What's behind all the Smoke?

I'm referring to a clever new marketing campaign that was recently launched by a new South African start-up company. When you visit their site at www.smokoo.co.za you will not be assailed with the usual hype about their innovative new products or services. Instead, you will be invited to guess exactly what kind of business you think Smokoo will be conducting when it opens its virtual doors on 1st August. That's just ten days from now!

Whether it is pure curiosity or the lure of Apple's remarkable new toy that has drawn thousands of curious surfers away from their work in order to check out their site every day since they launched the competition is not clear, but the air of excitement surrounding Smokoo is unmistakeable and has extended as far as Facebook and Twitter as well scoring dozens of mentions on Google.

A quick count of the entries reveals that South Africans are falling over themselves to discover just exactly what lies behind this intriguing 'Smokoo Screen'. In the meantime, the company and its technical team remain as tight-lipped as ever, but a smiling Thomas Pays, the co-founder and CEO of Smokoo was quick to claim that the new project is quite revolutionary and will create a brand new reason for internet junkies to hit the broadband in their droves.

Thomas offered a sneak peak at a couple of competition entries and it is quite clear that the hopefuls have really applied oodles of imagination in their quest for the iPad. One thought that it might be a genetically engineered pet something like Gizmo in the movie, Gremlins". Perhaps the most apt, though, was a submission by a young man who thought that the company name derived from a township lingo word that implied it "...would create headlines, ruffle feathers and become the talk of the town". Judging by reactions to date, he was right on the button.

There are just ten days remaining to give it your best shot, so go to www.smokoo.co.za and who knows that iPad could still be yours!