The Simpsons" fame, in the latest example of marketers making life imitate art.

Those stores and most of the 6,000-plus other 7-Elevens in North America will sell items that until now existed only on television: Buzz Cola, KrustyO's cereal and Squishees, the slushy drink knockoff of Slurpees.

It's all part of a campaign to hype the July 27 opening of "The Simpsons Movie," the big-screen debut for the long-running television cartoon, which loves to lampoon 7-Eleven as a store that sells all kinds of unhealthy snacks and is run by a man with a thick Indian accent.

For 20th Century Fox Film Corp. and Homer's creators at Gracie Films, the stunt is a cheap way to call attention to their movie, since 7-Eleven is bearing all the costs, which executives of the retail chain put at somewhere in the single millions.
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"We thought if you really want to do something different, the idea of actually changing stores into Kwik-E-Marts was over the top but a natural," said Bobbi Merkel, an executive for of 7-Eleven's advertising agency, FreshWorks, a unit of Omnicom Group Inc. "It shows they get the joke."

The monthlong promotion has been rumored a long time — it's hard to keep a secret known by so many suppliers and franchisees — but 7-Eleven managed to keep the locations of the stores quiet until early Sunday morning. That's when the exteriors of 11 U.S. stores and one in Canada were flocked in industrial foam and given new signs to replicate the animated look of Kwik-E-Marts.

The U.S. locations where a 7-Eleven store was transformed into a Kwik-E-Mart are New York City; Chicago; Dallas; Denver; Burbank, Calif.; Los Angeles; Henderson, Nev.; Orlando, Fla.; Mountain View, Calif.; Seattle; and Bladensburg, Md.
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The Fox/7-Eleven deal is an example of a practice called reverse product placement. Instead of just putting products prominently in a movie or TV show, fake goods move from the screen to reality.

In some cases, 7-Eleven has contracted with manufacturers of similar products to make their Kwik-E-Mart counterparts. Malt-O-Meal, the Northfield, Minn., cereal maker, will conjure up a recipe for KrustyO's, for example. In others, existing products will simply be renamed. One flavor of 7-Eleven's own Slurpee will be sold as "WooHoo! Blue Vanilla" Squishee for the month.
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After Fox pitched a 7-Eleven tie-in last year, representatives from the studio, the stores, and Gracie Films — including Simpsons creator Matt Groening and executive producer James L. Brooks, met in Los Angeles to kick around ideas. Brooks added one — holding a contest to let one fan be drawn into a future episode of the TV show.

7-Eleven executives loved the idea. They had surveys showing a strong overlap between their customers and fans of the show — both tend to be young and male. It sounded like cash registers ringing.

"They've been looking at Squishees and KrustyO's and Buzz Cola for years and have never been able to put their hands on it," said Merkel, the advertising executive.

But they won't find Duff beer, the brand chugged by Homer Simpson. The movie will be rated PG-13, and selling a Simpson-themed beer "didn't seem to fit," said Rita Bargerhuff, a 7-Eleven marketing executive. "That was a tough call, but we want to make sure it's considered good, responsible fun."

Bargerhuff predicted extra sales to Simpsons fans will more than offset the cost of the promotion and create new customers for the chain. She also said the chain is prepared for crowds and will have extra security and clerks at the Kwik-E-Marts.
Reference Here>>

Always wondered where Springfield really is? Does anyone really know? Well the folks at 7-Eleven do – in fact they’ve been working very closely with Apu Nahasapeemapetilon.

Burbank, CA
Chicago, IL
Dallas, TX
Denver, CO
Lake Buena Vista, FL/Orlando, FL
Las Vegas, NV/Henderson, NV
Los Angeles, CA
New York City, NY
San Francisco, CA/Mountain View, CA
Seattle, WA
Washington, DC/Bladensburg, MD


UPDATE 7-10-2007:

Proof that the creators of The Simpson's have decided that the fictitious town of "Springfield" is actually ... Springfield, Illinois!

Bets Placed, Cards Played, Will Power Takes The Pot!

