Careerbuilder.com - Is Your Job Worse Than Mine?

Good morning Boston! This was the sight that greeted me as I approached the office a little after 8:00am. A man dressed as a giant pair of underpants. I'll call him Underpants Man.

Washington Street was not exactly bustling at that hour - both Macy's and Filene's being closed at that early hour, so Underpants Man had me in his sights and was determined to hand me whatever he had going on. I cut him off at the pass announced I would accept his offering in trade for a cameraphone photograph. Underpants Man agreed and aren't you the fortunate ones for it? This was no ordinary Underpants Man, this was an ambassador for careerbuilder.com. This is my kind of drive-to-web promotion. That's not to say his other character friends had the same appeal - the bunny was okay, the chicken was outright scary and the girl in the baby outfit looked just plain miserable - and not "in character" miserable.

I like a good live event promotion, and you can usually hook me with a laugh. So first I get Underpants Man and then I get the the postcard asking "IS YOUR JOB WORSE THAN MINE?" Damn, you got me - I laughed hard.

I'm giving Underpants Man big props because when I ventured outside for lunch 5 hours later he was still working the crowd (now bustling). Although his pitch was slightly different - and I quote "Please take a card so I can go home". Indeed sir, I will take another card - in exchange for another photo.

I note for the record at the 1:00pm hour (at least for Underpants Man) "the gloves were off" - literally. The characters seemed to have a pretty good "give rate" (compared to the guy who hands out the Psychic Tea Room flyers). But did it work? (Well, aside from me, though I'm not looking for a new job!) Did anyone click through to the Job Recommendation Engine? Did you venture to the Monkey Mail banner?

Did anyone witness this behavior in any other cities? I'd love to know the extent of the promo. --Faithfully submitted by a longtime reader, first time Digital Hive poster. Speak to me Internets, speak to me. Comments are open, operators are standing by.

Comments

[Paul McEnany]

"IS YOUR JOB WORSE THAN MINE?"

Gold. I was out until then. Damn, that's funny.