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
This Week In Viral – Nothing Big…Yet February 22, 2009July 18, 2010It’s been a relatively quiet week in viral campaigns, with just a few small updates to 2012, Angels & Demons, Terminator, and Watchmen. 2012 – The viral site ThisIsTheEnd.com has yet another Charlie Frost video, this time talking about an underground seed bank. Here’s the video: More viral news after… Read More
New “Wreck-It Ralph” Mockumentary “Garlan Hulse: Where Potential Lives” Mirrors “King Of Kong” Documentary March 12, 2013Last week Wreck-It Ralph was released on Blu-ray and DVD. There was a small viral campaign to go along with the theaterical release, which consisted of creating an actual Fix-It Felix Jr. arcade game and commercials promoting other arcade games, but now comes the most interesting aspect of the viral,… Read More
This Week in Viral: Week of 6/15/09 June 21, 2009June 29, 2009This week has been a great one for us here at MovieViral.com. Here’s a little sum up of what happened, for your viewing pleasure. First off, and most importantly, MovieViral.com was featured in the LA Times. If you haven’t seen it yet, take a look. But now on to the… Read More