Comments on: Film Junk Poll: What Movie Has the Best Viral Marketing Campaign?

By: Idontknowguys

Idontknowguys — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 11:07:45 +0000

Cloverfield? Really? Seems like people vote on the movie they liked best. Watchmen, good or bad, had a much bigger and better viral marketing campaign then Cloverfield. Maybe bigger then any of the other ones.

By: Shut-Up Ed

Shut-Up Ed — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 00:32:43 +0000

Sean,

The game was “Shadow of The Colossus.”

According to all known Wikipedia – there was a viral marketing campaign launched in October 2005. There were several websites claiming that the remains of five giants resembling certain “colossi” had been discovered in various parts of the world.

As I remember it, there were videos of expeditions where Indiana Jones-esque people were discovering the remains of these massive monsters. They were presented with a sort of Discovery Channel realism that almost made you believe (if only for the briefest of moments) that is COULD be real.

I thought they were very cool at the time. Apparently the websites have since been taken down.

By: bullet3

bullet3 — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 21:19:59 +0000

The best viral marketing I remember was for the Minicooper. If you remember, they released an “excerpt” from a newly upcoming book about weird going-ongs for free with some magazines. And it was actually a really interesting read about a reporter investigating sightings of a home-built giant robot, and interviewing I-witnessess, and there were creepy photos and even a tie-in website. When I first read it I thought it was for real, didn’t even realize it was viral marketing until later. It’s definitley the example I remember best.

By: Swarez

Swarez — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 11:18:52 +0000

I chose Blair Which because they started this whole thing and it was at a time when the internet didn’t saturate our existence like it does now. Meaning that there were people who actually thought it was real when they went to the cinema. That could never happen now.

By: MJS

MJS — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 05:03:51 +0000

I’m not sure it qualifies as “viral,” but Borat easily had the most amusing marketing campaign I’ve ever seen.

By: Steven C.

Steven C. — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:19:45 +0000

Cloverfield had some strange viral marketing, nobody really knew what the hell we would actually end up seeing in the movie. The Dark Knight had some pretty interesting marketing too, and I’m betting the Blair Witch had the best, but I was only 10 when it came out in 1999 and too young to remember much of it.

By: Webomatica

Webomatica — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:09:44 +0000

A.I. was the best.

By: Devin

Devin — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:07:53 +0000

Cloverfield was the only one that I followed religiously. Brilliant marketing campaign that kind of copped-out in the end when it didn’t line-up with the actual release of the film (the date in-movie wasn’t actually 01/18/08) and Abrams and Reeves admitted it wasn’t really canon. Still fantastic, though.

By: Sean

Sean — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:51:21 +0000

Ed, I’m not sure if you’re joking but it sounds like you’re talking about these videos, which were directed by Jay C:

http://www.norwegianfilmcommittee.org/en/media.html

By: Shut-Up Ed

Shut-Up Ed — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:43:39 +0000

*arctic

By: Shut-Up Ed

Shut-Up Ed — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:42:25 +0000

I must be tragically un-hip because I can’t recall a singe incident I ever was witness to any viral marketing outside of the internet video/viral marketing of an old video game about killing Giant monsters…

The videos were supposedly “real” and showed explorers and other adventurous sorts “discovering” these massive creatures frozen in blocks of ice in the artic or some such thing.

They were very well done… Although I never did buy the game, or even remember what it was called now… So how effective was it really?

By: Sean

Sean — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:11:07 +0000

Oh yeah I totally forgot about A.I. It was definitely one of the pioneers in that regard. And yeah Be Kind Rewind’s whole “sweding” thing was pretty awesome.