A Zune Marketing Tactic That May Be Almost As Effective As Catering To Bloggers

noah | June 13, 2007 5:37 am

An A.V. Club reader unearths a shocking new trend in house parties:

A party was going on a few doors down from my friend’s apartment complex in Minneapolis a few weeks ago. My friend said that she’d been invited to the party earlier in the day by the tenant of the apartment (with whom she was only a casual acquaintance) with promises of “Guitar Hero on the XBox360, great tunes coming from the Zune, and free beer.”

When we stopped by we found two dozen college students relaxing, drinking, playing Guitar Hero, in a room covered with posters for Microsoft’s mp3 player, the Zune. After some free social lubricant (MGD), the host told us the whole story: Microsoft paid him to host parties like this. As long as he documented the party with pictures, he was reimbursed for all the expenses and paid a little extra for his “trouble.” What sort of marketing is this? Does it happen with a lot of other mega-corporations? If so, how do I get such a sweet gig?

If any Idolator readers have hosted these parties, feel free to post your experiences below–we promise to only snicker at you for a few seconds, honest. Especially if you used your money on better beer than MGD. (Also: Maybe this guy should offer up his place, so he can get a little bit of beer money out of the deal?)

The Dirty Underground World Of Zune Parties? [AV Club] Earlier: Never Let It Be Said That Zune Doesn’t Take Care Of Its Fans