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Viral Marketing

470 statements
89 feature instances
26 referencing feature instances

Viral Marketing	type	FeatureClass
Viral Marketing	label	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing	page	ViralMarketing
Viral Marketing	comment	Originally, viral marketing referred to word of mouth advertising. In theory, one person tells all their friends, who in turn tell all their friends, and so on. In practice, this rarely worked out so well, because few people had enough friends to make it profitable. Ask anyone who tried to make money with Amway. With the advent of the Internet, however, Viral Marketing suddenly became something a great deal more viable. You don't have to know your consumer personally to reach them with a blog, video, or web page. Word of mouth can reach hundreds, perhaps thousands, the moment someone hits the post button to talk about it. Ideally, a viral ad does not seem like an ad at all. Viral marketing techniques usually rely on making something entertaining that people will want to share and subject to Memetic Mutation. Watch It for the Meme is a desired effect. Photoshop and a sense of humour are affordable and useful enough for that task. Catch phrases and stock phrases are cheaper. Marketers should be wary when treading into the sleeping giant of the Internet, however, as consumers despise paper-thin attempts at viral ads or ads that are demeaning to consumers, and they won't always let you sweep such mistakes under the rug, either. As a further point of advice, note that doing this relatively openly (unless it's an Alternate Reality Game, or "in universe") is less likely to arouse ire. The Colbert Bump is dependent on Viral Marketing. The political equivalent is "Astro Turfing" which is a fake grass-roots movement. See also Alternate Reality Game, Forced Meme, and In-Universe Marketing.
Viral Marketing	fetched	2024-02-19T16:31:32Z
Viral Marketing	parsed	2024-02-19T16:31:32Z
Viral Marketing	processingComment	Dropped link to AlternateRealityGame: Not an Item - FEATURE
Viral Marketing	processingComment	Dropped link to Castle2009: Not an Item - UNKNOWN
Viral Marketing	processingComment	Dropped link to Defictionalization: Not an Item - IGNORE
Viral Marketing	processingComment	Dropped link to DepecheMode: Not an Item - IGNORE
Viral Marketing	processingComment	Dropped link to ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Not an Item - FEATURE
Viral Marketing	processingComment	Dropped link to FiveFiveFive: Not an Item - FEATURE
Viral Marketing	processingComment	Dropped link to InsaneTrollLogic: Not an Item - FEATURE
Viral Marketing	processingComment	Dropped link to MegaCorp: Not an Item - FEATURE
Viral Marketing	processingComment	Dropped link to ShowWithinAShow: Not an Item - FEATURE
Viral Marketing	processingComment	Dropped link to StarWars: Not an Item - CAT
Viral Marketing	processingComment	Dropped link to TropeMaker: Not an Item - UNKNOWN
Viral Marketing	processingComment	Dropped link to UniversalAdaptorCast: Not an Item - FEATURE
Viral Marketing	processingComment	Dropped link to UnwittingPawn: Not an Item - FEATURE
Viral Marketing	processingComment	Dropped link to WhatMeasureIsANonCute: Not an Item - FEATURE
Viral Marketing	processingComment	Dropped link to WordOfGod: Not an Item - FEATURE
Viral Marketing	processingComment	Dropped link to chiptune: Not an Item - FEATURE
Viral Marketing	processingUnknown	TropeMaker
Viral Marketing	processingUnknown	Castle (2009)
Viral Marketing	isPartOf	DBTropes
Viral Marketing / int_109f7814	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_109f7814	comment	Sherlock has four tie-in websites: John Watson's blog, The Science of Deduction (Sherlock's website), Molly Hooper's diary, and Connie Prince's website.
Viral Marketing / int_109f7814	featureApplicability	1.0
Viral Marketing / int_109f7814	featureConfidence	1.0
Sherlock	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_109f7814
Viral Marketing / int_13b6da8c	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_13b6da8c	comment	Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog was advertised almost exclusively by word of mouth online. This proved so effective that the server crashed under the sudden, unexpected load, and when the show was released on iTunes it was the #1 download for five straight weeks.
Viral Marketing / int_13b6da8c	featureApplicability	1.0
Viral Marketing / int_13b6da8c	featureConfidence	1.0
DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_13b6da8c
Viral Marketing / int_14b52449	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_14b52449	comment	2012 has the Institute for Human Continuity, an organization dedicated to preserving the human race and society in the face of the inevitable apocalypse predicted to happen in the year 2012. Apparently, the site was so convincing, that people were fooled into believing the 2012 apocalypse theory was real. 2012 also has sites for John Cusack's and Woody Harrelson's characters.
Viral Marketing / int_14b52449	featureApplicability	1.0
Viral Marketing / int_14b52449	featureConfidence	1.0
2012	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_14b52449
Viral Marketing / int_22e860f4	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_22e860f4	comment	Psych has the Hashtag Killer game, a seven week-long mystery where Shawn and Gus, along with the player acting as their new office assistant, must track down and stop the titular serial killer, who is targeting random followers of Psych's Twitter and Facebook pages. Shawn and Gus communicate with the player through a simulated Facebook feed, and each week, the moderators pick someone from the top of the game's leaderboard to become Hashtag's newest victim.
Viral Marketing / int_22e860f4	featureApplicability	1.0
Viral Marketing / int_22e860f4	featureConfidence	1.0
Psych	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_22e860f4
Viral Marketing / int_24a6dfde	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_24a6dfde	comment	lonelygirl15 is a perfect example, as it was to build hype for a trio of aspiring filmmakers. The resulting notoriety was exactly what they were looking for.
Viral Marketing / int_24a6dfde	featureApplicability	1.0
Viral Marketing / int_24a6dfde	featureConfidence	1.0
lonelygirl15 (Web Video)	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_24a6dfde
Viral Marketing / int_2bb4ae0f	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_2bb4ae0f	comment	Heroes has an appropriately sparse website for the Primatech Paper Company, and a sleeker, more elaborate page on Pinehearst Research.
