• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

"Missing Droid X Real-World Give-Away" Contest (1st Post:Updated)

tmellen said:
Some people are complaining because there was a tweet that said the droids were ALREADY in place, and based off of that, they were spending time and money looking for them.

I took the afternoon off for one, spent hours downtown St. Louis looking at sports centers (Statues of great athletes), in the arch, the museum at the arch (has a 4 story tall movie screen -- Droid showing the showme state it's video, etc).

Two nights ago I spent the midnight hour searching Verizon Ampitheatre's red tables that look like droid eyes from Satellite View on google maps. Monday day was spent looking in casinos and parks...

All because we were told that they were already in place. THAT is why some people (me) are pissed.

It has nothing to do with someone else getting to a GPS location before me. It has everything to do with them telling us they are already out there waiting unless someone else finds it first. I have a network of a couple of hundred police offices I can radio in St. Louis County, and as the saying goes, you might be able to outrun a police car, but you can't outrun it's radio. Is that unfair? Probably. Does it mean I can lock down the location faster than anyone else? Probably. Does it mean I'm happy to have spent 6-10 hours in the past few days looking for something that isn't there? Hell no I'm not.

Color me pissed.
Click to expand...



that describes what I was trying to say exactly
 
There are 7 days left in the contest (per the rules), and there are 21 certificates, none of which have been placed yet. My call is that they will be tweeting 3 / day starting tomorrow.
 
Even if they do provide us with a gps location, anyone who has geocached can tell you people find some inventive ways to hide things. What makes matters worse is that instead of a big clunky dx box we now have to search for a piece of paper which can be hidden in many places within a small area. This is honestly the only way to do this contest, anyone who thought vzw would hide eleven thousand dollars worth of product randomly and then tweet and assume no one has taken them or they have been damaged etc etc would be crazy.
 
Well, before I think I actually had a chance to find one. When they were posting clues that we had to decipher, it was more fun. As long as you lived in proximity to the locations, there was a chance you could find it if you were smart enough to understand the clues. Now that they're going to be practically giving away the location, I have no chance. I won't be able to make it fast enough as I live over an hour away from SF. Originally I thought this would be close enough to give me a chance to make it in time, but I highly doubt it anymore. I'm still excited to try, and I can't wait to see more clues, but its much more difficult now. You basically have to live (or just happen to be) a few minutes from the location at the time of the final tweet.
 
phirefaux said:
Even if they do provide us with a gps location, anyone who has geocached can tell you people find some inventive ways to hide things. What makes matters worse is that instead of a big clunky dx box we now have to search for a piece of paper which can be hidden in many places within a small area. This is honestly the only way to do this contest, anyone who thought vzw would hide eleven thousand dollars worth of product randomly and then tweet and assume no one has taken them or they have been damaged etc etc would be crazy.
Click to expand...

Do you really think that Verizon has employed GEOCachers to hide these, or it will be more along the lines of a guy in a Verizon jacket hiding behind the bushes giggling like a 7 year old with a secret.

I HOPE it's a poster, or an elaborate advert of some sort... Maybe a big plastic eye with a light shining on the location of the certificate, etc. Maybe one of those silver painted street performers with a Red light on his chest. SOMETHING cool...
 
I told you it will be someone on the corner with the Droid X saying hey "look at this" and showing off the new phone. Only the Hunters will know this is a clue to look for the certificate. The average Joe will just look at the phone and ask questions. We know what to look for... don't give up yet. I want someone from here to get the phone.
 
For some reason I think this will end up being a drawing. That will reduce the risk of lawlessness and warfare. so 500 people show up in 4 hours, they get in the drawing. This would keep the mob civil and make for good marketing footage.
 
yzarcman said:
For some reason I think this will end up being a drawing. That will reduce the risk of lawlessness and warfare. so 500 people show up in 4 hours, they get in the drawing. This would keep the mob civil and make for good marketing footage.
Click to expand...

It still blows. I would like a phone or whatever to be hidden and we have to think and go find them. If I was the one that actually found the certificate and some jack@ss was next to me not even looking my direction gets to put his name in for the drawing and he wins. Thats just wrong.
 
yzarcman said:
For some reason I think this will end up being a drawing. That will reduce the risk of lawlessness and warfare. so 500 people show up in 4 hours, they get in the drawing. This would keep the mob civil and make for good marketing footage.
Click to expand...


It states in the rules...

If more than one person finds the cert at same time, the official will make the decision in some way.

If noone finds it within 4 hours it goes to a passer-by.

Where's the drawing part?
 
yzarcman said:
For some reason I think this will end up being a drawing. That will reduce the risk of lawlessness and warfare. so 500 people show up in 4 hours, they get in the drawing. This would keep the mob civil and make for good marketing footage.
Click to expand...

The drawing is only in case two people happen to grab the certificate at the same time. Chances are there won't be a drawing because once someone has the certificate in their hands the phone is theirs regardless of how many people are standing around. It goes to the person who holds the certificate.

The just have to put the drawing thing in there to cover their ass on the off chance two people happen to grab the certificate at the same time.
 
Taken straight from the rules.

In the event two (2) or more participants find a Certificate at the exact same time, Sponsor representative will conduct a random drawing from among all those that found the Certificate to determine the winner.

I also find it interesting that it says find a certificate as if there may be more than 1 in the area.
 
