From our corporate sister The Washington Post:

Classic Sleep Products, a Jessup, Md.-based bedmaker, has offered to send--free of charge!--535 mattresses to Congress so lawmakers can work 'round-the-clock to "iron out" (their pun; not ours) the current financial crisis.

"The home furnishings category and the mattress industry in particular has been terribly affected by the sluggish economy and if in this small way I can make a contribution to resolve this problem, I want to do it," Zippelli said, in a company release. He noted that his HQ is a mere 45-minute delivery drive from Capitol Hill.

This little ploy is brilliant--no joke. At worst, this is some publicity Classic Sleep otherwise would not have had. At best, Pelosi takes him up on his offer and, naturally, doesn't possibly let him send the mattresses for anything less than their retail prices, no doubt plus shipping.

Some food for thought as the current economy--yes, the very economy that Classic Sleep is patriotically trying to help fix--severely constricts your marketing budget. Get creative. Don't be afraid to take a risk; don't even be afraid to be outlandish.