• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, March 11, 2013

Did you get your yam?! In what is likely the oddest marketing gimmick in the history of SXSW, a company claiming to be “an online marketplace for yam enthusiasts and traders” -- yes, “Yamtrader.com” -- sent yams to media and press professionals in the run-up to this year’s event. Those lucky enough to receive the vegetables were instructed to redeem them for a $50 AmEx gift card in Austin. As AllThingsD reports, however, it was all a ruse orchestrated by cloud services company Tri-Net. And, at least according to AllThingsD, “it worked.” Indeed, “Tri-Net got people to bring in the yams, raised some awareness, and found some new business prospects.”