Guinness reports the most live cockroaches ever eaten in one minute was 36 – London, March 5, 2001.

Those Brits know how to stage an event. This insect-o-rama followed an earlier 47 rats-down-the-trousers trick that made Ken Edwards (Photo credit: Guinness World Records) an overnight celebrity. This begs the question: which direction is he moving on the eligible bachelor scale?

In B2B marketing – you’ll be relieved to know – publicity and press relations are rather more strategic in nature … and easier to swallow. Aren’t trade shows a natural forum for this kind of “intercept marketing”? Prospects are at an event within their sphere of interest and already primed for your message. Whether you stop them with a skill challenge (and who doesn’t like to show off their prowess?), or even take a page from Nathan’s Hot Dogs and hold an all-you-can-eat contest with your food brand or food your equipment processes – you’ve intercepted their attention. Invite them to register for a drawing and you’ve got a name and address. With a little outrageousness, you’ll intercept the trade press too.

Just be careful. Bad promotion – like the cockroach or the aftermath of setting the record for eating 6 lbs of SPAM in 10 minutes – might never die either.