Cough of Mouth Marketing

Cough-drop maker Ricola has come up with a creative way to market its product -- the Mystery Cougher contest.  I heard it on the radio on the way in to work and checked it out online. 

The gist is that if you offer a Ricola to someone coughing in public and that turns out to be the Mystery Cougher, you could win up to $1 million.  With cold and cough season upon us, its an ingenious way to spur word of mouth marketing. 

There's an online component, as you can sign up for clues via email as to where the Mystery Cougher may go next.  And you can use a tell a friend link to spread the word electronically about the contest.

It will be interesting to see if they are able to get traction with the idea.