Cracked’s List Shows How A Viral Can Backfire Kris, June 18, 2010 When it comes to alternate reality games, the more believable and interactive, the better. It’s wonderful experience we love, except for when it backfires.I’m not talking about when its structured sloppy, I mean when it is far too real for its own good. Cracked made a list that covers such a topic. The article, “The 6 Most Insanely Misguided Attempts at Viral Marketing“, includes the Splinter Cell bar scene. To sum it up, what was supposed to be a played out as a bar room hold up and rescue got only half way through the 1st act because it was disastrously to convincing. Cops came in, took down the fake criminal, with a fake gun, in a fake hold up. The guy must have been a great actor. Movies have fallen victim to the same problem. Cracked’s list includes the Boston Bomb Scare from the cheap Aqua Teen Hunger Force campaign. Going back to our roots though, The Blair Witch Project viral, the father of all movie ARG advertising campaigns, did pretty gutsy moves. All it took was a website to make the movie convincing enough to be considered as an actual documentary. As a more recent example, Sony Pictures’ 2012 had a very wide and complex campaign. From the Jackson Curtis Facebook Page to Soren Ulfert’s blog and complex messages, it was hard for newcomers to tell if it was true or not. In fact, the marketing company had to explicitly brand their campaign to keep people from thinking the 2012 doomsday myth had been proven real (which some still did). It all comes down to planning, but sometimes even that’s not enough. But keep in mind: do you really want an obvious ARG? Is it better to confirm an ARG? Of course not, it dulls the experience, as we mentioned last year. For all intensive purposes, I say keep it realistic as possible. Not only is it more fun, but you gotta be brave enough to do it. Viral Marketing Viral News 2012Aqua Teen Hunger ForceCartoon NetworkSplinter CellThe Blair Witch Project
Secret Catwoman Poster Found on “The Dark Knight Rises” Website May 26, 2012Over last few days, we’ve seen a flourish of new posters and banners for Warner Bros.’ The Dark Knight Rises. Batman-News.com found out that the print version of some of the posters (displayed at movie theaters) have a QR code, which leads to a secret high resolution poster on the… Read More
Make Mayhem With the “Jackass” Facebook App! September 3, 2011December 20, 2011Just because they’ve made a 3D movie doesn’t mean the guys from Jackass have gone away. Paramount Digital Entertainment has released a new app on Facebook that feature the guys who have been hit in the nuts probably more times than you ever will in your life. Hit the jump… Read More
Pacific Rim: Design Your Own Jaeger May 11, 2013May 11, 2013In Pacific Rim, gigantic sea monsters called Kaiju terrorize coastal populations from another dimension, so the world has to come together to design and build Jaegers, massive robots that can defeat the Kaiju. Now, Warner Bros. is letting you get in on the action yourself with their Jaeger Designer. Get… Read More