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Underwater Billboards? They're Suspicious in Seattle

Seafood standby heavily promoting 'recently' discovered underwater ad campaign

By Will McCahill,  Newser Staff

Posted Sep 18, 2009 9:30 PM CDT
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(Newser) – After unearthing plans laid long ago by its founder, a legendary Seattle seafood restaurant is pulling underwater advertising billboards out of Puget Sound—though Ivar’s accompanying advertising blitz and founder Ivar Haglund’s notorious record of self-promotion have residents smelling something fishy, the Times reports. “If I was smart enough to come up with this hoax, I’d be doing other stuff,” Ivar’s president says.

There were seven sites sketched out on maps the company says were recently unearthed at headquarters; three of the 7-by-22-foot, stainless steel billboards have been found, two of the sites yielded nothing, and crews haven’t gotten to the last two. “As far as I can tell, it’s the real thing,” says a Haglund biographer. And of the company’s $100,000 prime-time ad blitz featuring the finds? “Ivar’s decided to do what Haglund would have done,” the president says. “Promote them.”

Ivar's, a Seattle standby.
Ivar's, a Seattle standby.   (Wikimedia Commons)
Ivar's founder Ivar Haglund was famous for self-promotion, so locals are taking with a grain of salt news that the seafood restaurant has pulled advertising billboards from Puget Sound.
Ivar's founder Ivar Haglund was famous for self-promotion, so locals are taking with a grain of salt news that the seafood restaurant has pulled advertising billboards from Puget Sound.   (Wikimedia Commons)
Ivar's, a Seattle standby.
Ivar's, a Seattle standby.   (Wikimedia Commons)
Drawings of the ads.
Drawings of the ads.   (Ivar's)
An artist's rendering; three billboards have so far been pulled from waters off Seattle.
An artist's rendering; three billboards have so far been pulled from waters off Seattle.   (Ivar's)
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One of Ivar's own videos.   (YouTube)

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 3 comments
schmidtkoff
Sep 19, 2009 12:34 PM CDT
ha,ha, good one joeQ.
Mad
Sep 19, 2009 4:38 AM CDT
Ooooooooooooooh! Gabo has some competition! ^5, Joe (Oops, you're a dog, ^4)
JoeQ
Sep 19, 2009 3:41 AM CDT
Sounds like the first web advertising on a pier to pier net work.

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Ivar's

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advertising • Seattle • hoax • underwater • Puget Sound • salvage • Ivar's • Ivar Haglund

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