The Trophy World Tour
December 19, 2007 8:23 PM Subscribe
Back in 2005, I (a trophy) was awarded to a team I didn't think deserved me. So I set out across the world in search of owners. Over the course of two years, said trophy visited throughout the US, Canada, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, including celebrity visits with Phyllis from The Office and Shawn Marion of the NBA's Phoenix Suns. An exercise in dedicated pranksterdom.
a trophy for....what?
posted by Baby_Balrog at 8:51 PM on December 19, 2007
posted by Baby_Balrog at 8:51 PM on December 19, 2007
So, this is essentially a marketing promotion to sell t-shirts, hats, buttons and mousepads?
posted by tellurian at 9:23 PM on December 19, 2007
posted by tellurian at 9:23 PM on December 19, 2007
...or it's a really elaborate and impressive prank. One of those.
posted by dogwelder at 9:45 PM on December 19, 2007
posted by dogwelder at 9:45 PM on December 19, 2007
I'm kind of curious about the backstory too. Usually these things are much more interesting when there's a garden gnome or a lawn jockey involved.
posted by salishsea at 9:51 PM on December 19, 2007
posted by salishsea at 9:51 PM on December 19, 2007
I just got to the credits of the video and saw a couple of names I recognise - "THANKS adampsyche, amandaudoff, caitlinb, knutmo.
posted by tellurian at 9:59 PM on December 19, 2007
posted by tellurian at 9:59 PM on December 19, 2007
That's weird, tellurian.
The site's pretty boring, though, so I figure I'll just click the "Post Comment" button, close this window, and forget about it forever.
posted by dersins at 10:33 PM on December 19, 2007
The site's pretty boring, though, so I figure I'll just click the "Post Comment" button, close this window, and forget about it forever.
posted by dersins at 10:33 PM on December 19, 2007
I agree the site is boring but… just, weird? I'm curious. I would be open to maybe one or two of these people coincidentally have the same usernames as MetaFilter members, but four, no way (and there may be more, these are just the ones I recognised). I'm going to MefiMail to see if they want to comment, and if they are involved, how it came about. I'm intrigued!
posted by tellurian at 3:38 AM on December 20, 2007
posted by tellurian at 3:38 AM on December 20, 2007
some background:
"In August of 2005, the ~60-person San Francisco-based company where I work had a summer picnic. Employees were formed into teams to compete in a variety of games, with the winning team being awarded a trophy. My team should have won the trophy, but we didn't. So a couple of days later, we stole it. The winning team (and their captain) never noticed that the trophy had been taken.
The premise of the prank is that the Trophy decided it needed better, more responsible owners, so it took off on its own to find them.
Starting in San Francisco, the Trophy traveled throughout California, the western United States, the Midwest, the South, the East Coast, Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, having its photo taken in a variety of locales, from famous landmarks to infamous pubs."
posted by goldism at 5:21 AM on December 20, 2007
"In August of 2005, the ~60-person San Francisco-based company where I work had a summer picnic. Employees were formed into teams to compete in a variety of games, with the winning team being awarded a trophy. My team should have won the trophy, but we didn't. So a couple of days later, we stole it. The winning team (and their captain) never noticed that the trophy had been taken.
The premise of the prank is that the Trophy decided it needed better, more responsible owners, so it took off on its own to find them.
Starting in San Francisco, the Trophy traveled throughout California, the western United States, the Midwest, the South, the East Coast, Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, having its photo taken in a variety of locales, from famous landmarks to infamous pubs."
posted by goldism at 5:21 AM on December 20, 2007
Tellurian, the guy who pulled this prank is a MeFite (I don't know if he's trying to remain anonymous, so I won't say who), so it shouldn't be surprising that a lot of the people who volunteered to participate are also MeFites. There are few better sites for recruiting a pile of strangers from around the globe to help you pull of a prank like this, right?
posted by snarkout at 7:20 AM on December 20, 2007
posted by snarkout at 7:20 AM on December 20, 2007
the tshirts mugs and mouse pads are for sale in order to recoup the $$ spent pulling off this prank. I can't imagine it was cheap.
