BECOME Turok!
Become'Turok' for $785
By BRUCE STANLEY
AP Business Writer
LONDON (AP) -- Wanted: Adventurous video game fans willing to change their identities. Must sign names, pay bills and otherwise identify themselves as dinosaur hunter called Turok.
Hoping to push back the frontiers of advertising, a British marketing firm said Monday it would pay 500 pounds ($785) each to five people for the right to transform them into human billboards for a fantasy superhero.
Acclaim UK is seeking applicants who will legally change their names for one year to promote the latest installment of its video game series about Turok, a time-traveling American Indian who slays bionically enhanced dinosaurs.
The Institute of Science in Marketing, a business group supporting the effort, expects that its so-called Identity Marketing technique will catch on as the next big thing for companies eager to reach consumers dulled to the impact of conventional ads and clothes that bear product logos.
"It's not a gimmick, like they'll tell their mates down at the pub they're name is Turok. Every form of their identity will have to change for this to work," said Acclaim spokesman Andrew Bloch. "They'll be walking, talking, living, breathing advertisements."
Acclaim UK, whose parent company Acclaim Entertainment is based in Glen Cove, New York, is launching a Web site Tuesday where would-be Turoks can apply. The firm expects thousands of people, male and female, to participate.
Acclaim UK will cover the legal costs each winner incurs in changing his or her name. In addition, winners will received a computer game console, as many video games as they can play and a token sum of 500 pounds ($785), Bloch said.
"The type of person that would apply to become a human billboard is the type of person who would like to speak about it. They won't be doing it for the hard cash," Bloch said.
The plan grew from the need for companies to generate attention for their products amid the daily white noise of advertising. Acclaim hopes that each new "Turok" will act as an ambassador for the game, taking time to explain the origin of his or her name to anyone who asks.
"The video games industry has a habit of always striving for newer and more unique ways of targeting customers and with Identity Marketing, I think we've topped the lot," said Acclaim spokesman Shaun White.
The firm's target audience ranges from teen-agers to Turok enthusiasts in their 40s. It expects that the first five Turoks - others may come later - will be socially active and may even work in the video games business.
Bloch described the original Turok as big and good-looking. "You'd be quite proud to call yourself Turok if you knew who he was," he said.
Applications for the Turok name-change project can be made via the Web site www.mynameisturok.co.uk. The closing date for entries is Sept. 2.
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