Legal Sea Foods Introduces Smart Promotion To Complement 'Fish is Brain Food' Ad Campaign

Who ever said being stupid doesn't pay off?

From now through November 17, a brainless act, a momentary lapse in judgment or a clearly stupid idea may result in a $250 gift card from Legal Sea Foods, as part of its "Fish is Brain Food" promotion. The Boston-based restaurant's promotion invites consumers to send in photographs showing some less than intelligent behavior on display. Winners (losers?) will receive Legal gift cards and may have their ignominious acts featured in the ongoing ad campaign.

Legal Sea Foods debuted its "Fish is Brain Food" ad campaign earlier this summer with homemade videos of people engaged in acts exhibiting questionable judgment or intelligence (still images of the videos were used in print ads). This new promotion plays off the current ads, as it seeks to find further humorous examples of outrageous behavior where the subjects could have clearly benefited from eating more fish.

The social media contest will allow consumers to submit examples of "stupid" behavior on Instagram or Twitter via the hashtag #fishisbrainfood, or through an upload to the app on Legal Sea Foods' Facebook page.

The company will be supporting the promotion through print ads in both magazines and newspapers, ads on Boston's trolley cars, and video and banners on the Cheezburger network of web sites (Failblog Failbook, et al).

"The whole ad campaign was sourced from real life examples of people doing clearly stupid things, so there must be even more ridiculous examples of those acts that sure sounded like a good idea at the time," said Ellis Verdi, president of DeVito/Verdi, the ad agency that created the campaign.

The "Fish is Brain Food" ad campaign taps into existing YouTube and other videos of inane, inept and downright foolish acts, including a man licking an ice-cold metal pole, and another young man attempting to use his head to slow down - and stop - a rotating ceiling fan.

Print versions of the campaign show a number of scenes where a little more gray matter would be helpful. In one, a man is seen sawing off a limb - while sitting on the outermost part of the branch. Another ad shows a misspelled "STOP" painted at an intersection, and another features a supine man with a teed up golf ball in his mouth. The ads conclude with the friendly reminder of "Fish is brain food. We have fish."

ABOUT LEGAL SEA FOODS:
Legal Sea Foods was founded more than 60 years ago as a small fish market in Inman Square, Cambridge. Today, President and CEO Roger Berkowitz leads the company toward continued growth and diversification. With 30+ restaurants up and down the East Coast, Legal Sea Foods has earned scores of honors and awards (its Clam Chowder has been served at every presidential inaugural since 1981), and proudly carries its well-earned reputation as the nation's finest seafood restaurant. For more information about Legal Sea Foods and its locations, please visit www.legalseafoods.com.

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