Buy Avatar Toys, Get Some Content Alex Gerage, October 24, 2009October 23, 2009 A funny thing happened on my latest trip to Target. During my obligatory perusal of the store’s toy aisle to check out the latest Star Wars offerings, I stumbled upon an entire section devoted to Avatar. Figures, ships, playsets, and more took up a substantial portion of the aisle. What caught my eye though was a graphic on each package referencing a website called Avataritag.com. If avtr.com is the viral immersed within the Avatar world (an RPG of sorts), then avataritag.com is a viral meant to drum up attention and help sell toys in ours. The idea behind this is that each Mattel Avatar product comes with a corresponding “i-TAG” (because “iPOD” was taken) which is roughly the size of a security badge. If you go to a computer with a webcam and download some software, you’re in for a treat. Just wave your i-TAG at the camera and it will generate a three dimensional rendering of the character or vehicle that you can control and learn more about. There’s a cool demo on the site that better explains this, so if you’re interested, check it out. This is undoubtedly an original concept from Mattel, and I’m curious to see the response this gets from the rest of the internet. I’m also curious to see if anyone actually buys the toys and heads to the site. This is a brand new franchise, and I wonder who Mattel is targeting with this promotion. Are they hoping kids will get their parents to buy them Jake Scully figures so they can go online to a webcam enabled computer to see some 3D graphics? Or is the plan to have adult collectors shell out ten bucks a pop this stuff? I question their expectations, although I give them credit for creativity. Try it for yourself by getting one of the toys. In other Avatar news, the newest trailer is debuting in theaters this weekend and will go online next week. I actually just saw a bootleg taken from someone’s cell phone on another film site, and it gave me chills. That’s right, a cell phone bootleg gave me chills. Check back soon for hopefully more Avatar news, and start counting the days until December 18th. Viral Marketing Avatar
Mystery Movie “1952” Could Have Viral Campaign October 19, 2012March 4, 2013Earlier in the year, it was reported that LOST and Prometheus writer Damon Lindelof was working on a sci-fi script with Brad Bird (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol) set to direct. Now we have more details on the mystery project, titled 1952, including the fact that it might have a… Read More
Vote For Your Favorite Virals in Our 1st Annual MovieViral Awards! January 8, 2010November 16, 2010And the award goes to… Because we like to be fashionably late here at MovieViral, we are finally going to do something to recognize the best of 2009. But we’re not just going to have a list of movies or anything boring like that. We’re going to let YOU decide,… Read More
District 9 – What Does it Mean? July 10, 2009July 11, 2009So we have been watching videos, we have been clicking links, and we have been posting every single thing we can possibly find on what District 9 the “movie” is. But what does District 9 actually mean? It’s been mentioned as an apartheid movie. But I bet it’s a lot… Read More