Hijinks at HuB build buzz

SARASOTA — The HuB, a Sarasota-based business incubator, has succeeded where countless other businesses have failed: It got a major daily newspaper to print a press release, almost as is, about a move into a new building.

The catch? This press release was likely 90% satire, and there was no mention of that in the story, which ran on the front of the business section in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune today.

The gist of the story is that the HuB is moving, from a space in the Rosemary District, just north of downtown Sarasota, to the former Century Bank building on Fruitville Road. Local entrepreneur Jesse Biter owns the building. The Business Review first reported on the move Dec. 14.

But within the release, emailed Monday, there are these gems:
• The HuB is also announcing the major changes being made to the building. “I envision the HuB inside to have no straight lines or edges,” says Hub founder Rich Swier Jr. “Every floor and wall will be curved. We don't want anything to prohibit the creative energy from flowing throughout the building. We also have plans to put a shark tank on the first floor, but we're still waiting on the city to approve the permit.”
• Other additions being considered in the new building include a trampoline room, a 500-square-foot ball pit and a slip 'n slide connecting the second and third floor. On the third floor is a video and sound studio that will be available as a production facility for videos to be distributed online. “We realized that we could never be a full sound-stage,” says Swier, “so we decided to take a risk with an up-and-coming platform called YouTube, and see where that takes us.”
• Once finished, HuB will hold a public event as a grand opening. Tickets will be $100 for business professionals, however for college students admission is free.
• A project launched by HuBster David Daly, is an Artificial Intelligence software product that translates audible noises from canines into words. The company has been operating in secret for the past year under the name “Project BowWowWhat?” The company expects to release its first commercial product in early 2013. The company's CEO, David Daly says, “Our vision is to break the silence between man and dog. Our product will do for canines, what Twitter did for Egypt.”

The Herald-Tribune story quoted Swier directly from the statement on the trampoline, the curved walls and the slide, and Daly on Project BowWowWhat?

In an email interview with the Business Review today, Swier denied any ruse was in the works — sort of. Asked if the release was mixed with satire, Swier wrote, “I don't know what you're talking about ; )” In another email response, Swier wrote that “www.bowwowwhat.com will be live later today.”

While Swier might not have fully admitted the joke was on, people on his Facebook page were loving it.

Tatyana Sharoubim, who owns a women's shoe store in Sarasota, wrote this on Swier's Facebook wall: “Bravo on the press release it totally made my morning : ) bowwow.”

Another person posted “Bow Wow What? I laughed so hard I barked!”

Jennifer Smith McAlister, a project manager at Willis Smith Construction, wrote this: “LOL you said it and they believed it???”

The full press release can be found here.