NEW YORK, Sept. 8 /PRNewswire/ --

WHAT: Google's "doodle" (those periodic, often artistic changes to the Google logo on their homepage) Saturday, September 4th played homage to the discovery of Buckyballs, sometimes called Fullerenes, approximately 25 years ago that date. While the discovery was a breakthrough, Google's tribute to it was anything but. The interactive graphic was designed in such a way that it took a bizarrely high amount of computing power and by extension electricity to render.  

It crashed people's computers.  It ran up power bills (just a few cents per user, but when you consider Google's global reach, the total cost is staggering).  But it also had an interesting side effect:

Clicking it brought-up the Google search of the term "Buckyballs" which in turn brought up the page for the desktoy of the same name.  2,000,000+ unique visitors in total landed on the www.GetBuckyballs.com page. When it was all said and done, Buckyballs, already the world's best-selling desktoy, saw an alarming jump in sales: 10,000 units sold in a single day - that's over $250,000 in product, and the term "Buckyballs" has since rocketed to the top of retail and keyword search-term charts!

WHERE: www.Google.com / www.GetBuckyballs.com

WHEN: Labor Day Weekend

WHY:  Perhaps it was a glitch, or a clever marketing opportunity, or maybe Google is just a fan of desktop fun (employees have previously bought 100s of Buckyballs units).

WHO:  Buckyballs: The Amazing Magnetic Desktoy You Can't Put Down!, is a set of building spheres containing 216 powerful Rare Earth magnets that can be shaped, molded, torn apart and snapped together in unlimited ways.

Sources

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/blogs/jacks-blog-10017212/googles-buckyballs-doodle-costs-people-money-drives-users-away-10018562/

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/retail-words-of-the-week-buckyballs-acer-travelmate-8372-ticketek-2072748.html

About Buckyballs

Buckyballs is a whole new breed of adult toy that can make sculptures, puzzles, patterns, and shapes, act as a stress reliever and combat office boredom.  Developed by Brooklyn-based blogger and online personality, Jake Bronstein in 2009, Buckyballs is currently the best-selling desktoy.  It is sold in over 4,000 U.S. retail locations and has been featured in prominent publications such as Esquire, Maxim, Rolling Stone, and People.  To better understand how a simple online craze became the hottest retail trend, log onto www.GetBuckyballs.com to see them in action.

For more information regarding Buckyballs, including graphics related to this story,

please contact Sarah Cirkiel (scirkiel@pitchcontrolpr.com) or Emily Rodrigues (erodrigues@pitchcontrolpr.com),

Pitch Control PR, 212.475.4919.

SOURCE Buckyballs

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RELATED LINKS
http://www.GetBuckyballs.com