Viral Marketing / int_2bb4ae0f	featureApplicability	1.0
Viral Marketing / int_2bb4ae0f	featureConfidence	1.0
Heroes	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_2bb4ae0f
Viral Marketing / int_2e621178	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_2e621178	comment	The Good Wife had an In-Universe example in "Red Team, Blue Team". An energy drink company got sued in the death of a teen, and it turned out she'd started buying the drink to lose weight after finding viral marketing posts on a web forum for anorexics.
Viral Marketing / int_2e621178	featureApplicability	1.0
Viral Marketing / int_2e621178	featureConfidence	1.0
The Good Wife	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_2e621178
Viral Marketing / int_331e009	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_331e009	comment	Borderlands 2 had an extensive viral marketing campaign as well, and it was only curbed due to /v/ hating the number of pop culture and Discredited Meme references in it.
Viral Marketing / int_331e009	featureApplicability	1.0
Viral Marketing / int_331e009	featureConfidence	1.0
Borderlands 2 (Video Game)	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_331e009
Viral Marketing / int_34fd3cf6	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_34fd3cf6	comment	The infamous January 31, 2007 Boston bomb scarenote not to be confused with the actual Boston Marathon bombing of 2013 consisted of LED signs featuring Mooninites to advertise the upcoming Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie.
Viral Marketing / int_34fd3cf6	featureApplicability	1.0
Viral Marketing / int_34fd3cf6	featureConfidence	1.0
Aqua Teen Hunger Force	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_34fd3cf6
Viral Marketing / int_36c09ab4	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_36c09ab4	comment	The Square: In-Universe example. Christian, a museum director, is distracted by a bunch of issues in his personal life—his cell phone and wallet getting stolen, a messy affair with a reporter. So he doesn't check the video that an advertising agency makes for "the square", a new piece of art. The video the agency creates is particularly tasteless and backfires on him horribly, going viral in a very negative way.
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Viral Marketing / int_36c09ab4	featureConfidence	1.0
The Square	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_36c09ab4
Viral Marketing / int_386949fa	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_386949fa	comment	Black Dynamite has FightSmackInTheOrphanage.org, an organization to help kids get off smack "because orphans don't have parents".
Viral Marketing / int_386949fa	featureApplicability	1.0
Viral Marketing / int_386949fa	featureConfidence	1.0
Black Dynamite	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_386949fa
Viral Marketing / int_3b73c4a0	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_3b73c4a0	comment	Caprica did this with The Caprican, a fictional online news and lifestyle magazine written in an in-universe style. It has numerous articles and offers an expanded look into life on 12 Colonies. Readers can participate in the website through the comments section and are heavily encouraged to roleplay someone living in the 12 Colonies. It is actually quite fun reading stuff written by some of the more creative commentators who have built themselves an entire persona.
Viral Marketing / int_3b73c4a0	featureApplicability	1.0
Viral Marketing / int_3b73c4a0	featureConfidence	1.0
Caprica	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_3b73c4a0
Viral Marketing / int_3e374b30	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_3e374b30	comment	The Dark Knight Rises exployed techniques, including a similar reveal of Tom Hardy as Bane, as well as "documents" relating to Dr. Leonid Pavel, and wanted posters of Batman.
Viral Marketing / int_3e374b30	featureApplicability	1.0
Viral Marketing / int_3e374b30	featureConfidence	1.0
The Dark Knight Rises	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_3e374b30
Viral Marketing / int_3f231b84	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_3f231b84	comment	Jurassic World has an actual website for the park, complete with schedules, live cam, maps, reviews and factoids on all the dinosaurs. When the movie came out, the live cams were changed to that of people fleeing in panic before fading to static. Thereâ€™s also a page for Masrani Global, the company that ran the park, and the Masrani Backdoor, which had a command line interface that would reveal information on the cloning of the dinosaurs and other franchise history. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom inspired a page for the Dinosaur Protection Group that one of the characters founds. The "Reports" section is full of call backs to the original movies ("incident at Jurassic Park", "a Tyrannosaurus Rex escaped onto the streets of San Diego", "survivors of the plane crash on Isla Sorna during the summer of 2001"). Similarly, a counterpoint website called "Extinction Now" was made shortly before the film was released, which instead advocates for the dinosaurs being killed for the sake of humanity. Jurassic World Dominion completed the trilogy with its own viral site: "DinoTracker", a site made by the DFW after the worldwide dinosaur outbreak of Fallen Kingdom that has information how to deal with dinosaurs and videos of "encounters" around the world. This too was full of call backs and Retcons for the series (revealing the much critiqued inaccurate dropping tail Stegosaurus was due to malnutrition, confirming the quilled raptors were on the mainland, and even having hidden documents revealing Bio Syn's machinations hidden in the site code Long before this trilogy, there was also a website for InGen that tied into The Lost World: Jurassic Park. It had a fake employee manual that acted as though a new park had opened at Universal Studios. Employees were encouraged to spy on each other. There were also documents supposedly about the clean up of the original park that had things like a plot to kill the Brachiosaurs because they were just too big to keep feeding.
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Viral Marketing / int_3f231b84	featureConfidence	1.0
Jurassic World	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_3f231b84
Viral Marketing / int_4447019e	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_4447019e	comment	When ABC aired Kingdom Hospital, the network set up a website for the Kingdom Hospital of Maine. Made to look like a real hospital's website, the pages would start out looking normal enough but would randomly change every time you hit "Refresh" or clicked the back button.
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Viral Marketing / int_4447019e	featureConfidence	1.0
Kingdom Hospital	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_4447019e
Viral Marketing / int_45a29545	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_45a29545	comment	The Secret Saturdays started out as a series of advertisements that consisted of homemade videos of cryptids showing up in otherwise mundane situations, with the URL for a website entitled "Cryptids Are Real", which posed as the website for a periodical of the same name, devoted to recording sightings of cryptids around the nation. Later, a website for a show called "Weird World", which would apparently reveal "the truth about Cryptids", appeared, with corresponding ads. The main characters of the show wouldn't appear in advertisements until about a month after the campaign began. "Weird World" turned out to be the villain's Show Within a Show.
