John Grisham The Racketeer Geocoin

[+Little Hiawatha]

A few days ago while geocaching in New York’s Central Park I came across a strange tracker reference # TB5CX0R

 

The was the first time I’ve ever seen or heard of a tracker that was an advertisement for a product (a novel) and that seemed odd to me. Also rather odd was its travel history, over 27,000 miles in only five weeks.

 

Does anyone know anything about this?

[+NepoKama]

Take a look at this thread for info on the coin. There have been several other campaigns as well -- Geico and Superchips both did tags, and I'm sure there are others.

[+NepoKama]

Oh, and the coin started travelling in October 2012 -- 1 year and two months ago.

[+kunarion]

rather odd was its travel history, over 27,000 miles in only five weeks.

 

Does anyone know anything about this?

I found a couple of those Racketeer coins. They were used in a photo contest, part of a book promotion.

 

That one's been traveling for a year and five weeks . Looks like a trip to Brazil caused a bunch of mileage last year. I have a Geico coin that gained 12,000 miles when someone dipped it in a "Mystery Cache" that has its fake coords in the Indian Ocean.

Edited November 24, 2013 by kunarion

[Pup Patrol]

A few days ago while geocaching in New York’s Central Park I came across a strange tracker reference # TB5CX0R

 

The was the first time I’ve ever seen or heard of a tracker that was an advertisement for a product (a novel) and that seemed odd to me. Also rather odd was its travel history, over 27,000 miles in only five weeks.

 

Does anyone know anything about this?

 

Not the first, probably won't be the last trackable set out that is basically advertising.

 

Geico gecko tb

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=275036

http://www.geocaching.com/geico/

 

Minelab coin

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=304123

 

there was another one for Meridian Bank when it opened in Canada.

 

Trackables don't fall under the same "commercial" guideline as cache listings.

 

 

B.

[+Droo]

Yup Promotionals are nothing new. If you go to the Trackables Page you'll notice after Geocoins and Travel Bugs a category entirely dedicated to them and links to the various and sundry varieties that have been made and released. I believe the Jeep4x4s were the first or pretty darned close. Also many have made geocoins to promote their website or other such enterprise but I digress as these don't fall under the Promotional group. Anyway the links make for interesting reading if you're curious about the development of this side of geocaching.

Edited November 25, 2013 by Droo

[+dprovan]

I filled out a form on the web and got one. I thought it was a fair exchange: they get promotion, I get a TB. Everything above "Current Goal" in the TB's page is out of control of the TB's owner, so that's where they put their spiel. I thought the Racketeer verbiage was reasonable: just a quick plug for the book followed by information that explains the TBs and how they were distributed. A promotional freebies go, I think this is one of the better ideas.