Have you ever watched a movie trailer that never specifically reference the title of the film they are advertising? A trailer that can go for minutes long, without ever showing any footage from the film? A trailer that is part of an extensive campaign that aims to blend an alternate reality into the real-world, so much so that it becomes hard to distinguish between what’s real and what isn’t?
Yes? Then you’ve watched a trailer which belongs to the newest style of film marketing, the Alternate Reality Game (ARG).
Watch this video to see what I’m on about:
What exactly did you just watch? Believe it or not, a trailer for the upcoming film Watchmen. Up until a blue man known as Dr. Manhattan dismantled a tank with the wave of his hand, one might have easily believed this was real archival footage of a news presentation and not part of a multi-million dollar marketing campaign for a film.
This relatively new style of advertising falls within the definition of an Alternate Reality Game (ARG), which an ever reliable Wikipedia defines as;
“An interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform, often involving multiple media and game elements, to tell a story that may be affected by participants’ ideas or actions.”
This trailer is one of many featured on the website The New Frontiersman, a fictitious tabloid magazine that features videos and documents relating to the Watchmen universe. It’s all part of the game; these videos seldom feature snippets from the film, rather exclusive extras that provide background information on the characters and events. Not only does this make the alternate reality (in this case the Watchmen universe) feel more real and immersive, it’s the beginning of an exciting new style of marketing that sees the movie-going experience extend beyond the confines of a cinema, rewarding those who follow the ARG from their homes with a far more enriching experience. Of course, it also does wonders to a film’s exposure; past films that have employed an ARG marketing strategy have receive an unprecedented amount of buzz as their campaigns went viral online.
Images from the website 1-18-08.com,
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Last year, the film Cloverfield employed an incredibly successful ARG marketing campaign. In an ingenious move, Cloverfield initially release a teaser poster of a demolished Statue of Liberty that didn’t even reveal the name of the film, just the date “1-18-08″. The internet community went rabid trying to work out what film the poster was advertising, with the only lead being the website 1-18-08.com, which eerily features images of missing persons and bloodied whale carcasses. As the movie later made clear, these images foreshadowed the events of the film, which saw a gigantic sea-monster embark on a destructive rampage through New York City. Soon after the films release, other viral websites and videos popped up to provide background to the film’s story; a fictitious Japanese drink ‘Slusho!’ was even created as a movie tie-in, where the drink’s website (now ‘temporarily’ down) had actual merchandise for sale. Those who ordered the merchandise were shipped mysterious memos relating to the film’s storyline, often referring to the fictitious Japanese drilling company Tagruato (whom also have their own website). According to a Youtube video of a fictitious Spanish news report showing the destruction of an oil rig in the Atlantic ocean, Tagruato supposedly awoke the Cloverfield monster during their drilling (see video below).
For more information on the Cloverfield ARG, fans have created a Wiki documenting every known example relating to the extensive campaign, which you can visit here.
So what the newest Alternate Reality Game that you can follow from home? This year, aside from Watchmen, the upcoming film Terminator: Salvation has already initiated its own ARG campaign. By visiting the website www.skynetresearch.com, you can help beta test products from the robotics company SkyNet. Does the name sound familiar? That’s probably because in the Terminator movies SkyNet are responsible for the fall of mankind. So sign up now and help bring forth judgment day!
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The very real website for the
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By simply entering your details, you can request to beta-test their latest product, a Robot Enhancement Module. Amazingly enough, the fake company have actually begun to mail out a limited number of the modules to testers who signed up, all for free. Peter Sciretta of /Film received one of these modules, and filmed the unboxing. You can view the video here.
One can only imagine what such campaigns would cost to implement, partly explaining why the budgets for Hollywood films are continually on the rise. Yet the fact is that ARG campaigns work. Audiences love the interactivity and extension of the movie-going experience ARG’s provide, which then translates into increased ticket and DVD sales.
But ARG’s are also a cause for concern; just how long until it all becomes too real? As the Watchmen news report exemplifies, it’s becoming increasingly easy to confuse marketing for reality. As film marketers continue to push ARG campaigns to the next level, making them all the more extensive and realistic, it won’t be long until the difference between reality and alternate reality becomes indistinguishable. If this happens, the hysteria caused by the infamous 1938 radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds, where listens genuinely believed Earth was actually being invaded, might just repeat itself.
Until then, enjoy getting lost in the next multi-million dollar alternate reality game Hollywood conjures up…
Follow the author Anders Wotzke on Twitter.
