Editorial: Why Sony has done everything right Nick Butler, June 17, 2009January 16, 2010 If you haven’t read it yet, I suggest you check out Matt’s article entitled “Why can’t Sony do anything right?“. Now, as I do respect Matt’s opinion, I would just like to take a few minutes and explain why he’s wrong. Now even though I think Matt is wrong about his overall view, he does have a few facts in his article, and I’ll start there.The ugly truth is Sony has handled the ARG (Alternate Reality Game) side of District 9 pretty badly. They began it back in August 2008 by launching MNUSpreadsLies.com, D-9.com and MultiNationalUnited.com. At first I was crazy about it. I read everything I could on all the websites and then I waited. Waiting days turned into weeks, which turned into months. I would actually play off the lack of updates by saying “Well, it comes out in August ’09, so don’t be worried . . . soon enough we’ll be searching away”. Soon enough came 6 months later.Now, that’s the bad side of District 9. What you need to know, and what Matt neglects to make his point, is that a viral campaign consists of many aspects- videos, websites, signs, etc. An ARG is only one part of the viral. District 9’s ARG is weak and there’s no denying that, but their viral campaign is tremendously good.Sony has billboards up in major cities and other advertisements likewise, and that is what I consider to be the essential aspect of a viral campaign. Sony also does break the fourth wall (meaning they reference reality – that it’s a game – within their game) on every website. Although I don’t agree with it, I understand why Sony did it. When they released the first trailer they put the website “D-9.com” on it. Had they not broken the fourth wall, everyone going to D-9.com would’ve been confused out of their mind.Matt continues on by bashing the Angels and Demons viral campaign, which in my opinion wasn’t much of a viral campaign so I wouldn’t have bashed it as such. Then he moves on to 2012, a movie which is releasing in November. Matt complains about the lack of updates with District 9, but then he bashes 2012’s campaign . . . which was updated almost weekly (although ironically its in a lull). He also neglects to mention the very well designed websites both the District 9 and 2012 ARG’s include, they’re beautifully done. And Matt, wait until the movie comes out before you start complaining about the plot. Who knows how they’ll keep people alive, why don’t you wait to find out.In the end, Matt says he’s bashing Sony’s viral campaigns, but he’s not, he’s bashing their ARGs. He neglects the positive points to show you the negatives.Dear Matt, Go take a walk in a garden and look at the more beautiful things in life. With love, Nicholas S. ButlerNicks final thoughts… While it is true Sony has some problems operating ARG-style websites, their viral campaigns are working. I mean, why else would the L.A. Times be writing a story on it. Billboards and other signs gets people talking, hence, viral campaign. Oh yeah, follow me on twitter! Viral Marketing
Big District 9 Rumors June 23, 2009June 23, 2009An anonymous source gave us some big rumors about District 9. I want to stress two things. First, the original source is unverified, while our intermediate source is reliable. That being said, this could all be bullshit, so take it with a grain of salt. However, it’s interesting and plausible… Read More
Watch The First Six Minutes Of “The Upper Footage” May 6, 2014May 6, 2014Thanks in part to the relative IndieGoGo campaign success and its success on Viemo, the people behind The Upper Footage faux documentary have decided to reinvest in their passion project and release new marketing materials such as trailers, clips, an updated website, and introductory pieces. In light of this the… Read More
As You Might Have Guessed, “The Five-Year Engagement” Has A Wedding Blog January 14, 2012It seems like only yesterday that we were talking about wedding blogs becoming the viral website of choice for television shows (in fact it was yesterday). Not to be upstaged, the romantic comedy film The Five-Year Engagement, starring Jason Segel and Emily Blunt have their own wedding blog. Get the… Read More