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The Secret Saturdays	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_45a29545
Viral Marketing / int_48338594	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_48338594	comment	As part of the promotional lead-up to the 2015 Muppet series on ABC, reports came to social media and other websites that Miss Piggy broke up with Kermit. Seriously.note This serves as a Spiritual Successor to an early viral marketing campaign that Jim Henson himself was toying with in 1989-90 to repackage Miss Piggy as a quintessential gossip figure. The first stage of the campaign - a People magazine newsbit that also dealt with Piggy breaking up with Kermit - was published on May 14, 1990... then Henson died two days after the issue was published, thus halting the project. And it worked - its premiere got the highest ratings for a new ABC comedy show in the 8pm Tuesday timeslot in all of 2015. Sadly, the hype wore off fairly quickly and the show quietly ended after a retool failed to grab new viewers.
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The Muppets (2015)	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_48338594
Viral Marketing / int_4912d16f	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_4912d16f	comment	Tokimeki Memorial 1: Word of mouth was a key element of its surprise massive success in Japan.
Viral Marketing / int_4912d16f	featureApplicability	1.0
Viral Marketing / int_4912d16f	featureConfidence	1.0
Tokimeki Memorial (Visual Novel)	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_4912d16f
Viral Marketing / int_4b790c7a	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_4b790c7a	comment	Iron Man 2 promotions included commercials for the Stark Expo (even one from 1974).
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Iron Man 2	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_4b790c7a
Viral Marketing / int_4cd21c47	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_4cd21c47	comment	Leading up to the release of Harry Styles's single "Adore You," Columbia Records set up a website and social media advertising travel to a cryptic location called "Eroda" ("adore" spelled backwards). The Internet went searching to discover what this fictional location really was, assuming it was an Alternate Reality Game, before the trailer for Styles' song came out and revealed the island was the center of the music video's story.
Viral Marketing / int_4cd21c47	featureApplicability	1.0
Viral Marketing / int_4cd21c47	featureConfidence	1.0
Harry Styles (Music)	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_4cd21c47
Viral Marketing / int_5425ce75	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_5425ce75	comment	The creators of Grand Theft Auto has long been known to employ In-Universe Marketing online, launching various fake websites tied to the series' in-game universe prior to game releases during much of the early 2000s. One of its more intricate endeavors is a rendition of the Liberty Tree online news website for Grand Theft Auto III, which not only updated monthly with new "news reports" over the course of 2001, but also revealed snippets of the game's backstory in the months leading up to the game's events.
Viral Marketing / int_5425ce75	featureApplicability	1.0
Viral Marketing / int_5425ce75	featureConfidence	1.0
Grand Theft Auto (Video Game)	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_5425ce75
Viral Marketing / int_559e9fc	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_559e9fc	comment	Westworld has several viral marketing websites, often united under the brand Delos Destinations (an in-universe subsidiary of the parent company Delos Incorporated that financed the development of the theme parks). Westworld's subsite is DiscoverWestworld.com, described as "Westworld: A Delos Destination", to go with the mockumentary travel site tone. At Delos Destinations, one can activate the chatbot Aeden and ask him various questions (or just keywords) about different aspects of Westworld and its known sister parks. Based on the events of the episodes and the seasons (during a premiere run), the sites' contents can subtly change and wary. During the broadcast of the second season, when the hosts (androids) of the parks rebel against staff and guests, the viral marketing sites were often depicted to be hijacked by host rebels, inserting creepy and threatening messages to the humans, among otherwise cheerful promo-speak about the park. This extended to the slogan, with the hacked version saying "live without loops" (i.e. android routines) instead of the tantalising "live without limits" aimed at guests. In a fun easter egg, it's possible to access a hidden part of the Delos Corporation site via a specific login, which unlocks the control panel, mailbox and chat of park employees. This hidden employee part of the Delos Incorporated site doubles as an Alternate Reality Game.
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Viral Marketing / int_559e9fc	featureConfidence	1.0
Westworld	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_559e9fc
Viral Marketing / int_5ae0b268	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_5ae0b268	comment	Consider the now-defunct www.whoissuicide.com. Well, to answer the question posed by the address, as the website was flashed for about half a second during every TNA Impact! broadcast, fans soon found out that he was the main story mode character in the franchise's 2008 video game that, since he was an original character, could really be mistreated by the plot. Since then, the character has shown up in-ring portrayed by at least five different wrestlers under the mask. Incidentally, the site originally linked to a then-blank MySpace page that was likely going to be another part of the marketing scheme...until a few posters from 420chan's wrestling board managed to get access to the page and defaced it. The link was removed less than 48 hours later.
Viral Marketing / int_5ae0b268	featureApplicability	1.0
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TNA	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_5ae0b268
Viral Marketing / int_5c667e5	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_5c667e5	comment	SUPERHOT is an interesting invoked example: at the end of the game, the System tells the player that it needs more people to assimilate. It compels you to tell your friends about the game and have them play it for themselves using the phrase "it's the most innovative shooter I've played in years". Naturally, plenty of reviews followed suit.
Viral Marketing / int_5c667e5	featureApplicability	1.0
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Superhot (Video Game)	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_5c667e5
Viral Marketing / int_5db577ba	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_5db577ba	comment	The Dark Knight got a huge viral marketing push, starting with the "I Believe In Harvey Dent" teaser site in 2007 (which showed a pre-production photograph of Heath Ledger in makeup as the Joker, revealed one pixel at a time). Afterwards, tons of sites (over 30, by last count) based on Gotham landmarks, a newspaper (called The Gotham Times), Harvey Dent's campaign and the Gotham vigilantes appeared. The 2007 San Diego Comi-Con had fans dressing up as Joker and going on scavenger hunts to get prizes and reveal more information about the film. This led to pictures and video clips (including the first glimpse of Two-Face) being revealed, and finally, a massive scavenger hunt that ended in a site being revealed where people in several cities across North America could sign up to attend a pre-release screening. Not to mention: Cell phones hidden in cakes hidden in lockers at bowling alleys. Said phones containing messages by Heath Ledger & Aaron Eckhart themselves. "I Believe In Harvey Dent" campaign trucks handing out flyers, t-shirts et al. Certain cities offered free pizzas courtesy of Domino's. Some cities offered a viewing of a "Jokerized" trailer; some lucky people even got to take the reel home.
