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Cruise Company Used Billboards to Track Down This Teenager for His Snapchat Handle

A good deed and a clever marketing ploy, all in one...

Picture the scene. You’re 15-year-old Darian Lipscomb, from Prospect, Virginia. You’re walking home from school one day when you spot a giant billboard, with the words ‘Hey Prospect, does anyone know Darian?’ emblazoned across it.

What do you do? No, ‘run and hide because they’ve found me’ is the wrong answer - because Darian was actually in for a $5,000 free cruise, all thanks to his Snapchat handle.

Allow us to explain. Way back when he was just 9-years-old, Darian set up a Snapchat account with the handle @CarnivalCruise, to share snaps from himself zip-lining and tubing and stuff on a - you guessed it - Carnival Cruise.

Recently, however, Carnival decided that they’d quite like the handle for themselves - but rather than go down the bog-standard lawyer route, they got creative, and posted billboards across his hometown asking for Darian.

Liiiiittle bit creepy, but appreciate the sentiment.

A truckful of Carnival employees then showed up at the teen’s home, and offered him a free cruise in exchange for the handle, including ‘customised surprises’ throughout the trip.

Unsurprisingly, Darian agreed, and he and his family set sail on the cruise line’s newest ship for a 14-day trip next week.

If that doesn’t give you a post-bank-holiday-weekend-boost, then nothing will. Sometimes the world is quite nice, isn’t it?

'By Lizzie Cox'

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