The Next Brilliant Marketing Idea: Official Dirt

While on a recent Southwest flight, I set down my latest read (The Coldest War, by David Halberstam) in favor of Southwest's entertaining in-flight magazine. In an article about St. Patrick's Day I read about a new product available for Irish people who miss the Old Country: Official Irish Dirt.


You can check out their web site at http://www.officialirishdirt.com/, and there for $20 purchase four small bags of official Irish dirt, shamrock seeds, and get free shipping.

The concept of Official Irish Dirt got me thinking about other official dirt-selling opportunities, which I have listed below:

• Official West Bank Dirt: For the Palestinian in All of Us


• Official Afghanistan Dirt: When You Miss Your Taliban Roots


• Official Iraq Dirt: Nothing grows in it, but under it you may find WMD


• Official D.C. Dirt: (So many directions to take with this one--it's just too easy)


• Official New Orleans Dirt: Comes with official sea water, so you can submerge it


• Official French Dirt: Start Your Own Vineyard


• Official Ukraine Dirt: Invade it, Rebuild It, Contaminate It


• Official Green Bay Dirt: Maybe Brett Favre Will Come Back, After All


• Official North Korea Dirt: No Matter What You Do, Nothing Grows in It


• Official German Dirt: Deutschland, Deutschland uber Alles in der Welt
• Official Saudi Arabia Dirt: Dig Deeply Enough and You May Strike Oil

In so many ways, official Dirt is a brilliant product for the sole reason that even as our attachments to each other become more electronic, we remain nostalgic for physical places--to have a sense of place. With Official Dirt we can take that place with us wherever we go.

I think I am going to buy some DC Dirt right now: Maybe I can get some from near the Mayflower Hotel and see what pops up.