How To Ruin A Viral (Part 2): Mess Up Dan Koelsch, June 3, 2009July 18, 2010 District 9 has a very versatile viral campaign encompassing two opposing forces, four websites, and the social networking world. Despite all this, many have complained about the viral not living up to its potential. Sure, all the pieces are in place, but Sony isn’t playing the game correctly. For instance, they went over 6 months without updating ANY of their viral sites. They set up this vast viral world and then abandon it for half a year. Maybe it was the economy, maybe they thought they started too soon, who knows. What matters is, people weren’t happy. Even when they start their viral campaign back up, Sony can’t win. Sony created a Twitter account on May 11th for the site mnuspreadslies.com. Seems reasonable enough, except that the name for the account holder was ‘Christopher’. The main alien behind the site was named George, so at first I, like many, though Christopher was another staff member (aka an alien) for the site. But as the weeks followed and Christopher tweeted more, it became clear that he was claiming to write blog posts on the site that had George as the author. Then Sony suddenly changed the author on all the posts to Christopher, likely as a way to cover their tracks, but they forgot something…to change the actual posts. Within many of the posts, the author would sign off as George, and that name is still there. The obvious explanation is that Sony has just f*cked up and is poor at covering their tracks. However, there are still questions. Why did Sony change the name? Are they really that careless? One, albeit far-off, explanation is that this is actually part of the viral. Somehow, Multi-National United has planted this “Christopher” to replace George, as a spy or something. It could even be a Marcus Wright (Terminator Salvation) scenario. This seems highly unlikely, as there hasn’t even been a whiff of a hint that this is the case. Just seems like reaching to stay oblivious to the obvious truth: Sony messed up. District 9 releases August 14th. See our District 9 page for more details. Editorials Features Viral Marketing District 9MNU Spreads Lies
Trailers Weekly: “Disengaged”, “Only Lovers Left Alive”, “Frank”, “Sin City: A Dame To Kill For” and “Annie” March 8, 2014 Trailers Weekly is a feature in which we bring you the most popular and talked about trailers of the week. Sharing trailers is a classic viral practice, and trailers are still the most mainstream way for people to learn about movies. We’ve got trailers from Disengaged, Only Lovers Left… Read More
Super 8 Teaser Leaks Online, Official Site Launched May 7, 2010May 8, 2010Well, that didn’t take long. Today (last night?) we had the midnight showings for Paramount and Marvel’s Iron Man 2, and unless you saw it in IMAX (i.e. me), then you saw the teaser trailer for the J.J. Abrams-produced Super 8 (also from Paramount). If you didn’t see it, you’re… Read More
Tangled Viral Campaign and Film Review: Is This The Beginning or End of Disney Classics? November 28, 2010October 18, 2011Walt Disney said that “We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” Disney has continued his idea with Tangled. Still, does that mean it is the end of Disney classic fairytales? Was the campaign an insult… Read More