Winner Will Power shares podium with P2-Robert Doornbos and P3-Paul Tracy. Will celebrates by sailing a hat into the crowd. Image Credit: Jalopnik's Las Vegas local, Curtis Walker

Bets Placed, Cards Played, Will Power Takes The Pot!

The race starts on a clear, sunny Las Vegas spring day with the temperature in the mid to upper 80's.

The attitude of game was made at the very beginning of the race when it saw Paul Tracy pass pole winner Will Power and take the lead of the race from the very first turn.

Bobby Rahal's son, Graham, did not fair so well in that he found the wall before he was able to make it to the Start-Finish line.

By lap 11, Will Power found his legs and took the lead back in a clean but contested pass. What would one expect from Tracy?

The races for Champ Car this year are all "timed" races, in that the cars race for a specific period of time as opposed to a specific distance regardless of time.

Las Vegas is a great street course - it has every thing - A wicked fast, curved, 195 MPH front straightaway - Elevation change - Tunnels - Rhythm corners - A great mix of professional international experience rookies and series regulars - Lots of room to pass. The new DP01 car looks very racy as well. The louvered ground effects air escape ports just in front of the rear wheels look intimidating.

At lap 28, Tracy and Power pit while being very close to each other - Tracy played it straight and took full fuel ... Power out a little earlier and may have taken a little less on board to insure a quick turnaround.

Lap 32, after suffering three cut tires early on, Sebastian Bourdais (three time series Champion) goes out after he clips a wall and tucks his wing under the driver’s side front wheel. With that, CCWS' winning-est team, Newman-Haas, folds for good.

Doornbos and Tracy speed past the parked and damaged McDonald's DP01 of Bourdais. Image Credit: Jalopnik's Las Vegas local, Curtis Walker

Tracy in for additional fuel on lap 34 - telemetry indicated that he did not get a full tank. This will put him back but the question remains ... Did Will Power get enough fuel? Reports are that he did.

Lap 40 - Alex Tagliani leads but is getting ready to pit.

Paul Tracy navigates the Las Vegas Grand Prix street course with the Stratosphere looking over his shoulder. Image Credit: Jalopnik's Las Vegas local, Curtis Walker

Lap 41 - Power, Doornbos, Jani, Junqueria, Tagliani, and Tracy

Will Power in the pits on lap 45 so it turns out he did not get a full load of fuel last time in. Power has a sloppy pit stop. These new pit stops on the DP01 car are a lot slower than the previous cars the Champ Car World Series ran last year. What used to be quick 7 second fuel fill-up is taking at least a third longer and it is confusing some of the members of the pit crew. It was causing the pit "captains" to wave drivers out before they were full of fuel.

Lap 50 - Finds Junqueria in for a pit stop and the fuel man indicated that the valve in the fuel tool never opened – Bruno’s Sonny’s BBQ White & Red DP01 is out of contention with a second fuel stop. Paul Tracy leads followed by Power, Tagliani, Doornbos, and Brit Kathryn Legge.

Will Power is fastest on the track and is pacing about one second per lap faster than leader Paul Tracy.

Tracy in on lap 55 for his final fuel with Power taking the lead at 18 minutes left in the race. Power may or may not need fuel to the end.

Tagliani in on lap 59 after 18 laps on the tank. Reports state that Power is running with 13 laps on his tank at this time. Telemetry shows that Paul Tracy is good to the end.

So this is the bet on the table - Does Will Power and the Aussie Vineyards Green & Yellow painted livery have enough to hold off the rest of the field ... Robert Doornbos' Black & Red Muermans machine, Paul Tracy's Dark Blue & White fully fueled Indeck DP01, and Alex Tagliani's Black & Red at eight minutes to go.

Bets placed, cards played, and Aussie Will Power takes the pot and his first win for CCWS 2007 season in the Inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix temporary street race course!

Next week, the granddaddy of all temporary street race courses, The 33rd Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. It will be a rockin' party in LA ... especially if the teams can sort out the fueling procedure required for the new DP01 formula Champ Cars!

