I admit I had to read this press release a couple of different times to make sense of it. Once I finally saw how the puzzle worked though, it all made a lot more sense. What I’m talking about is this small cap company’s latest billboard campaign. To grab some attention, Spicy Pickle (SPKL) is deliberately spelling words wrong on the billboards. And yes, it’s working.

For example, one of the boards read “‘Fud fors mahrt peah pal”. It only took me about 40 seconds to figure out they were trying to say “Food for smart people”.

The goal of the campaign is two-fold. One is to illustrate how the restaurant looks at things in a different way. The other is to send anybody who mentally processed the billboard to a special site the company has set up - http://www.languageofflavor.com/. At the site, browsers can try to figure out more phonetic sentences, and even submit some of their own. Of course, the over-arching point is to reinforce the brand name ‘Spicy Pickle’.

Not earth-shattering, but kinda’ fun.

By the way, I trust you saw yesterday’s news about the 38th restaurant being opened. The company just keeps growing, and growing.

Anyway, all this talk about food has made me huhn gree fora puh neenee.  

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You know, a company can buy an infinite amount of advertising - in all mediums. Sometimes though, the best advertising isn’t advertising at all. Being publicly mentioned in a non-promotional way can ironically be an incredibly effective promotion. It’s simply a matter of credibility. This is an idea small cap company SpongeTech Delivery Systems (SPNG) is not only aware of, but something they’re on the verge of becoming intimately aware of thanks to a few upcoming prime time mentions on the game show ‘The Price is Right’.

SpongeTech’s auto wash/wax sponge will be the subject of one the show’s price-guessing games, so millions of eyes will be studying the product and making the same mental guess at home. That’s only a precious few seconds of consideration, but enough to plant a seed of recognition.

The sponges won’t just be featured on just one game though. They’ll be ‘priced’ on May 7th, May 14th, and once more in July.

If you can’t catch the show during the day, don’t worry - they’ll be airing at 8:00 pm EST those evenings. Check your local CBS listings for the air time in your time zone.

By the way, if you don’t think passive product integration can have an impact, try this short pop quiz. (You’re on the honor system.)

1. What’s the favorite drink of American Idol’s three judges?
2. Where does Donald Trump encourage you to go after each episode of the Apprentice?
3. What snack did you crave a few minutes into the movie E.T.?

If you’re like most people, you actually answered at least two out of the three correctly. Point being, even if you don’t know it, product placement can and does plant seeds in your head. That’s why these three mentions are a subtle but big deal for SpongeTech.

By the way, the answers to the above questions are (1) Coke, (2) Yahoo’s Hot Jobs, and (3) Reese’s Pieces.

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Though it was only on Monday we heard about small cap company Bio-Matrix Scientific Group (BMSN) officially starting the tissue-bank licensing process, they seem to be proceeding as if they expect to get it. Of course, they have to - they want to be sure they’re ready to go when and if they get the approval from the California Department of Health.

Anyway, the news is simple. Bio-Matrix is acquiring a blood bank labeling system designed by a company called Computype. The technology will allow Bio-Matrix to properly manage what will be thousands and thousands of stem cell samples. Such a system is crucial in this type of operation, because when you’re talking about a person’s individual DNA, clearly there can be no mix-up.

Besides, the FDA requires this type of system for all blood banks.

Though we nor the company want to appear presumptuous, the fact that they’re proceeding as if they’re going to be licensed soon is an encouraging sign. And, it reinforces an idea we’ve mentioned several times now…if they do get this tissue bank license, we’re not going to know about it until afterwards. But, when they do get it, they’re going to be fully operational (i.e. able to bear revenue) the very same day.

That was and is the urgency here. The market may be flooded with traders who are all going to jump on the stock simultaneously if this bulletin board company gets its license. We contend the better time to be in a trade is before that might happen.

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