Viral Marketing / int_5db577ba	featureApplicability	1.0
Viral Marketing / int_5db577ba	featureConfidence	1.0
The Dark Knight	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_5db577ba
Viral Marketing / int_5ec06c65	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_5ec06c65	comment	Jurassic World Dominion completed the trilogy with its own viral site: "DinoTracker", a site made by the DFW after the worldwide dinosaur outbreak of Fallen Kingdom that has information how to deal with dinosaurs and videos of "encounters" around the world. This too was full of call backs and Retcons for the series (revealing the much critiqued inaccurate dropping tail Stegosaurus was due to malnutrition, confirming the quilled raptors were on the mainland, and even having hidden documents revealing Bio Syn's machinations hidden in the site code
Viral Marketing / int_5ec06c65	featureApplicability	1.0
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Jurassic World Dominion	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_5ec06c65
Viral Marketing / int_6059ad6b	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_6059ad6b	comment	In xkcd strip Marketing Interview, an interviewer questions Blackhat's validity in marketing business, seeing as he never led any major campaign. Then he realizes he heard about him through word of mouth, and hires him on the spot.
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xkcd (Webcomic)	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_6059ad6b
Viral Marketing / int_62f94c6	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_62f94c6	comment	The Dark Knight Trilogy: The Dark Knight got a huge viral marketing push, starting with the "I Believe In Harvey Dent" teaser site in 2007 (which showed a pre-production photograph of Heath Ledger in makeup as the Joker, revealed one pixel at a time). Afterwards, tons of sites (over 30, by last count) based on Gotham landmarks, a newspaper (called The Gotham Times), Harvey Dent's campaign and the Gotham vigilantes appeared. The 2007 San Diego Comi-Con had fans dressing up as Joker and going on scavenger hunts to get prizes and reveal more information about the film. This led to pictures and video clips (including the first glimpse of Two-Face) being revealed, and finally, a massive scavenger hunt that ended in a site being revealed where people in several cities across North America could sign up to attend a pre-release screening. Not to mention: Cell phones hidden in cakes hidden in lockers at bowling alleys. Said phones containing messages by Heath Ledger & Aaron Eckhart themselves. "I Believe In Harvey Dent" campaign trucks handing out flyers, t-shirts et al. Certain cities offered free pizzas courtesy of Domino's. Some cities offered a viewing of a "Jokerized" trailer; some lucky people even got to take the reel home. The Dark Knight Rises exployed techniques, including a similar reveal of Tom Hardy as Bane, as well as "documents" relating to Dr. Leonid Pavel, and wanted posters of Batman.
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The Dark Knight Trilogy	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_62f94c6
Viral Marketing / int_68d7b51d	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_68d7b51d	comment	GameScience dice can be found being advertised on sites like the /tg/ board of 4chan, by people who know it's viral marketing and are playing this for laughs.
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4chan (Website)	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_68d7b51d
Viral Marketing / int_69ef92d4	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_69ef92d4	comment	Victoria Hoyt set up a Save the Pearls YouTube account and put up videos in connection with her literary series of the same name.
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Save the Pearls	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_69ef92d4
Viral Marketing / int_6ae6b4c7	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_6ae6b4c7	comment	Pacific Rim: A viral site titled Pan Pacific Defense Corps was set up showing map covering blueprints of Jaegers from around the world and a video showing a kaiju attack. A later update allows you to sign up as a member and take a quiz for your role in the PPDC.
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Pacific Rim	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_6ae6b4c7
Viral Marketing / int_702a974	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_702a974	comment	The viral campaign for Shadow of the Colossus was based around Giantology , a blogger reporting on giant monsters found around the world. The campaign featured videos - both amateur and professional - of five of the Colossi being unearthed.
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Shadow of the Colossus (Video Game)	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_702a974
Viral Marketing / int_75584731	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_75584731	comment	The Tropic Thunder stars parodied this in a skit for the MTV Movie Awards in 2008: Ben Stiller brings Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. to his office to make a viral video to promote their new movie. Via Stiller's invocation of role association and the suggestions of his sullen nephew, most takes involve Po taking Groin Attacks from Iron Man.
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Tropic Thunder	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_75584731
Viral Marketing / int_755b343f	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_755b343f	comment	Halo: I Love Bees for Halo 2 was so covert, Bungie was subsequently forced to put the requisite Microsoft/Bungie copyright data at the bottom of pages for Halo 3's viral marketing campaign, thus dampening the effect. It should be noted that, alongside "The Beast", this thing was pretty huge and sparked a new wave of ARG tie-ins to various merchandise. HUNT the TRUTH, made to advertise Halo 5: Guardians, is done as a series of in-universe recordings. One episode even played messages sent by real life fans, but done in an in-universe style.
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Halo (Franchise)	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_755b343f
Viral Marketing / int_774aac31	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_774aac31	comment	District 9, while being advertised through standard movie trailers (as more of a documentary at that), established websites and social networking pages for both MNU and an unnamed resistance group. Staying completely in character, the website is a detailed satellite overview of what is presumably Jo-Burg complete with highlighted "non-human zones," "Restricted Areas," and reports of possible non-human illegal activity across the city. There is even a sub-page dedicated to a live Community Watch which permits Americans to call in non-human sightings to a hotline and record a message to be displayed on the nationwide map. Not to mention "For Humans Only" signs posted on bus stops in major U.S. cities... In the UK some phone boxes got the same treatment, combined with the previous entry as they included a phone number to report alien sightings. There's also Christopher's Non-Human Rights Blog. There are also quite a few of the aliens who have Facebook profiles. There's even a group called MNU Spreads Lies.