Excerpts from Champ Car World Series, Eric Mauk - Sunday, April 8, 2007 -

QUOTES FROM THE TOP THREE FINISHERS

Will Power: After that, I mean, I was pretty much alone. I caught Katherine Legge for a while, she held me up. But after that, it was a pretty cruisy race really. We had a good car. It handled well all day. The only issue I had was a really long brake pedal at the end of the race. But we had an 18-second lead, so we just brought it home and brought Derrick Walker his second win since '99. It's his birthday. So a pole and a win, I think that's a pretty good present for him.

Robert Doornbos: No, I really enjoyed it. A great start to the weekend. Already yesterday to have qualified in the top three, we couldn't have dreamed of a better start really. Was a bit worried this morning because it's a different routine that you have than in European racing with these rolling starts. I'm so pleased for everybody, especially for my sponsors here, they come all the way from Holland. It's been a long winter. Really a good decision to go racing in Champ Car.

Paul Tracy: It went really well. Obviously, to lead the beginning of the race, I made a good start, was able to get by Will on the start. We spent a lot of the first part of the race under yellow. We came in and did our first pit stop. The car didn't take any fuel for us. We spent 15 seconds and ended up getting like four laps of fuel. We came back out and chased, then had to come straight back in and take fuel again. That really took the fight out of the race I think for Will. I think we could have put a lot of pressure on him. It was a good day for the Forsythe team and Monster Energy.

NOTEWORTHY

· Will Power becomes the first Australian driver to win a Champ Car race. Geoff Brabham held the previous mark, having finished second on three occasions, the last of those being at Road America in 1987.

· Robert Doornbos is the first driver to score a podium finish in his Champ Car debut since Nigel Mansell won his debut in 1993.

· Both Robert Doornbos and Tristan Gommendy made their Champ Car debuts with top-five finishes today, marking the first time that has happened since Jim Crawford (4th) and Emerson Fittipaldi (5th) turned the trick at Long Beach in 1984.
[Reference Here]

... notes from The EDJE

CCWS - For Will Power, It's Vegas Baby!

Will Power leads a group of cars through an elevation change before entering the front straightaway. Image Credit: Jalopnik's Las Vegas local, Curtis Walker


CCWS - For Will Power, It’s Vegas Baby!

Will Power - Team Australia edges out series rookie Dutchman, Robert Doornbos - Minardi Team USA (yes, that Formula One team) to grab the pole and line up next to former series champion, Paul Tracy - Forsythe Championship Racing.

So tomorrow, the inaugural Vegas Grand Prix takes off and will be broadcast Apr 08, 3:30 pm ET on NBC TV. Both Will Power and Paul Tracy start the race with one point apiece toward the series championship for 2007.

The race will be run in a newly developed area near the downtown Fremont Street area (to the west and slightly south) on a temporary street circuit ala the Long Beach Grand Prix, which is set to be run the very next weekend.

Inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix Race Course - Image Credit: Las Vegas Grand Prix


Along the temporary race circuit are new buildings that are part of the revitalization of the civic center part of town. The new World Market Center is at its center and it sponsors semiannual furniture trade shows attended by more than 100,000 national and international furniture buyers and representatives each year. The trade show complex will ultimately open year-round, but for now acts as a great photographic backdrop for the race going into turn one.

The temporary circuit also features a bump that gets the cars airborne.

Taking A Flyer - Bruno Junqueira #19 Sonny's Bar-B-Q Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone. Image Credit: Jalopnik's Las Vegas local, Curtis Walker


Driver quotes after the days qualifying from Champ Car World Series -

Will Power #5 Aussie Vineyards Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone -"I think it's going to be important for everybody to get through the first corner and go racing. I think this is the start of a new era for Champ Car. You've got a bunch of new young drivers that are in the series, obviously showing that they're quick. It's not the scenario that everybody thought it was going to be where everybody was saying in the off-season, Sebastien is going to run away with everything. He's starting near the back. It's going to be quite an interesting race. on the red Bridgestone tires, at the end I think the track also gripped up. But our car worked really well on them. I mean, we struggled yesterday with just niggling problems with the car. Not to do with the handling or anything. We were quick yesterday. We just didn't get a fair go. We worked on it, worked on the setup all the way up until qualifying today. Pretty much nailed it at the end, got a good run in traffic. Yeah, we did a mega lap. But it all started in the off-season. I think Craig and Derrick Walker from the end of last year till now; they've been working really hard. They really want to win a championship and I want to help them do that."


