von Roland Hachmann | Mai 22, 2007 | Ad News, Blog, Digital Marketing, Marketing, Online Advertising
It is amazing. A viral campaign apparently already started for a movie, that will launch in 2008. That is at least 7 months down the line. I wonder how early is too early?
But, given the fact that it is a viral campaign, they need some time for spreading it.
There is a good overview about what has happened so far over here.
It seemed to have started with a static site, then some unbranded posters appeared in some US cities. Then:
Within 48 – 72 hours, all of the posters in major cities were defaced to resemble the image seen at the URL I Believe in Harvey Dent Too. If you went to that URL the site would ask for your email address. After you submitted (reusabale database anyone?) you were sent an email with the coordinates for a pixel that you could removeBatman4 from the site.
With users able to remove just one pixel each, a viral effort was underway to spread the word to get others to register and remove a pixel. In less than a day, thousands and thousands of unique visitors had visited the site to remove a pixel – ultimately revealing the face of the new Joker, Heath Ledger.
And then it goes on even more – I suggest you go here to continue to read. Really cool stuff – reminds us of „Snakes on a plane„
von Roland Hachmann | Mai 22, 2007 | Ad News, Blog, Digital News, Online Advertising
This is another funny idea from Axe. A small microsite made to look like a freaky beachcam website.
The temperature adjustment for the shower is hacked and you can controll it from the website. A live cam shows you the reactions of the women.
It’s great, there always seems to be bright sunny daylight, and plenty of women wanting to take a shower. Every time you log on, there is always one showing up to take a shower. Go try for yourself. There even is a nice ending to this.
I like the way the site is somewhat trashy. White font on black background including (fake) Google AdSense, just like a cheap hacker site might look like. Art Directors might hate it, but hey…
(via Adverblog)
von Roland Hachmann | Mai 21, 2007 | Blog, Digital Culture, Social Media Marketing
OK, regular blogs won’t have any influence on mostly nothing. But here is a story about Egagdget – the top blog worldwide according to technorati – which posted a story, apparently without solid research on the information, something most bloggers forget about… Only this time, it cost 4 billion dollars:
Last week, technology blog Engadget wrongly reported that the FCC had failed to grant Apple a license for its iPhone. When they published a report based on a hoax Apple employee email that was sent to the offices of Engagdet it caused a drop in Apple stock by $4 billion. When they found out their mistake, Engadget quickly apologized and stock rose again when Apple finally announced that the FCC had approved the phone. The lack of fact checking by blogs has stirred the journalist vs blogger debate yet again.
Question is: will Bloggers have to face this responsibility? Do they have the same obligations as main stream media, only because they have a similar sized readership? Before, I would have doubted this, but reading that story, I don’t know. But where do you draw the line? At a 1.000 readers per day? Or more than 1.000 links on technorati? What is the threshold for moral obligations?
von Roland Hachmann | Mai 20, 2007 | Blog, Digital Culture
TechCrunch lists the many german copycats of web 2.0 sites. Didn’t know there were so many. And it makes you wonder: How come that we moved from a nation of thinkers and inventers to a nation of copycats?
“Web 2.0†is a term that brilliantly translates around the world, but many of the sites that are commonly associated with it have a language barrier for international audiences […]. While English certainly isn’t foreign to Germans, it has still slowed their adoption – and network effects, which have been a driving force, are often tied to language and reach as well. What’s been the consequence in Deutschland? A mushrooming of German copycats that have localized and copied their US role models, sometimes down to the last pixel.
But is not only about the adoption amongst users. It is also our inhibiting environment:
In short: Germany is buzzed right now and the biggest question for the startup scene is how the many look-alikes will develop over the next year. You’ll often hear that investors are hesitant to invest in ideas that “haven’t been proven in the US yet†but there are several other factors at work here: Germany is generally more risk-averse, the bureaucracy is more cumbersome, and entrepreneurial networks like Silicon Valley aren’t as strongly developed.
Sad, but true.
von Roland Hachmann | Mai 17, 2007 | Blog, Digital Marketing, Online Advertising
Dish your dirt is a small „viral“ online campaign site for Gavin & Stacey, apparently a UK sitcom or something like that. It asks you around 10 questions on embarrassing or stupid things you might have done at the office, at parties, etc. The nice thing is a little shocker at the end, which reminds me of a couple of joke *.exe files that were sent around a few years ago. Unfortunately the bad quality of the screenshot gives it away (you’ll see what I mean once you’ve gone through it).
From a marketing perspective there is an intelligent feature in it. While you wait for the „time consuming“ calculation of the results of this survey, you get to see a short trailor clip of the show… Something you might otherwise not have watched.
Wo ich sonst so bin...