A GPS in your beer?

While talking to my cousin on the other side of the pond, (aint voice messenger great, beats paying an international phone bill!), he let me know that the first person to be found by the Budweiser "find the bud with a GPS unit in it "was tracked down, and yes the first person comes from Northern Ireland! Woo hoo!

So I went digging and found some info on this competition over on Ananova. Neat use of technology... I've not tracked down any info on the winner in Northern Ireland yet.

Budweiser has launched a World Cup promotion using global positioning satellite technology. It has hidden special transmitters inside beer cans and bottles sold in multi-packs in stores across the UK.

Opening a special can or bottle will be picked up by communications satellites. Winners will be tracked down and receive a trip to see England and Ireland in the World Cup finals.

Budweiser says the GPS promotion is a first for European consumers. The company says it has already randomly released 25 special multi-packs in stores throughout the UK. Each will have a single bottle or can containing no liquid, but a tiny GPS transmitter.

Budweiser are confident they'll be able to hand deliver tickets to each winner within 24 hours of receiving the signal, without the need for the winner to contact them.

The grand prizes include roundtrip airfares to Japan for two people, four nights' hotel accommodation and tickets to see both England and Ireland play a pool match.

"We're giving away ticket packages in a way that has never been done before," said the company's UK marketing manager Randall Blackford. "It's a fantastic way to promote Budweiser's official sponsorship of the 2002 FIFA World Cup."

News source: AnaNova - Budweiser secretes promotion transmitters in cans