New Limited Edition Naughty Little Gifts Want People to “Get Sexual, Not Textual”
New York City-based dynamic marketing duo and serial entrepreneurs Mark DiMassimo Mark DiMassimo and Eric Yaverbaum, who started the famous Tappening movement, an environmental campaign to “make tap water cool,” and the political and educational ‘Read to Vote’ initiative joined forces for a third time and created Offlining in 2010. This highly talked about and historically viral campaign encourages people to go offline, by turning off their mobile devices and computers in order to devote time to the traditional face-to-face conversation that we have all taken for granted in the wake of Androids, iPhones and working twenty-four/seven.
The Offlining website, designed by DIGO Brands, has been talked about since its inception on Thanksgiving Day 2009. Last Valentine’s Day, DiMassimo and Yaverbaum launched their first product, a heart-shaped box of chocolates with a mobile phone inset for lovers to hold their phones while Offlining. The marketing dynamos’ have not launched another product since. However, they have continued to promote some good, old fashioned, real conversation that does not involve technology. More than 11,000 people pledged to ten “No Device Dinners” this past Father’s Day.
This Valentine’s Day, the site will introduce three new products in the spirit of the Offlining message as a day for lovers…to not be distracted! The three products (hyperlink here) include an “Offlining Cellshield Condom,” a latex shield to ‘protect’ one from using their device; an “Offlining Pintimate Hands-Free Security System,” that pricks your hand if you reach for your phone in your pocket; and the “Offlining Bonding Bands,” which ‘bonds’ you and your significant other’s phones together so distractions on both ends can be thwarted.
Mark DiMassimo, CEO and Chief Creative Officer of DIGO Brands says, “An era of great temptations and great distractions deserves inspired and attention-grabbing warnings too. If we allow technology to disrupt one-hundred percent of our day and our relationships, one has to wonder where our culture is heading.” In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, DiMassimo’s agency will shut down all of their electronic presence from the corporate website and company’s Facebook page.
The agency will launch a wild posting blitz campaign in New York City, Miami and Los Angeles, as well as social marketing efforts through the web via Twitter, Facebook, and other online media. Additionally, the two are declaring Valentine’s Day a “No-Device Evening,” and respectfully request that no one visit the site that evening. The campaign includes phrases such as, ”This Valentine’s Day, Might We Recommend a Little Bondage?”, “Get Sexual, Not Textual”, and “There are Better Ways to be Tied Up”. They can all be viewed at http://www.offlininginc.com/?page_id=53 .
Quoted as a “fast-talking, quick-moving New York public relations guru” by Forbes this past year, Eric Yaverbaum, Founder & President of Ericho Communications adds, “If you’re lucky enough to have a great significant other to spend Valentine’s Day with this year…or any year, put down your phone and stop texting. Stop Tweeting. Sign off Facebook. Take the evening off and get some real face time with the person you care about… or kill an intimate evening text messaging the night away.”
About DIGO Brands:
Founded in 1996 by Mark DiMassimo, DIGO Brands is a brand-driven growth network. Our companies work together seamlessly to help ambitious organizations grow. DIGO Brands have partnered with visionary leaders in many of the extraordinary growth successes of the past two decades. Among the agency’s current clients are FreshDirect, National Jewish Health, CVS Caremark, Tradestation, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Exponation, MediaCom Cable, Double Cross Vodka and AliveCor. DIGO Brands include DiMassimo Goldstein, a leading full-service brand, advertising, direct and digital agency; PROOVE accountable media planning and buying, DIGO/Ericho Public relations and social marketing, brand-driven content, entertainment and digital products, and the Tappening & Offlining movements.