io9: Viral Marketing

Rainn Wilson's version of Unsolved Mysteries will make you wish it was a real TV show

Cyriaque Lamar — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 08:45:00 PDT

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Remember Xanthony O'Harbinger, Rainn Wilson's Hugo Award-winning alter ego with Asimov's sideburns? As a promotion for the fantasy novel Wildwood, O'Harbinger has lent his considerable surliness to Riddles of the Paranormal, a TV program that exposes such mysteries "involuntary invisibility" and "fluoride." More »

Why is Rainn Wilson pretending to be a pissed-off fantasy author?

Cyriaque Lamar — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 17:45:00 PDT

Viral marketing can be pretty obnoxious, but Rainn Wilson yelling nonsense about the Dragonsingers and hungry forests is a case study in how to do it right. Superstar commenter 99TelepodProblems has brought this to our attention. Searching for "Xanthony O'Harbinger" brings up a solitary photo on Wilson's Facebook page, and William Gibson seems to like the author. More »

Contagion's bacteria grown billboard is the perfect "viral" marketing

Meredith Woerner — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 11:20:00 PDT

Warner Bros. created a giant billboard for Contagion, made entirely out of bacteria and fungi, to promote the film. What better way to promote a movie about germs with germs. Watch the creature grow before your eyes. More »

Does this Fringe Comic-Con video contain a clue about what happened to Peter?

Charlie Jane Anders — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 09:30:00 PDT

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Ever since the end of Fringe season three, we've been wondering what's up with Peter Bishop. Does this video which played at the show's Comic-Con panel give a hint? More »

Turn your iPhone into a Super 8 camera — and learn secrets of J.J. Abrams' new movie

Charlie Jane Anders — Thu, 19 May 2011 13:30:00 PDT

A new app lets you turn your iPhone (or other i-device) into an old-school Super 8 camera. And it's chock full of hints for J.J. Abrams new movie Super 8. It's part tie-in app, part viral marketing, part movie-making tool. More »

Time to go hunting for Fringe clues in your local record store

Charlie Jane Anders — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 07:00:00 PST

Want to know what's coming next on Fringe? You might need to go to your local independent record store and delve into mad scientist Walter Bishop's groovy musical tastes. More »

Is the Louisiana forest monster Super 8 viral marketing?

Cyriaque Lamar — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 07:05:06 PST

Remember yesterday's creeptastic news report about a ghoul shambling through the Louisiana woods? Bad news, cryptid fans — this creature is now being pegged as some extraterrestrial horror from the Steven Spielberg-produced and J.J. Abrams-directed alien flick Super 8. More »

Super 8 Viral Site Hides Clues In Newspaper Articles And Popsicle Ads

Cyriaque Lamar — Mon, 17 May 2010 11:32:46 PDT

Super 8 wouldn't be a proper J.J. Abrams film without perplexing viral marketing. This weekend, the clues began filling the internet in earnest, as two newspaper clippings - complete with hidden messages - surfaced on the website ScariestThingIEverSaw.com. More »

Tron Press Conference: Helicopter Stunts, Protesters And Bruce Boxleitner!

Charlie Jane Anders — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 23:32:49 PDT

Tonight, Encom's Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner) came to San Francisco to give us some hints for Tron Legacy. It was the most elaborate viral marketing event in forever: Boxleitner charmed us, protestors rioted, and someone parachuted from a helicopter! More »

Iron Man 2 Viral Site Reveals Tony Stark's Mad Science Wonderland

Cyriaque Lamar — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 06:40:00 PDT

In Iron Man 2, Tony Stark revives the Stark Expo, a technology fair pioneered by his industrialist father. A new viral site, Stark Expo 2010, is a fake ad for Tony's billionaire playground. It resembles the Venture compound on barbiturates. More »

Start Your Lightcycle Countdown

Graeme McMillan — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 07:40:00 PST

The countdown to December's Tron Legacy is about to start in earnest. Teaser website Flynn Lives now has an 8-bit countdown that suggest that something will be happening on February 24th at 2:30pm PST. But what? [Via] More »

Dollhouse's Viral Marketing Brings the Apocalypse Ever Closer

Lauren Davis — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:30:00 PST

The TV show may be on hiatus until December, but the Dollhouse crew is still releasing tantalizing nuggets from the show's universe. The latest viral marketing campaign offers more clues as to how the Rossum Corporation's mindwipe apocalypse begins. More »

Iron Man 2 Invades The Internet

Graeme McMillan — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 13:00:19 PDT

Now that Comic-Con's over and (some of) the world has seen preview footage, there's only one thing left for Iron Man 2 to do to prepare for next summer: Take over the internet. Virals? Behind-the-scene reports? Check, and check. More »

Learn The Truth About Alien Oppression And Secret Artifacts At District 9 And Warehouse 13 Sites

Charlie Jane Anders — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:14:52 PDT

Two budding franchises, the Peter Jackson-produced District 9 movie and the Syfy Channel's new series Warehouse 13, have launched new websites. And they both want you to help consign aliens to internment camps, or weird objects to an Iowa warehouse. More »

Walter Bishop Falls Victim To Viral Marketing

Meredith Woerner — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 09:30:00 PDT

What's that our beloved scientist is slurping on, whilst filming for J.J. Abrams' Fringe? Yup it's a Slusho. J.J. Abrams' viral-marketing infection leaves no stone unturned. [Smokeinthecity via Cloverfield Clues] More »

Woody Harrelson Warns You About The End Of Days

Meredith Woerner — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:37:53 PDT

Roland Emmerich's end-of-the-world film 2012 has just unrolled a flurry of video rants form the "apocalypse prognosticator" DJ Charlie Frost (Harrelson). Including a cartoon depicting how we're all going to die. More »