[this is some comment to indicate I am also in on the references to that place that must not be named in keeping with its primary and secondary rule]
posted by nihlton at 9:16 AM on December 20, 2007
[this is some comment to indicate I am also in on the references to that place that must not be named in keeping with its primary and secondary rule]
posted by nihlton at 9:16 AM on December 20, 2007
I think it's cute. (Sorry, that's probably the worst insult ever.)
Next week I'll be in Mendocino in a place with a hot tub. Does Trophy want to come?
posted by ClaudiaCenter at 9:47 AM on December 20, 2007
Next week I'll be in Mendocino in a place with a hot tub. Does Trophy want to come?
posted by ClaudiaCenter at 9:47 AM on December 20, 2007
I support this prank. I just wish I'd been a part of the NYC leg of its tour.
posted by riffola at 10:18 AM on December 20, 2007
posted by riffola at 10:18 AM on December 20, 2007
STOP CALLING IT A PRANK. IT IS NOT A PRANK, OR AT LEAST NOT A SUCCESSFUL ONE, WEBSITES AND T-SHIRTS NOT WITHSTANDING. IF THE PEOPLE WHO WERE OSTENSIBLY BEING "PRANKED" DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE (OR CARE) THAT THEIR TROPHY WAS MISSING, THIS IS EITHER NOT A PRANK OR THE STUPIDEST PRANK IN THE HISTORY OF PRANKS.
posted by dersins at 10:22 AM on December 20, 2007
posted by dersins at 10:22 AM on December 20, 2007
I'm behind the Trophy World Tour prank. In fact, if you look closely at my AskMeFi questions in the last year, you can probably spot a few posts in regards to advice for the project.
The Trophy did indeed travel around the world (Photoshop was not used to create the images), and no, this was definitely not a half-baked attempt to try to make money. I'm hoping to make a few dollars from t-shirts to make a small dent in the several hundred dollars spent shipping the Trophy around the world, but this is definitely not a for-profit venture, and would have been a really ill-conceived idea for a business.
The practical joke was all in good fun, I'm happy with the way it turned, and I owe a huge thanks to everyone who helped by taking photos with the Trophy. I hope you guys enjoy it!
posted by wubbie at 10:29 AM on December 20, 2007 [3 favorites]
The Trophy did indeed travel around the world (Photoshop was not used to create the images), and no, this was definitely not a half-baked attempt to try to make money. I'm hoping to make a few dollars from t-shirts to make a small dent in the several hundred dollars spent shipping the Trophy around the world, but this is definitely not a for-profit venture, and would have been a really ill-conceived idea for a business.
The practical joke was all in good fun, I'm happy with the way it turned, and I owe a huge thanks to everyone who helped by taking photos with the Trophy. I hope you guys enjoy it!
posted by wubbie at 10:29 AM on December 20, 2007 [3 favorites]
It's totally cute! That's why I participated. Incidentally, I worked across the street from the guy who did this (my office has since moved) - he's not just a MeFite but he's in SF, which has a high concentrate of MeFites and strong connections to NYC, another MeFi stronghold. So yeah, a lot of familiar names are bound to show up. (He spent at least hundreds of dollars just on shipping for this project, by the way. I'm not saying "buy a mug," just I'm pointing out that those of us who were following the progress of the trophy over the last year+ realize he's not makin' money here. But if he does in the end, good for him!)
posted by caitlinb at 10:31 AM on December 20, 2007
posted by caitlinb at 10:31 AM on December 20, 2007
I (and a friend) did something similar at the office where I worked (in Toronto), stealing a stuffed fish from a fellow worker and taking it all over the place, as far as Hawaii. We put together a slide show when we left at the end of the summer. It was a lot of fun to do, though time-consuming, and I can really understand how it becomes an obsession.
...of course, then you realize you're the girls running around with a stuffed fish and a camera at all times, and you need to really sit back and take stock of your life...
The slide show was well-received, though briefly going through the site, I'm starting to worry that our "project" was a hell of a lot less interesting to anyone who *wasn't* us.
posted by ilana at 11:20 PM on December 20, 2007
...of course, then you realize you're the girls running around with a stuffed fish and a camera at all times, and you need to really sit back and take stock of your life...
The slide show was well-received, though briefly going through the site, I'm starting to worry that our "project" was a hell of a lot less interesting to anyone who *wasn't* us.
posted by ilana at 11:20 PM on December 20, 2007
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