I cry foul! So, since I have a BlackBerry Curve that has the GPS crippled by Verizon, and don't own a GPS device (which would cost me an additional $100+) and live in an area that no one really cares about with these types of promos (central PA) I am not able to be competitive in this race. If I had actually spent time looking for one, I would be pissed enough to not purchase one even though I have been looking forward to the release for the last two months.

Sorry Verizon, the $20 Droids that WalMart is selling look REALLY good right now. The icing on the cake is the description that Droids are hidden and you could find yours before the release.

The description crosses the line for me. You screwed up Verizon. Not sure how many people will remain blinded by the 'Free Stuff' blindfold. I really need to rethink my relations with Verizon. This promo was misleading from the start and this is the same reason I disassociate myself with a number of other companies. Is this because I am not getting something for free? No. It is because this marketing campaign was not done on the up-and-up and Verizon had nothing to loose running the campaign as initially advertised.

The only thing missing is requiring all people buying the X to line up at a single location so they can replicate the iPhone sheeple photos...

I don't like being mislead. Gonna have to think about this one a bit...
 
yzarcman said:
Taken straight from the rules.

In the event two (2) or more participants find a Certificate at the exact same time, Sponsor representative will conduct a random drawing from among all those that found the Certificate to determine the winner.

I also find it interesting that it says find a certificate as if there may be more than 1 in the area.
Click to expand...

There will not be a drawing!!! The chances are super slim that two people will grab the certificate at the same time. Like i said, once someone has the certificate in their hands the phone is theirs regardless of how many people are standing around.
 
XEscapeTheLiesX said:
The drawing is only in case two people happen to grab the certificate at the same time. Chances are there won't be a drawing because once someone has the certificate in their hands the phone is theirs regardless of how many people are standing around. It goes to the person who holds the certificate.

The just have to put the drawing thing in there to cover their ass on the off chance two people happen to grab the certificate at the same time.
Click to expand...

I still wonder how that could make for good marketing, unless the cut the video right after the individual screams and before someone sucker punches them. I mean it says you will be disqualified if you behave poorly, but if you didn't find the cert at the same time you technically don't qualify anyway.
 
Well I hope they post that they are found at the time they are found. I would not want to drive all over and find out that it was found 5min after there post to the location.
 
JoelR said:
I cry foul! So, since I have a BlackBerry Curve that has the GPS crippled by Verizon, and don't own a GPS device (which would cost me an additional $100+) and live in an area that no one really cares about with these types of promos (central PA) I am not able to be competitive in this race. If I had actually spent time looking for one, I would be pissed enough to not purchase one even though I have been looking forward to the release for the last two months.

Sorry Verizon, the $20 Droids that WalMart is selling look REALLY good right now. The icing on the cake is the description that Droids are hidden and you could find yours before the release.

The description crosses the line for me. You screwed up Verizon. Not sure how many people will remain blinded by the 'Free Stuff' blindfold. I really need to rethink my relations with Verizon. This promo was misleading from the start and this is the same reason I disassociate myself with a number of other companies. Is this because I am not getting something for free? No. It is because this marketing campaign was not done on the up-and-up and Verizon had nothing to loose running the campaign as initially advertised.

The only thing missing is requiring all people buying the X to line up at a single location so they can replicate the iPhone sheeple photos...

I don't like being mislead. Gonna have to think about this one a bit...
Click to expand...

Verizon doesn't care where you get it... That $20 Droid Wal-mart is selling comes attached to a two-year contract with Verizon's $40/month calling plan and $30/month data plan... That's all Verizon cares about.
 
yzarcman said:
I still wonder how that could make for good marketing, unless the cut the video right after the individual screams and before someone sucker punches them. I mean it says you will be disqualified if you behave poorly, but if you didn't find the cert at the same time you technically don't qualify anyway.
Click to expand...

Dude, that's the funniest sh!t I've heard in a long time. :D
 
I'm about 40 minutes from tampa and an hour from orlando, both of these are prime cantidates for fl being larger cities. I hope the tweet is posted after or before work. If not my wife wil be speeding like hell to get me my droid!!
 
yzarcman said:
I still wonder how that could make for good marketing, unless the cut the video right after the individual screams and before someone sucker punches them. I mean it says you will be disqualified if you behave poorly, but if you didn't find the cert at the same time you technically don't qualify anyway.
Click to expand...

I LOL'ed
 
well the last couple of weeks was fun, but I'm done here, I'll just follow droidlanding until i see a final clue for ny near niagara falls or michigan or MN or atl or nc, lol...good luck everyone.
 
jake2488 said:
Verizon doesn't care where you get it... That $20 Droid Wal-mart is selling comes attached to a two-year contract with Verizon's $40/month calling plan and $30/month data plan... That's all Verizon cares about.
Click to expand...

I understand that. I was a programmer for an intercarrier billing provider for years before the telecom bust so I know what kinds of money we are talking about. However, the best advertising that any company gets is the customers walking around with the latest and greatest phones and telling their friends about them. I have no problems walking around with an original, rooted Droid making sure to tell everyone what a great price I got on it and why I still have NE2 promo floating out there. I was looking at one for me and one for my wife. So Verizon could be loosing $360 of my money. Do they care? Probably not. Verizon has my business for service either way (but with my corporate 22% discount), but they may have lost the bonus $ from me. Do that a couple hundred times and marketing cost starts to get painful.

@DroidLanding -> unfollowed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom