11 Year Old Boy Scout's Campaign to Send Popcorn to Military Troops Goes Viral With Facebook Application

Online, September 5, 2010 (Newswire.com) - It is the time of year for Boy Scouts to sell popcorn. However Cody Bailey of Cordova, TN will not be going door to door or sitting in front of a grocery store this year. He has launched a full Internet based marketing campaign that has the potential to go viral. Not only does he have a blog, but the young scout has developed a Facebook Application designed to encourage people to buy popcorn to send to US Military personnel stationed overseas.

Being not only a Boy Scout, but Cody is also a member of the Naval Sea Cadets located at the NSA Mid-South Naval base located in Millington, TN. While a cadet he has gone out in a rescue boat on the Mississippi River with the US Coast Guard. He also has trained in land navigation under a former Army Infantry Officer. Military service is a tradition in his family as he has 5 uncles and his grandfather who served or are serving now in the military. Going back further Cody had ancestors on both sides of the Civil War. Cody has a long term goal of becoming a Naval Officer and attending the Naval Academy.

Cody relates that his Scoutmaster was explaining that if people don't like popcorn they can order some to be sent to the military. With his volunteer experience and knowledge of the Internet he decided that he could get 1000 people to order popcorn for the military and do his part to help our country's brave men. Several of his uncles have served tours in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia and told him how good it is to receive a care package from the States.

Once the decision was made, Cody bought the domain POPCORN4TROOPS.COM as it emphasized his mission. He then used Fantastico Deluxe to install a Wordpress blog on his web host. Configuring the Wordpress blog with free plug-ins Cody then turned his sites to the Facebook Community. Using a plug-in for Wordpress he created a Facebook Application that will be used to direct people to his blog and order form.

So this Labor Day weekend while many of his friends were watching football or traveling he launched his site and campaign. Cody has two goals- The first is simply to have his website visited by people from every state in the US. Cody believes that if people visit then they will either buy some popcorn for the troops or send the link to someone they know who can afford to buy. Secondly he hopes to have 1000 people buy popcorn on his site. 70% of the money goes to the Boy Scouts and all the popcorn goes to our troops. What a great winning combination.

In the first hours of his campaign he already has a visitor from Washington and an order. So what if he meets his goal? "My Dad told me if I can pull this off he will take me to Washington DC for my fall break."