On Monday, May 21st, we launched ‘The Battle Over Promicin’, a campaign for the fourth season of USA Network’s ‘The 4400′. Promicin is a substance that either kills those who inject it within 48 hours or gives them an extra-human ability. At the end of season three, Jordan Collier (one of the show’s main characters) releases 17,000 doses of the substance to the public. ‘The Battle Over Promicin’ tells the story of what happens from the time the shots are distributed and leads directly into the events of the fourth season premiere episode.

Right now, we have three sites up (four counting the ‘rabbit-hole’ at USA’s The4400.com): PromicinTerror (an anti-Promicin site), PromicinPower (a ‘pro’ site) and PromicinInfo (a neutral debate site). Leading up to the season premiere, we’ll add three more sites and update the sites 2-3 times a week with more videos, articles and essays. Ultimately, ‘The Battle Over Promicin’ will have a couple hundred pieces of content plus live events, wild postings and murals. But the thing we’re most psyched about is the user-generated stuff; a big part of the campaign invites fans to create their own characters (via text, photos, video, whatever) and gives them a chance to have their characters inserted into the 4400 Universe. After two days, we already have over two dozen submissions and we hope to get the first fan-made characters inserted into the story as early as today.

So far, the fans seem to be diggin’ what they’re seein’. Next week, we start reaching out beyond the fan-base with banners, blog-ads, and, hopefully, some on-air.

Technorati Tags: Campfire, Viral Marketing

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John Gaffney writes in iMedia Connection that “Agencies are OK: Blame the Brands!” In the editorial, Gaffney takes brands to task for not being clear on what they want from agencies in the areas of new media and interactive. While it’s a comforting thought for many in the industry, I’m not buying it for a second. Shifting blame is easy, but it’s ad agencies who should be pushing and challenging their brands, not the other way around.

It is our responsibility to understand new marketing and guide our clients appropriately and successfully through the “interactive fog.”

[Image from Despair.com]

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Believe it or not, this fantastic video about the relationship between advertisers and consumers came from Microsoft! Even better, it’s not just another “viral video” but an actual conversation starter — and it’s working.

Bravo to Geert Desager who commissioned the video, and be sure to check out his blog, Bring the Love Back. [via AdFreak]

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Ars Technica reports on the effect of banner ads on consumers. Research shows that while repeated exposures to banner ads can create positive feelings in consumers, those feelings are not backed up by any positive evaluation. In other words, banners might work for impulse purchases, but without greater context you won’t earn true consideration.

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Pontiac and Motorati have now moved to number one among brand Islands in Second Life!

Technorati Tags: advertising, automobile, Campfire, car culture, marketing, Marketing News, Second Life, social media, Virtual Worlds

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And Pontiac is ranked Second Most Popular Second Life Branded Site via Linden Labs stats:

As well as reviewed as number two overall by Computer World Magazine:

And finally, most important, some great quotes from the Second Life audience:

Technorati Tags: Award Shows, Campfire, Marketing News, Second Life, social media, Virtual Worlds

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It’s an interesting time for corporate builds in Second Life. The days of the buzz chasing, PR focused campaign are gone, and now marketers have to really dive in and discover what virtual worlds are really about.

Unfortunately, much of the conversation in the advertising industry to date is just arguing over the merits of Second Life by holding it to the same standards as traditional mass media platforms like TV and print. It’s far more productive, and interesting to examine how these virtual worlds offer entirely new ways of connecting with people.

Besides, most of the arguments are simply rehashes of the arguments against Internet and web marketing in the nineties. I prefer to think about what these new platforms offer over the traditional channels, and how that should change our entire thought process about marketing in these spaces.

Virtual World platforms, right now, are the worst they will ever be. With each new development — faster bandwidth via advancements such as Verizon’s FiOS network, more powerful computer processors, and better user interfaces — virtual worlds will only become stronger, drawing more and more people to them.

On the flip side, TV, print, radio, and other static, disruptive channels have already seen their best days and continue delivering diminishing returns. The same technological advancements pushing virtual worlds into mainstream usage are also responsible for chipping away at the value of those once dominant platforms.

But the key difference is that virtual worlds, while constantly changing, are persistent. Most marketers think in terms of limited engagement campaigns, but the real power of virtual worlds is in a sustained, long-term engagement. I’m talking years, not months. Long after that hugely expensive TV buy has been spent, and your 30 second spot has left the airwaves (and consumers’ memories) for good, your virtual world campaign, if done right, will still be there, engaging people, growing, and adding value. It is a Long Tail strategy. Of course in order to get there, you have to stop applying both the old rules and the old measurements to the new platform. You can’t just market to virtual worlds, you have to join them.

Since I’m more a practitioner than theorist, (and theory follows practice anyhow), Monday I’m going to post about our approach, in collaboration with Leo Burnett Detroit and Second Life development company Millions of Us, in bringing Pontiac to the virtual world platform of Second Life, and how it was (and still is) significantly different from other brand initiatives in the virtual world.

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Alan Schulman writing in MediaPost has a terrific piece on the challenges facing conventional agencies as they try to adapt to the New Marketing environment. (We’ve talked here about some of the same issues before.)

Different Channels Demand Different Creative Skill Sets

Posted April 30th, 2007 by Alan Schulman

The velocity at which new media channels are appearing of late is almost dizzying, as creative agencies try to contemplate the best way to execute against each one. Some are putting serious thought into how to reengineer their creative departments to handle both offline and online work - and lose the wall between the two. But others are still taking a more casual approach and leaving all things digital to the “interactive guys” to do. After all, they have more important “big-brand ideas” to ponder.

If you’re a marketer considering which of your creative partners is best to develop compelling branded experiences for these fast-appearing new channels — be it for branded widgets or “World of Warcraft” — here are some things to consider…

More…

Technorati Tags: Advertising Agencies, Campfire, marketing

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