Coincidence? Or is AOL Really Just Digging for Publicity?

Authored by Robert Spears on August 16, 2006 - 2:08am.

While doing my usual rounds of aggregating top stories in digital media from around the web this morning, I was struck by the odd, but obvious, tie-in between these two stories: 1) AOL Prepares to Dig for Gold – Literally; and 2) Big Brands to Sponsor Mark Burnett & AOL’s New Gold Rush Reality Show.

AOL Prepares to Dig for Gold - Literally
This story, appearing on just about every major newssite this morning, states that AOL has been granted the legal right to dig for gold on the property of Davis Wolfgang Hawke’s parents home in Medfield, MA. Hawkes (nee Andrew Greenbaum and presently a fugitive) is the infamous AOL spammer featured in Brian McWilliams’ 2004 book “Spam Kings”. Relying on purchase receipts and first-person accounts, AOL believes that Hawkes has a stash of gold and platinum bars stashed somewhere, all earned from spamming naïve AOL users over the years. The quest for the treasure is to satisfy a $12.8M judgment that AOL won in federal court. Author McWilliams estimates that Hawkes’ operation was making approximately $600K per month at its peak.
Big Brands to Sponsor Mark Burnett & AOL’s New Gold Rush Reality Show
This press release, posted today, August 16, mentions that several leading brands have signed on to be sponsors of Mark Burnett and AOL’s new interactive reality game, titled Gold Rush – a multimedia contest that will entail participants hunting for $2.2M worth of gold hidden around the US. The show is set to launch on September 13, 2006.

Here are a couple of suspicious snippets from the AP article:
The dig isn't something out of "Treasure Island," AOL spokesman Nicholas Graham said. "This is a court-directed, judge-approved legal process that is simply aimed at responsibly recovering hidden assets."

[A quote from former U.S. prosecutor, Marc Zwillinger, familiar with the case]:
"But I've never had a case digging up gold bars and bullion," Zwillinger said. "That's definitely unique."

The story also mentions that AOL will try to accommodate Hawke's parents by not being too obtrusive, even though a bulldozer will be used for part of the excavation.

What does this all mean? I suspect Hawkes’ booty was probably at least a partial inspiration for Gold Rush and that AOL figured that a “confluence of events” would be good publicity just prior to launch of the new show. Millions of consumers will have gold on their mind, with enough wanting to get in on the action to help make the game a success, while the media do their useful job covering the story manically and uncritically.

I could be wrong of course, but – come on – AOL is digging for gold one month prior to their new show that is about 'digging' for gold??? Sorry, I am just too cynical to believe that this is just a coincidence.

Related Links:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060816/ap_on_hi_te/spammer_s_gold
http://tinyurl.com/zyjaj (Gold Rush Press Release)
http://goldrush.aol.com

Comments

AOL Officially States it is a Coincidence

Submitted by Robert Spears on August 19, 2006 - 11:20pm.

Excerpts from an August 18 article from the Boston Herald:

"They're totally unrelated and separate issues," said AOL spokesman Nicholas Graham...

"No, no, it's just a coincidence," a Burnett spokesman said of "Gold Rush" and the Hawke saga.

Source:
AOL just keeps going for the gold: Site has game of treasure hunting
http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/view.bg?articleid=153325

But on August 17, The Herald reported that Hawke likely only purchased about $350,879 in gold. So again, I remain skeptical that two stories are a coincidence. Probably an AOL accountant deduced that it would be better to dig for $350K, while generating publicity, than it would be to pay that amount toward more traditional marketing programs.

Source:
Tales of AOL spammer’s gold stashes emerge
http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/view.bg?articleid=153189