Paul Tracy #3 INDECK Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone - "It was a little tougher for us today. Obviously we made some changes from yesterday. But it just seemed like my car suited going over that big jump in the chicane. We just never really got a chance to capitalize on the tires. We seemed to either catch a red at the end of the first set of tires, then the second set of tires I had some traffic with Pagenaud, which didn't help. That kind of just killed our qualifying effort. I think we didn't have anything for what the time that Will did. I think we could have made a better showing. Really the opportunity didn't come up. We're happy to be on the front row."


Robert Doornbos #14 Muermans/Jumbo Supermarkten/Media Mall Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone - "First of all, it's great to be in the Champ Car World Series. It's obviously a new category for me and also for my team, Paul with this Minardi outfit. We started the weekend not very competitive. I've been sitting down with my engineer, which is going really well, our relationship. Basically he turned the car to my liking. We improved every session. It's a great feeling to race between the streets of Vegas. I always enjoy driving open street circuits. We only have one really in Europe, which is Monaco, only once a year. I'll be more lucky this season, I think. Yeah, it went really well. Just in the end we pushed hard. The red tires were a new thing for me. I had no chance to try them in winter testing because obviously they were not there. So the first outing wasn't great. Then the second run on the red tires, we made some adjustments to the car and it was a lot better. So, yeah, up in third place. It's good to be here, especially because it's the first weekend. Hopefully I'll be here tomorrow as well."


Alex Tagliani #8 Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone - "I am quite happy overall. I am just so thankful for the opportunity that Paul (Gentilozzi) and Dan (Pettit) have given me. I feel good about the RSPORTS team, and I think we are on the road to success this season. I feel that I am a good support for Justin (Wilson) and I feel that I have learned a lot from him and the team already. This is only the second time that we (both teams) are working together at a race track, so we still have a lot of catching up to do. But I think that we already have some great chemistry and that we are learning a lot from each other. I get along so well with my engineer Chris Lerch, and overall this whole deal is just a fantastic opportunity. Today's qualifying session went fairly well. I am happy with the #8 LXN2/RSPORTS car, and it is great to be starting in the top five for the first race of this season. The goal is to get lots of points, and obviously finish the race. But what is important is that we are running up front and I feel that we will be able to stay strong tomorrow during the race. I feel that we are in a good position with where we want the car to be, but we will work on making some more improvements tonight in hopes of being even quicker tomorrow."

Bruno Junqueira #19 Sonny's Bar-B-Q Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone - "I was very happy with a sixth place qualifying run. We made some changes from yesterday and I think we could have gone a little faster. We didn't have an opportunity yesterday to run on the red Bridgestone tires. It is a good place to start tomorrow."

Mario Dominguez #7 Telmex/Cabi Developers Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone - "Well it was a good day overall, we definitely improved quote a bit from yesterday. The Forsythe Team has done a great job, we've been making a lot of changes and the car has just gotten better and better. Qualifying was a little disappointing because I know we could've been much faster but I caught traffic, the cars in front of me kept slowing down and that prevented me from posting a quicker time. But the good thing is that we know we have a really fast car and we should be able to move up through the grid tomorrow. It's going to be a really exciting race, it's just great to be back in a race car I can't wait for the green flag tomorrow!"



Justin Wilson #9 CDW Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone - "We just weren't quick enough today. The #9 CDW/RSPORTS car felt OK, but obviously the speed just wasn't there. It's disappointing, because we were up there yesterday, but today it slipped away. We need to look at the data to understand how to improve the car and hopefully we'll be more competitive tomorrow."