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District 9	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_774aac31
Viral Marketing / int_77582c7b	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_77582c7b	comment	The Blu-Ray/DVD release for X-Men: Days of Future Past has websites for Tendem Initiative and M Underground.
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Viral Marketing / int_791fca45	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_791fca45	comment	BioShock 2 was promoted in-universe style via a complex ARG known as Something In The Sea The website updated daily and went through three phases; in the first, the protagonist, a man named Mark Meltzer, attempted to solve the mystery of a spate of kidnappings of young girls associated with mysterious underwater red lights (hence the site's name). In the second phase, Mark's daughter Cindy was herself kidnapped by the mysterious creature (revealed to be the Big Sister), and Mark became obsessed with untangling the mad riddles of a man named Orrin Oscar Lutwidge, who claimed to have found "True Rapture". In the third phase, Mark set to sea in search of Rapture himself. The game included voice recordings from multiple characters, riddles, puzzles, journals, and all manner of period-appropriate documents. Fans who wrote Mark a letter at the posted address could receive swag such as records of Rapture's anthem, and particularly interesting fan letters were posted on the website as correspondence received by Mark. Later phases upped fan involvement to include objects supposedly washed ashore from Rapture planted on beaches worldwide, book pages and postcards mailed to fans with instructions to get them to Mark, and later weekend-long events requiring the collaboration of fans in multiple states or in one case countries to solve puzzles. At the end, one such event led fans to the BioShock 2 launch party. Fan response to the ARG was strong enough to prompt 2K to add Mark as a character in BioShock 2.
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Viral Marketing / int_7e793c21	comment	Watchmen has begun a small viral marketing movement with a website for fictional newspaper The New Frontiersman. There's also the YouTube channel which releases appropriately old looking footage including an informational pic about the Keene Act and a news excerpt detailing the advances made in the Vietnam war and celebrating the tenth anniversity of Dr. Manhattan's first public appearance.
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Viral Marketing / int_87c6ac8e	comment	Monsters vs. Aliens has started a conspiracy website to subtly plug the movie. This gets a Lampshade Hanging and it's pretty hilarious on its own. (get your commemorative alien coins!)
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Viral Marketing / int_8b7b9cd5	comment	Prior to the wide adoption of the web (1977), the original Star Wars used viral marketing in the SF specialty magazines, which caused enough of a buzz to get picked up by the mainstream media, which actually covered the opening of the movie as a news event.
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Viral Marketing / int_8d7f29ec	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_8d7f29ec	comment	When Glee first came to the Italian network "Italia Uno", they aired some rather awkward bumpers which they dubbed "GLEE-talia Uno!". Mediaset commissioned these bumpers with the intent to intrigue anyone who hadn't found out about the show already via the internet.
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Viral Marketing / int_8d817ccb	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_8d817ccb	comment	Lost did not invent viral marketing, but it did popularize the idea of making fake websites about fictional companies which were then tied into massive online games (including several held between seasons). Fictional websites for Oceanic Airlines, the Hanso Foundation, the DHARMA Initiative, and Ajira Airways have all been created and tied into alternate reality games. The first viral game was the Oceanic Airlines website (now defunct), which had a biography of the company and a full seating chart of Flight 815. Clicking on specific seats or combinations of seats would allow the reader to access pictures, short video/audio clips and background documents. This later led to the "Find 815" campaign (below). The game between seasons 2 and 3, "The Lost Experience," is widely credited as restarting the viral marketing movement after the Blair Witch Project (in fact, some news articles incorrectly claim Lost invented viral marketing in the first place). The game featured real advertisements on television during episodes of Lost for the Hanso Foundation and other fake companies, which linked to websites involved in a global clue hunt to assist a new character named Rachel Blake in exposing the Hanso Foundation's nefarious acts. The game was criticised in its later acts for failing to effectively tie into the show, though it did finally lay to rest what the infamous "numbers" mean. The game between seasons 3 and 4, "Find 815," was more low-key, a simple interactive website with real video clips of new characters searching for the Black Rock. They instead find the "wreckage" of Oceanic flight 815, and this discovery was actually a major plot point in the series. The game between seasons 4 and 5, which never got a true name, involved players being recruited by and taking tests for a remade DHARMA Initiative. However, the game was literally cut short by the September 2008 economic recession, and was replaced by producer interviews in December.
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Viral Marketing / int_8ebd23f4	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_8ebd23f4	comment	For Muppets Most Wanted, several commercials were aired that included "review" quotes from random Twitter users - bad spelling and all. Those accounts were actually set up in tandem with the movie's release.
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Viral Marketing / int_924bb56e	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_924bb56e	comment	Dollhouse had an Alternate Reality Game (it consists of a single website) titled R-Prime Lab. It is about Hazel, a girl trapped in a container being shipped by sea. The container is fitted out with equipment dating back to what was presumably the experimentation that led up the creation of the Dollhouse technology. Video messages from players are read by Hazel on a daily basis, taking hints from the players on how to solve various puzzles that may lead up to a way for her to escape from the container. There is a lot of backstory for the show revealed. Here's a link.
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Viral Marketing / int_961b37e0	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_961b37e0	comment	DC Extended Universe: Man of Steel: Zod's message to the world was released prior to the movie. A site for A.R.G.U.S. (the government organisation Amanda Waller is part of) has been launched in October 2016, seemingly to be updated with future content as the shared universe expands.
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Viral Marketing / int_987ae287	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_987ae287	comment	They did it again for Cars 2: Take a look at Cars N' Deals of Emeryville! (And be on the lookout for secret hidden messages.)
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Cars 2	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_987ae287
Viral Marketing / int_9a8bf274	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_9a8bf274	comment	Command & Conquer: KANE LIVES.
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Viral Marketing / int_a06f4783	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_a06f4783	comment	"What is '"bob's game"'?"
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	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_a06f4783
Viral Marketing / int_a0ae470	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_a0ae470	comment	They dabbled in this for Toy Story 3. Did you know there was a real Lotso toy in the 1980s? It was released in the US and in Japan.
