Fan Honors Weezer With Roadside Billboard, Band Seemingly Responds With Its Own
Alongside the road in Utah this summer, an unsolicited billboard ad for Weezer appeared. Purchased by a fan and social media influencer named Cory Hunter Winn, the billboard is part of an oddball promotional strategy for his clothing company, Lucca International.
Now, Weezer — the Rivers Cuomo-led Los Angeles rock band — has seemingly responded in kind. The group apparently raised a response billboard in the area as a way to thank the fan.
That's according to reports from The Salt Lake Tribune and Stereogum last week (Oct. 14– 15). Winn's original outdoor ad in Murray, Utah, sports a blank white background and unadorned, all-caps "WEEZER" text in a patently plain, Comic Sans-like font. It reads as a tongue-in-cheek boost of the band in service of Winn's marketing campaign, which included another non-Weezer billboard in the town.
Last week, in a video showing the response billboard, Winn explained, "Alright, alright — so I bought this billboard, right? Everyone knows; it's in Utah. It's been there for, what, six months now? But today, this one pops up down the road. I'm not kidding."
He added, "We don't know who bought it. … They're responding to us via billboard. It was sent to me today. I haven't gone and seen it for myself. But that doesn't look fake, does it? Who did this? Was it Weezer?! Are we in contact?!"
Winn shared several more clips of the response billboard. The reply on the ad reads, "Thanks to whoever bought the billboard down the road. – Weezer."
Earlier this year, Weezer celebrated 30 years as a band. The third EP in their ongoing SZNZ series, SZNZ: Autumn, emerged on Sept. 22. The fourth and final, SZNZ: Winter, comes out Dec. 21.