“Cedar Rapids” Sends Out Calendar, Gets Viral Website Dan Koelsch, January 14, 2011January 14, 2011 The Fox Searchlight comedy Cedar Rapids is only a few weeks away from its February 11th theatrical release, but we are now just seeing some viral marketing, and its targeted for the film’s Sundance Film Festival premiere this month. There’s nothing like a non-working website and calendar to get you excited for a film! Get the details after the break. In Cedar Rapids, insurance agent Tim Lippe (Ed Helms) is sent to the title town to represent his company, Brownstar Insurance, during a convention. Of course, hilarity ensues. Alex at FirstShowing got a nice little mail package that included a Brownstar Insurance company calendar, along with a business card for “Ed ‘Timbo’ Helms”. Both items have a phone number to call and website to visit. The phone number sends you the voice mail of Tim Lippe, who says he’s out at a convention in Sundance. The Brownstar Insurance website just says it’s under construction. While it’s cool they are trying, this is a pretty lame gimmick. What do you think? Watch the trailer for Cedar Rapids here. Viral Marketing Cedar RapidsEd HelmsMailSundance
2012: Washington DC Drop Location Results in Access to the ARC Website and Other Updates October 15, 2009October 15, 2009Another day, another drop location for the 2012 viral campaign, only this time, we actually got something out of it other than just pointless schematics (see the new ones on the forum). The last location gave us a password, and this time we got a username. We speculated the login… Read More
New Service Gives Low-Budget Films, ARGs a Chance January 17, 2010January 17, 2010A new service called Hukilau is offering low budget projects, like independent films and alternate reality games (ARGs), funding through a concept known as “crowdsourcing.” The service allows members of the Hukilau community to become producers of independent films or remain consumers, by watching and rating the films. Read More
Avtr.com Updates October 16, 2009October 16, 2009When James Cameron’s “Avatar” released its first viral website weeks ago, I stated the only way the campaign could recoup the lost hype following Avatar Day was to be proactive about posting content. Since then, several updates have been made to avtr.com, and are worth a look for those interested in… Read More