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Viral Marketing / int_a4274674	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_a4274674	comment	Man of Steel: Zod's message to the world was released prior to the movie.
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Man of Steel	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_a4274674
Viral Marketing / int_a75bd1cc	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_a75bd1cc	comment	Smile (2022) had actors donning creepy smiles and a shirt with the film's title sitting behind the home plate in Major League Baseball games, making unknowing sports fans unnerved.
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Smile (2022)	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_a75bd1cc
Viral Marketing / int_a895e9d2	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_a895e9d2	comment	Before the launch of Portal, Valve created a web site for the in-game company Aperture Laboratories, encouraging people to try to guess the username and password and find out more about the game. The site is still up. (Although it no longer functions due to the shutdown of Adobe Flash.) Portal 2 did it again with an Alternate Reality Game which uncovered an interactive BBS.
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Portal (Video Game)	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_a895e9d2
Viral Marketing / int_a895e9d3	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_a895e9d3	comment	Portal 2 did it again with an Alternate Reality Game which uncovered an interactive BBS.
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Viral Marketing / int_abfcff6a	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_abfcff6a	comment	To promote The Bullwinkle Show, Jay Ward and company launched "Operation Loudmouth", a series of outlandish stunts meant to get the word out; these stunts included mailing humorous flyers, staging a mock protest in front of network NBC's headquarters, and holding a block party featuring the unveiling of a Bullwinkle statue (which stood on Sunset Boulevard until 2013 before being returned to its original location in 2020). The most elaborate stunt was the "Statehood for Moosylvania" campaign, which ended prematurely when they tried to get President John F. Kennedy to sign the petition, only to discover that they had arrived at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
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Rocky and Bullwinkle	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_abfcff6a
Viral Marketing / int_af42a07f	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_af42a07f	comment	Serenity, despite being a relatively low-budget film, featured various viral marketing tools, most notably a series of 'interviews' with character River Tam, set before the events of the movie and TV series. As a concession to the (lack of) budget, the interviewer is none other than Joss Whedon himself.
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Viral Marketing / int_b1d8c295	comment	Plants vs. Zombies had a rather successful YouTube campaign with their music video and videos of zombie cosplayers.
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Viral Marketing / int_bbf49802	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_bbf49802	comment	The Purge: Anarchy has the websites for the New Founding Fathers of America party which established the Purge, and the resistance group Purge The Lies.
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Viral Marketing / int_bc3e398b	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_bc3e398b	comment	FOX Television used a very interesting form of viral promotion during the promotion of the first season of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Online ads and episodes of several different FOX shows had a barely-visible pair of glowing red eyes that could briefly be seen before disappearing. These glowing eyes appeared directly after the commercial break for several series, and the appearances were eventually posted online by fans, fueling speculation and driving viewer interest.
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Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_bc3e398b
Viral Marketing / int_be492827	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_be492827	comment	Metroid Prime 2: Echoes had two viral promo sites: "Orbis Labs", a weapons-designer creating a "battle sphere" which soldiers could roll up into (which was stated to be unsuitable for male body types), and "Channel 51", a conspiracy-theory site from "Samantha Manus" of "Sumas, WA" investigating alien footage which consisted of blurred-up clips from the game. A third, "Athena Astronautics", which advertised sending women into space, offered job positions for bounty hunters - 25 people who replied to the offer received a copy of Echoes as an "interactive training manual". There was a secret fourth site involved in Echoes' viral marketing. It was the Luminoth Temple, a special site with forums meant for those that earned access from the other viral sites. Those worthy to gain access could discuss more mature things and games that couldn't be discussed on Nintendo of America's NSider Forums. The Luminoth Temple also was a way for the special fans to connect with the people of Retro Studios. Unfortunately, leaks from the Luminoth Temple (including a leak of an interview about Metroid Prime 3: Corruption) eventually led to this site being closed. You can read up more about the Luminoth Temple from former forum members here.
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Viral Marketing / int_bec45ea2	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_bec45ea2	comment	Elemental â€” War of Magic has a campaign to get users to advertise the game.
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Viral Marketing / int_c01df100	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_c01df100	comment	In the lead-up to the release of The Wall, Capitol Records painted a white-brick wall onto an enormous billboard near their Hollywood and Vine headquarters. For about a month, passersby wondered what this was about. Then, as the release date grew closer, the white brick overlay was pulled off, section by section, until there remained a gigantic replica of Gerald Scarfe's now-iconic artwork.
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The Wall (Music)	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_c01df100
Viral Marketing / int_c19c6efa	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_c19c6efa	comment	Minecraft creator Notch has been accused of this in and out on the board. It's actually entirely possible, but more like Notch was a regular on /v/ and said "hey guys, check out this game I made in Java." Doesn't help that one of the random subtitles on the Minecraft splash screen is "Woo, /v/!"
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Minecraft (Video Game)	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_c19c6efa
Viral Marketing / int_c1d0f909	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_c1d0f909	comment	A site for A.R.G.U.S. (the government organisation Amanda Waller is part of) has been launched in October 2016, seemingly to be updated with future content as the shared universe expands.
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Suicide Squad (2016)	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_c1d0f909
Viral Marketing / int_c3e7ab30	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_c3e7ab30	comment	Prior to the release of Perfect Dark, websites were set up for the Carrington Institute and dataDyne, the two main organisations from the game. Secret passwords allowed viewers to access "restricted" areas of the sites.
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Perfect Dark (Video Game)	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_c3e7ab30
Viral Marketing / int_c43df4d8	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_c43df4d8	comment	The first-to-third new series of Doctor Who were accompanied by a slew of fake websites concerned with aspects of the show. Notably, the Who is Doctor Who website, featured extensively in Series One and Two, and updated with each episode. Series Three had a "Vote Saxon" website, obliquely referenced in the show when one character, being imprisoned by Saxon's agents, almost breaks the fourth wall by yelling at observers, "It's your fault! All of you! You voted Saxon! You did this!"
