On Youtube I recently discovered this mind-blowing video of the world’s newest sport, Liquid Mountaineering. The sport is beautiful and surprisingly simple, requiring nothing but Hi-Tec waterproof shoes, water tension and an adorable Portuguese accent.
After I came to terms with how awesome this sport was, I quickly ordered a lifetime supply of Hi-Tec shoes and began recruiting local Portuguese to form the world’s finest liquid mountaineering team. Whether it was the laws of physics or the fact our team was hydrating with Bacardi 151, instead of nimbly dancing across the water, we ended up spending the majority of the time under the surface.
To discover where the fault in our technique lay we began to study the art of liquid mountaineering only to discover that our noble sport was really nothing more than a hoax used in a viral marketing campaign for the outdoor sporting company Hi-Tec.
After months of denying they had anything to do with the video Finally Hi-Tec released a statement admitting it was a hoax.
““We wanted to … get people talking and thinking about the brand differently. The idea was to take a traditional form of marketing and totally turn it around on its head, in the process of capturing the fun spirited side of our brand… even we still can’t walk on water…it was all a well intended hoax.”
With their unconventional approach to marketing Hi-tec managed to create one of the greatest ad campaigns of the decade. It managed to reach over 10 million viewers while successfully branding Hi-Tec as a company on the edge of extreme outdoor equipment. However Hi-Tecs denial of involvement in the ad leads to questioning the ethics of hoax advertising. While it may have been a successful ad, it crushed the spirit of people all across the globe looking to push the boundaries of physics with cool shoes.
