News: Arby's Challenges Cities to Change Name to "Reubenville" Plus BOGO Offer

In a bit of a marketing stunt to promote their Classic Reuben sandwich, Arby's is issuing what they're calling the "Reubenville Challenge" to cities across the US. The challenge calls upon cities to rename themselves "Reubenville" for the month of March. The first city to do so will enjoy free Arby's Reuben sandwiches.

The move isn't without precedent: some of you might remember back in March 2010, when the city of Topeka, Kansas renamed itself "Google, Kansas" in an unusual bid to gain a spot in Google's pilot program to bring affordable and fast fiber-optic-based broadband to the US (even funnier was Google's April Fool's joke the following month where they renamed themselves "Topeka").

Of course, while some might argue differently, infrastructure improvements tends to trump a free meal. But I can see a small town doing this for fun (also, the prize is 5,000 coupons for free Arby's Reuben sandwiches, so if it's a big city, quite a few people are going to lose out). Why not, right?

While it's easy enough to issue a proclamation declaring your town "Reubenville," the dealbreaker might be that to win, the city will also have to change the city limits sign to read "Reubenville" for March (I'm not sure how much that would cost, but it doesn't sound cheap).

Regardless of whether the challenge is met, Arby's will be offering a "buy one, get one free" deal on their Classic Reuben sandwich starting March 15 and running through March 17 (via coupon).

For those interested cities, you can view the full rules for the "Reubenville Challenge" at http://www.arbys.com/Reubenville.