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Doctor Who	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_c43df4d8
Viral Marketing / int_c720f71e	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_c720f71e	comment	A YouTube video of an attractive woman in a t-shirt and her underwear playing Wii Fit's hula-hoop game with the camera aimed squarely at her backside was accused of being viral marketing by Nintendo. They, of course, denied the claim.
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Viral Marketing / int_c7cca04f	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_c7cca04f	comment	Pushing Daisies has an in-character example of how not to do this, with a character who runs in and shouts about the candy store that opened up across the street, and then denies that he works there, saying "I'm just some guy. Some guy who loves candy!"
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Pushing Daisies	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_c7cca04f
Viral Marketing / int_c86d70b5	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_c86d70b5	comment	Long before this trilogy, there was also a website for InGen that tied into The Lost World: Jurassic Park. It had a fake employee manual that acted as though a new park had opened at Universal Studios. Employees were encouraged to spy on each other. There were also documents supposedly about the clean up of the original park that had things like a plot to kill the Brachiosaurs because they were just too big to keep feeding.
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Viral Marketing / int_ccf875f7	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_ccf875f7	comment	Like the Criminal Minds example above, the team on NCIS once realized that someone was stalking them, killing people, and putting cryptic videos up on the Internet. This was all an attempt to become famous, and several twists ensue. Suffice it to say, they don't get their wish.
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Criminal Minds	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_ccf875f7
Viral Marketing / int_cd899ed6	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_cd899ed6	comment	Breaking Bad is also being held up as a perfect example of the power that social media and internet streaming can have on a series. After struggling heavily in the ratings for years, to the point that the show's continuation was always uncertain, before the 5th and final season, the first four were put on Netflix. From there, superb word of mouth spread like wildfire on social media sites, leading to Breaking Bad breaking its ratings record SIX TIMES in Season 5 and turning the show into an internet phenomenon. The Grand Finale ended up being its most watched episode and the third most watched series finale in the history of cable television.
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Viral Marketing / int_cf10c600	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_cf10c600	comment	Disney's TRON: Legacy got some In-Universe Marketing with Flynn Lives who are looking for long missing Kevin Flynn with support from his son Sam. You can join the site and as rewards for completing parts of it you get swag like pins, stickers, posters, postcards etc. You can complete games and at one point join in crashing an Encom Press Conference.
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TRON: Legacy	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_cf10c600
Viral Marketing / int_d063ec3b	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_d063ec3b	comment	Much of the success of The Blair Witch Project is attributed to the ingenious viral advertising that was used, so much so that is likely the Trope Codifier for the modern age. The viral ads were so convincing that many people to this day believe that the "myth" of the Blair Witch is true.
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The Blair Witch Project	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_d063ec3b
Viral Marketing / int_d8c2cfe4	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_d8c2cfe4	comment	Ant-Man was promoted with tiny billboards carrying the film's name that were placed in a number of cities in Australia and several other countries as well.
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Ant-Man	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_d8c2cfe4
Viral Marketing / int_dc4363c5	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_dc4363c5	comment	HBO's Viral Marketing for True Blood, the show based on The Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries, is here. That's only what's still LEFT. Before the series was released, there was a full-blown Alternate Reality Game on this website which is now sadly just a proto-blog. Now the first website is just an ad for the defictionalized Tru Blood blood orange drink.
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True Blood	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_dc4363c5
Viral Marketing / int_de8fbcb1	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_de8fbcb1	comment	Godzilla (2014): A website titled Godzilla Encounter was set up with pictures and updates referring to Godzilla. Some of the words in each article were highlighted in red to eventually spell SERIZAWA (the name of a character in the movie and the doctor who created the Oxygen Destroyer in the first film). Another site titled M.U.T.O. has two hidden videos that can be "unlocked", as well let a fan input almost every word or term that has any ties to the franchise to get some interesting results.
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Viral Marketing / int_def32a68	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_def32a68	comment	When Argylle was announced, it was said to be an adaptation of a yet-unpublished book by Elly Conway. Nothing was known about the "author", giving her the impression of a Reclusive Artist, before the trailer dropped and it was revealed that Elly was actually Bryce Dallas Howard's character who was writing the in-universe book.
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Argylle	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_def32a68
Viral Marketing / int_df491a0c	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_df491a0c	comment	Angry Birds: To advertise the release of Angry Birds Space, Rovio Entertainment hung a 35-foot-wide Red Bird from a slingshot attached to the Space Needle. Residents of Seattle were encouraged to stop by the Space Needle and try the game for free. Images of this spectacle quickly spread across social networking.
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Angry Birds (Video Game)	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_df491a0c
Viral Marketing / int_e64b0d38	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_e64b0d38	comment	Elfen Lied was actually spread almost completely by word of mouth. Not intentionally, but what happened was pretty much the same.
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Elfen Lied (Manga)	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_e64b0d38
Viral Marketing / int_e79477d2	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_e79477d2	comment	Prior to the steam release of Black Mesa, there was an official website for the Black Mesa Research Facility. In the days leading up to the official release, this intermittantly switched between a test pattern, a fake Emergency Broadcast from the New Mexico Department of Emergency Services, a picture of the G-man, before finally settling on an advertisement/psa for the BMRF.
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Black Mesa (Video Game)	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_e79477d2
Viral Marketing / int_e8970723	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_e8970723	comment	Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom inspired a page for the Dinosaur Protection Group that one of the characters founds. The "Reports" section is full of call backs to the original movies ("incident at Jurassic Park", "a Tyrannosaurus Rex escaped onto the streets of San Diego", "survivors of the plane crash on Isla Sorna during the summer of 2001").
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Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom	hasFeature	Viral Marketing / int_e8970723
Viral Marketing / int_e9887932	type	Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing / int_e9887932	comment	Cannibal Holocaust did something similar to The Blair Witch directly above about 19 years prior. Basically, the film was marketed as being based on a true story and the actors were contractually forced to go into hiding to truly convince people. It worked... a little too well. A combination of featuring real indigenous tribesmen, the onscreen killings of real animals, and realistic onscreen human deaths got director Ruggero Deodato arrested under accusations of having produced a Snuff Film. Deodato had to void the contracts of the actors in order to prove that they were alive and okay.