Graham Rahal #2 Medi Zone Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone - "It's been a tough day for the Medi Zone team. I hooked it on the last curb at the end of the chicane and damaged the car so we had to get the backup car out for qualifying. The car was equally prepared. The guys did a great job getting it ready especially since it's never turned a wheel. Qualifying was pretty good but we just can't seem to get that last little bit; we need to find it. I know I'm giving my 100 percent so we need to figure out what it is. It's going to be a tough race. It's really hot out here. I think a lot of guys will fall out of the saddle. For me it will be a learning experience to go out there and figure out what I have to do. It's tough for me to tell if we have a good race setup having not run in a race"

Dan Clarke #4 Ticketmaster/Synapse Power/The Australian Pink Floyd Show Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone - "Last season I had my first third-place podium finish from a 13th place start, so I'm going for the double and aiming to finish on the podium again tomorrow from my 12th place grid slot. As I've already proved, it's certainly possible, so although I'd prefer to start higher up the grid and it's not going to be easy, it's not impossible. This year's field is very tough, so I reckon it'll be very exciting racing, and I know we have the pace for the race, so we'll be expecting to battle hard and bring home points from Vegas."
Katherine Legge #11 Dale Coyne Racing Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone - "I felt I could have gone about a second faster on the red Bridgestone tires. I have to improve a little more on my corners. I was very pleased with the results today, but I know I can improve on today's performance."

Sebastien Bourdais #1 McDonalds Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone - "I screwed up and brushed the wall on the outside of Turn 9. The McDonald's car had too much understeer and I just forced the thing. The car stepped out a little bit on exit and I was already too close to the wall and hit the rear a little bit. It wasn't that bad a hit but it bent the toe link and broke the rim. To aggravate things we had the clutch creeping so I couldn't' get into neutral, couldn't back up, couldn't anything so we were stuck in fourth gear in front of tires and they wouldn't push me back or do anything so I was stuck there until they moved me out of the way. We have 60 seconds of push to pass which isn't a lot here. We are going to have to be pretty darn good to get it (win) done but we'll see. It's a new track so we don't quite know if it's possible to pass or not. I think Turn 1 seems to be pretty difficult because everyone starts braking in the middle of the track so maybe Turn 4 might be the best option. We'll have to try and pull it off. We've done it before but it was a different thing; we don't have the car we knew. It's not the best way to start the season for sure."
[Reference Here]

Bets Placed, Cards Played, Find Out Who Takes The Pot & How Here>>



... notes from The EDJE

SPACE CHICKEN

Image Credit: KFC

SPACE CHICKEN

Kentucky Fried Chicken in a PR inspired marketing effort, decided that it was time to lay down a "first" that no other company can claim. KFC fashioned a company logo on the desert floor outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. A full color logo (made with tiles) that is large enough to be seen from space.

Image Credit: KFC

This from Reuters -

KFC targets extraterrestrials with huge logo
Reuters - Tue Nov 14, 2006 2:48pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - From space, extraterrestrials and astronauts can look back to earth and see The Great Wall of China -- and KFC's Colonel Sanders.

The KFC Corp. on Tuesday launched a rebranding campaign with an 87,500 square-foot image of Colonel Sanders in the Nevada desert which the company says makes Kentucky Fried Chicken the world's first brand visible from space.

"If there are extraterrestrials in outer space, KFC wants to become their restaurant of choice," KFC President Gregg Dedrick said in a statement.

The logo consists of 65,000 one-foot by one-foot painted tile pieces that were assembled like a giant jigsaw puzzle.

"If we hear back from a life form in space today - whether NASA astronauts or a signal from some life form on Mars - we'll send up some Original Recipe Chicken," said Dedrick.

The logo also depicts an updated version of KFC icon Colonel Sanders who wears his signature string tie but with a red apron instead of his classic white double-breasted suit.

The logo was built at the remote Area 51 desert near Rachel, Nevada, which KFC said was known as the UFO capital of the world and famous for its association with UFO conspiracy theories.
Reference Here>>