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
NBC Viral Round-Up: The Office and Community October 23, 2009October 23, 2009We all know that NBC has the most consistent viral presence among the broadcast networks (with ABC coming in second), and they seem to favor Thursday shows. With The Office and Community airing last night, we have a few updates on their virals. First off, the webisodes are back for… Read More
New ‘Viral’ Images for “X-Men: Days of Future Past” September 5, 2013September 5, 2013The Twitter account for 20th Century Fox’s X-Men: Days of Future Past has been tweeting pictures from Trask Industries since Comic-Con. This week, two more have been posted, including one featuring Peter Dinklage as villain Bolivar Trask. Check out the tweets after the break. Read More
Viral Video: “Stand By Me” by The Muppets April 2, 2010While a new Muppet movie is in the works and other Muppet projects are trying to get off the ground, Muppets Studio has been busy churning out charming and hilarious viral videos over the past few months. However, the latest, featuring Big Mean Carl singing the classic song “Stand By… Read More