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Viral Marketing / int_f0c816fb	comment	Breaking Bad had waltswisdom.com for Season One and waltswarning.com for Season Two. Breaking Bad is also being held up as a perfect example of the power that social media and internet streaming can have on a series. After struggling heavily in the ratings for years, to the point that the show's continuation was always uncertain, before the 5th and final season, the first four were put on Netflix. From there, superb word of mouth spread like wildfire on social media sites, leading to Breaking Bad breaking its ratings record SIX TIMES in Season 5 and turning the show into an internet phenomenon. The Grand Finale ended up being its most watched episode and the third most watched series finale in the history of cable television.
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Viral Marketing / int_f3464a68	comment	The rival conspiracy websites run by Leo and Simmons from Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen, The Real Effing Deal and Giant Effing Robots, exist on the real internet, complete with phony YouTube videos of barely-visible Transformers.
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Viral Marketing / int_f3b0b2a3	comment	The viral campaign for The Muppets in 2011 revolved around an entirely fake romantic drama called "Green With Envy", which was promoted (with stars Jason Segel and Amy Adams, and none of the puppets) as a legitimate project, which even had a fake press release and poster drawn up for it. The official trailer was even credited as "'Green With Envy' Movie Trailer", and seems to focus on a pair of star-crossed lovers...until the announcer suddenly starts introducing Muppet characters halfway through, and Segel (in-character) stops the trailer to break the fourth wall and ask if this is a Muppet film! Later online commercials parodied various popular films and shows that were all being released around the same time as The Muppets, and the project got some serious viral promotion.
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Viral Marketing / int_f481d3e4	comment	Prometheus featured an extensive viral campaign which was unique for heavily featuring the main cast members. The promotion included a Weyland Industries website, which showcases the early form of what would eventually become the Weyland-Yutani Corporation (and featured explanations of the film's technology, along with a timeline of past events), a viral game that had players solve codes embedded in the site to unlock new pictures and content, and a series of viral videos that included the TED 2023 Talk (with Guy Pearce playing Peter Weyland) and the "Happy Birthday, David" promo (featuring Michael Fassbender), which was also promoted in the New York Times via a full-page "Meet David 8" ad. The film also had a tie-in promotion with Verizon to get more content by playing interactive games.
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Viral Marketing / int_f554e011	comment	Also, ANYONE who wants to talk about Katawa Shoujo on /jp/ is a KSdev.
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Viral Marketing / int_f5c936a3	comment	The movie Cloverfield was extensively advertised through anonymous videos, MySpace pages, and websites.
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Viral Marketing / int_ff0f0205	comment	The web series Wormtooth Nation relied almost entirely on word of mouth to advertise.
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Viral Marketing / int_ff66c30e	comment	The Muppets put a series of videos on Youtube in a rather blunt form of this. And it's hysterical. Actually, this is a somewhat instructive example of Viral Marketing done well: The Muppet characters were sufficiently adaptable to fit in this context, and the presentation was very much "Found Document", rather than anything that could be construed as Astro Turfing. Here is Cookie Monster trying to make his SNL audition tape go viral so he can become a host. It almost worked: while he still hasn't actually hosted as of 2015, he did appear on the show later that year; when Jeff Bridges hosted a December 2011 episode he invited Cookie Monster to perform "Silver Bells" with him during the opening monologue. As part of the promotional lead-up to the 2015 Muppet series on ABC, reports came to social media and other websites that Miss Piggy broke up with Kermit. Seriously.note This serves as a Spiritual Successor to an early viral marketing campaign that Jim Henson himself was toying with in 1989-90 to repackage Miss Piggy as a quintessential gossip figure. The first stage of the campaign - a People magazine newsbit that also dealt with Piggy breaking up with Kermit - was published on May 14, 1990... then Henson died two days after the issue was published, thus halting the project. And it worked - its premiere got the highest ratings for a new ABC comedy show in the 8pm Tuesday timeslot in all of 2015. Sadly, the hype wore off fairly quickly and the show quietly ended after a retool failed to grab new viewers.
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

Viral Marketing	processingCategory2	Advertising Tropes
Viral Marketing	processingCategory2	Show Business
Viral Marketing	processingCategory2	The Internet
Viral Marketing	processingCategory2	Trivia
Platypus Comix (Blog) / int_c40db9e1	type	Viral Marketing
Pretty Cure Fan Fic Features / Fan Fic	seeAlso	Viral Marketing
Cloverfield / int_c40db9e1	type	Viral Marketing
District 9 / int_c40db9e1	type	Viral Marketing
Nope / int_c40db9e1	type	Viral Marketing
Prometheus / int_c40db9e1	type	Viral Marketing
The Square / int_c40db9e1	type	Viral Marketing
Tokimeki Memorial (Franchise)	seeAlso	Viral Marketing
BioShock	seeAlso	Viral Marketing
In-Universe Marketing	seeAlso	Viral Marketing
WhatTheBleepDoWeKnow	seeAlso	Viral Marketing
I Should Be Writing (Podcast) / int_c40db9e1	type	Viral Marketing
Lie to Me (SK) / int_c40db9e1	type	Viral Marketing
The Boys (2019) / int_c40db9e1	type	Viral Marketing
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Netrunner (Tabletop Game) / int_c40db9e1	type	Viral Marketing
Brink! (Video Game) / int_c40db9e1	type	Viral Marketing
Elemental — War of Magic (Video Game) / int_c40db9e1	type	Viral Marketing
Superhot (Video Game) / int_c40db9e1	type	Viral Marketing
asdfmovie (Web Animation)	seeAlso	Viral Marketing
Welcome to... (Web Animation) / int_c40db9e1	type	Viral Marketing
Sandra on the Rocks (Webcomic) / int_c40db9e1	type	Viral Marketing

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