I don’t normally do promotions, contests, paid content or stuff like that, but recently I’ve received a few emails from the folks promoting Buckyballs and they are exactly the sort of product that I would be interested in promoting.

So, here’s the deal. Promote my online presence, my blog, my twitter account, this blog post, stuff like that, and tell me about it in the comments. The more you promote, the more chances you have to win. I will select three winners who will receive their own Buckyballs. Winners will need to provide me with a mailing address in the United States where the Buckyballs can be shipped. For more details, check below the fold.

Why do I like Buckyballs?

Well, the appeal to two important aspects of who I am. When I was young, one of my nicknames was ‘fiddle fingers’. I always had to be fiddling with something. For Christmas one year, my kids gave me a box with “Dad’s Distractions" painted on one side. On the other, it said “Objects inside are meant to be mutilated". When I’ve left various jobs, I’ve been given things to fiddle with. Even now, my work area is littered with different things that I can fiddle with.

On top of that Buckyballs are bright and shiny. That’s a code word to anyone with ADHD for great distractions. Yeah, I can see myself fiddling a lot with Buckyballs.

Where did the idea come from

When I watched the video, I saw related videos for Desk DOTS. These are larger magnets that cost about $10 for just six. However, if you are getting all the rejects, you can probably do some interesting things:

There was also a video for NeoCube. They seem to be much closer to Buckyballs with 225 magnetic balls for about $25.

Buckyballs are 216 magnetic balls for about $30, but if you go to the site and use “orientlodge” as a promotion code, you can get a 15% discount through December 15th.

Publicity Done Right

Another thing that I like about Buckyballs is that their PR firm does a good job. The first press release I received from them was about a month ago. It was how for four Mondays, they would donate 100% of their online profits to the Buckminster Fuller Institute. It was a great idea and I flagged it as one that I wanted to write a blog post about. Of course, with the number of emails I receive, I didn’t get to it right away. Two weeks later, they sent an email saying that they’ve already surpassed their initial donation goal of $10,000. I don’t know how much they ended up giving, but I flagged that email as well.

Then, they sent a third email a couple weeks later. The four Mondays had passed, and now they were suggesting doing a contest on my blog. I sent them an email back saying that I was interested, but I’d like to keep a set of Buckyballs for myself. They agreed, and so the contest is on. With that, I should disclose that I will be getting a free set of Buckyballs for running this contest.

The Contest

I’m pretty flexible about this. Promote this blog post, my blog, my twitter feed, anything like that to help get the word out and tell me about it. I’ll add your name to the hat and randomly draw three winners. I’m kind of thinking I’ll announce the winners a week from today, November 30th. It seems like a good day to announce winners. If I get flooded with entries, I might announce the winners early, and if no one enters, I might stretch it out a little.

As I noted, the company will ship to addresses in the United States, so if you’re a Pinay Mommy Blogger, or some other international blogger who really likes this contest, promote the contest, but give me the mailing address of a friend or relative in the States. It would probably be a nice gift to some of your friends in the States.

Final Thoughts

So, I guess it is the Christmas shopping season. It seems like Buckyballs would be great stocking stuffers. I know I’m going to have fun with the set that I get, but if anyone else wants to send me an additional set of balls for Christmas, go for it. Or, if you know some political leaders that could use some new balls, send it to them with an appropriate message. That said, I would recommend not trying to take Buckyballs through fullbody scans at airports this holiday season. It would probably screw up the machines and it seems as if the folks at TSA have enough balls already.

So, go at it. Post your comments to let me know how you are promoting this contest, my blog, or anything else that might matter to me.