All The Missing Link Wants Is To Get His Boogiecise On

Charlie Jane Anders — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 10:00:00 PST

Final proof that monsters are among us! A video from 1983 shows the Missing Link, voiced by Will Arnett, terrorizing the Boogiecise aerobics crew. More evidence of a monster-coverup conspiracy? More »

Monsters Versus Aliens Viral Site Is Actually Cool

Charlie Jane Anders — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:00:00 PST

UFO paranoia site TopSecretConspiracy.Com went to WorldCon to uncover the truth about science fiction — it's a ploy, paving the way for alien invasion. But could some Monsters save us from these Aliens? More »

Your UFOs Are Just Viral Marketing

Annalee Newitz — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 11:27:07 PST

Last week's Sarah Connor Chronicles proved that the so-called California Drones which have been freaking out the UFO community are neither real nor hoax. They are viral marketing for the Terminator franchise. More »

2012 Viral Marketing Just As Terrible As Movie

Meredith Woerner — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 09:30:00 PST

Roland Emmerich's 2012 teaser trailer has dropped, and right behind it is the wave of viral marketing that I can only imagine will continue to slam our computers like his terrible monk-hating apocalypse. Right now, you can go to the Institute For Human Continuity and register for a lottery number that I assume will be used as a selection system that "the government" uses to decide who lives and who dies. Alas it's still not even as cool as Dharma's tedious quizzes. [Institute For Human Continuity] More »

Faceless Droids Stalk The Wealthy

Meredith Woerner — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:20:00 PDT

Faceless droids have been popping up all over the UK. They've been chauffeured into Elton John's White Ball, spotted at the Harrod's sale and are enjoying a tennis match at Wimbledon. The latest addition to the scifi robot and alien advertising craze has begun to spill over into real life, thanks to the wonders of viral marketing. But this ad for a over-priced sports car, the Lotus, takes the alien cake on over-the-top ads. Apparently you're a faceless droid until you drop a few hundred thousand pounds to "buy" a personality in the form of a Lotus. Click through for more pictures of the faceless creatures including super creepy video of a faceless man in the crowd at the Harrod's sale. More »

Bruce Wayne's Backstory, Dateline-Style

Meredith Woerner — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 08:40:00 PDT

Click to viewGotham Cable News brings us the full tabloid report on playboy Bruce Wayne. Taking a note from flashy entertainment news shows, this detailed report on the scion of the Wayne family catches us all the way up to the new penthouse digs of the billionaire. They piece is titled Billionaire Without A Cause: Bruce Wayne and the best part is when they speculate where Bruce vanished to after the death of his parents' murderer — one rumor involves owning and operating a Brazilian modeling agency. This is obviously the latest piece of viral marketing for July's The Dark Knight, but by far the most interesting. [Gotham Cable News] More »

Your Chance To Join The Dharma Initiative

Meredith Woerner — Fri, 30 May 2008 10:40:00 PDT

Did you catch the viral marketing commercial during last night's Lost season finale? It looks like Octagon Global (which is connected to the mysterious Dharma Initiative) is looking for a few good Roger Workmen get slaughtered and tossed in mass graves. And it looks like you'll have your chance to join up at Comic-Con. Full list of awesome job openings after the jump. More »

Mysterious New UFO Pics Probably from X-Files

Annalee Newitz — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 18:00:52 PDT

A set of photographs depicting a beautiful, steampunk-looking UFO hovering over a small Northern California town are most likely from an X-Files viral marketing campaign. These images have zoomed across the web at lightspeed. Some of the first shots that made it onto the net last year showed this ship, pictured, which looks like something out of The Golden Compass. Just recently an anonymous person claiming to be with a "secret project" related to extraterrestrials released schematics of the ship online. Sounds like an X-Files stealth campaign or ARG (alternate reality game). Still, the schematics (below) look really freaking cool. More »

Mind Control Is Just a Click Away

Annalee Newitz — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:40:09 PDT

The goal of most advertisers is, frankly, to bypass your rational brain and reach down into the murky depths of your limbic system to control your desires. And the Web has given advertisers powerful new mind-control tools, allowing them to generate fake "buzz" for products by implanting references to, say, Hewlett Packard on YouTube or Cisco on Wikipedia. The idea is to make people think that their "friends" online like a product and artificially jumpstart a word-of-mouth recommendation for the product. At a South by Southwest panel Friday about the worst viral media advertising, several marketers and critics gathered to discuss the most heinous and failed examples of ads that are turning our mediascape into a William Gibson or Philip K. Dick nightmare. Two ad campaigns stood out as the worst. More »

Where Did Fake Cloverfield Spoilers Come From?

charliejane — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 06:20:34 PST

We saw Cloverfield last night, and we'll post a full review on Friday. (Meanwhile, here's a new clip, from much later in the movie than the other clips.) But we were left curious about this incredibly detailed synopsis, which has been all over the Internet for weeks... and which is almost totally wrong except for a few important details. Did this person see a rough cut? Is it a fan-wanker who just wanted some attention? Our theory: Producer J.J. Abrams paid someone to post this. More »

The Only Minute Of Cloverfield Viral Video You Should Watch

charliejane — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 06:20:17 PST

Watch Your Own Neighborhood Drop Dead

charliejane — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 06:30:23 PST

I Am Legend proves NYC looks hauntingly beautiful emptied of people. But if you needed more evidence, the film's official site has a map that lets you visit various locations around the city. At each stop, you can compare the movie version to how it looks right now, courtesy of Google Street View. But we've done all the work for you. Click through for gallery. More »