DALLAS - Hoping it can boost holiday sales, Dell Inc. has enlisted Burt Reynolds, Ice T and other celebrities to help customers raise money to buy products for themselves or others.
Through a new website launching Friday, visitors to will be able to create a virtual piggy bank where friends and relatives can donate money for gifts. There are tools to create e-mail distribution lists, and gift-seekers can embed their fundraising requests on their Facebook and MySpace pages.
The e-mails are embedded with celebrity video clips, each pitch based on a theme.
Actress Estelle Harris, who played George Costanza's nagging mom in the sitcom "Seinfeld," solicits funds through the "guilt sell."
"Not that it's any of my business, but you usually get them a thoughtless gift every year anyway," she groans. "Would it kill you to get them something nice this holiday season?"
Consumers must be age 18 and older to enlist in the virtual fund and have a PayPal account to receive money.
Admittedly, there's no way to guarantee the money will be used for Dell gear, said David Clifton, the marketing and communication director of Dell's consumer business.
With the popularity of social Internet hangouts like Facebook, Clifton said the strategy tries to get consumers engaged with each other on Dell products, rather than Dell just pitching them directly.
"It's not like we decided we needed a Web 2.0 campaign," Clifton said. "It was taking a look at what our customers are doing. Most of the best things we have ever done have come from our customers."
Clifton said the service includes tools that would prevent people from e-mail spamming thousands of contacts. But, he added, the pitch will come from the individual's e-mail, not Dell.
Dell tried a similar tactic approach this fall for students seeking notebooks and other gear, and company executives said its success led them to expand on the idea for the holidays, Clifton said.
The online fundraising is part of Dell's multimillion dollar campaign during the crucial holiday sales season. It also will feature television spots and a celebrity event next month in New York's Times Square.
The socially networked sales pitch comes as Dell's sales continue to lag behind Hewlett-Packard Co.'s for PCs in the U.S. and worldwide.
In the past year the Round Rock company has retooled its executive ranks and shifted its sales strategy to include retail stores along with its online, direct sales approach.
