Talk about good timing. New York-based advertising executive Jack Goldenberg has kicked off a viral campaign selling Barack Obama-themed watches in an attempt to get the Democratic candidate elected as President of the United States.
Thousands of the watches, which come in ten different styles, have been sold and three of the designs have been added to the permanent collection at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, to add to their collection of US-election memorabilia. Politicians Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter own one. Mr Obama himself owns five.
"I didn't think it would be as big as it has been," Mr Goldenberg, 62, tells People. "We're getting sales from Japan, Ireland, Germany and France but all of them combined don't equal the flood of requests we've had from Great Britain in the past two weeks."
He says: "I wore an Obama watch to a party and lots of my friends were asking me where I got it from." He teamed up with an interactive producer to launch the campaign. "I've got a good track record for being at the right place at the right time," says Mr Goldenberg, whose past product promotions have included McDonalds' first Happy Meal and the Cabbage Patch Kids.
During the 2000 election, he made Al Gore and George Bush for President watches. "They were both such boring candidates."
The initial Obama "Time for a Change We Can Believe in" watch that bears a smiling Obama face sold out earlier this summer.
