When people and brands re-create the Willy Wonka Golden Ticket promotion, they don't always seem aware that Willy Wonka is kind of a sociopath. Regardless: Taylor Swift is re-creating the Golden Ticket promotion, and it's coming to Phoenix. If you can connect a series of clues on Diet Coke's Twitter account(!) this Friday and arrive at the "local Phoenix treasure" they point to, and you're one of the eight fastest Social Media Types to do it, you will receive a Silver Ticket, worth two passes to one of the Taylor Swift concerts set to create enormous traffic jams around Jobing.com Arena on May 28 and 29.
Yes, that's really weird. Yes, I'm a little fascinated by it. If you're a little fascinated by it, this is what the scavenger hunt looked like when they were handing out Silver Tickets in Austin on Monday.
It started Monday morning, with the following tweet:
Hoping to win tix to a RED Tour concert? The Austin #DCSilverTicket is hidden in a garden among springs, trails, a Theatre and more.
— Diet Coke (@DietCoke) May 20, 2013
An hour later, ticket-hunters got this:
Looking for a #DCSilverTicket? You could ride the miniature train or paddle by canoe to uncover its location.
— Diet Coke (@DietCoke) May 20, 2013
And an hour after that, this:
The "Lucky One" will find the hidden #DCSilverTicket at Austin's most-loved park between a rock and... another rock.
— Diet Coke (@DietCoke) May 20, 2013
Read More: - Are Taylor Swift greeting cards better than regular greeting cards? - Break up with Taylor Swift over the internet, with Man-Cat's help.
That was all it took for the first winner to emerge -- @2StrayBullets got it 26 minutes after the last clue went out.
But after that, things slowed down -- Silver Tickets remained up for grabs for three hours after the first one was gone.
Which means that you might have a pretty good shot at this, as far as giveaways for very expensive concerts go. The rest of the clues were dribbled out an hour at a time, like so, until they got four people to their nook in Zilker Metropolitan Park's rock garden.
Reach for the moon -- or just tower above it -- and you'll find our #DCSilverTicket nearby.
— Diet Coke (@DietCoke) May 20, 2013
Congrats to @velasquezjenni and @diamonds6998! They both found the hiding spot and are both going to Taylor's RED Tour Concert. 1 pair left!
— Diet Coke (@DietCoke) May 20, 2013
Don't be discouraged by a "rocky" start -- head to the garden of a similar name for your last chance to find the #DCSilverTicket and win!
— Diet Coke (@DietCoke) May 20, 2013
Congrats and thanks to everyone for joining in today! The last #DCSilverTicket was just given away.
— Diet Coke (@DietCoke) May 20, 2013
Worth noting: "Austin's most-loved park" is actually pulled directly from Zilker Park's website, which means Google might be as helpful as your Phoenix navigation skills when it comes time to find the Diet Coke people.
I'm as unnerved by corporate Twitter accounts that say things like "That feeling when you are ready to #goout" as the next alt-weekly writer -- MFW you think you know me, Diet Coke, SMH -- but I'm interested to see how this turns out, and a little surprised to learn that this sort of thing hasn't been litigated out of existence yet.
Taylor Swift is scheduled to perform May 28 and 29 at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale.
