Total Recall
This is a comic where Omar and I were on two different pages and decided to cut and paste the best parts of the pages onto one, nice, pretty page. I’m very pleased with the results.
Part of the inspiration for today’s comic is this viral video site for the upcoming Terminator movie sequel which has only recently been discovered by the mainstream entertainment media. I thought it kinda funny that viral marketing like this runs the risk of being so well-implemented that it could go unnoticed by its target audience because it’s presumed to be real. Once one takes the initiative that most of these sites require, the connections being made between the viral and the actual entertainment become readily apparent, but what happens to viral sites that no one explores? I know marketing departments probably put out press releases or whatever to prevent that, but what happens if that doesn’t work? Is there a viral marketing heaven? Hell? Island of lost videos?
Viral like a Virus
I’m of two minds about viral campaigns — if it’s for something like a J.J. Abrams movie, where you know part of the appeal is going to be the layers of onion-like mystery and mythology built around something, then there’s some value to it. In fact, with some properties, that might be where MOST of the value lies.
On the other hand, after Cloverfield, I imagine we’re gonna see a lot of stealth marketing that is not done nearly as well and points to a product that’s not worth the trouble.
I seem to recall this comic coming out of the idea that we might have stolen an idea and then forgotten we stole it and tried to fool ourselves into thinking WE originated it. We thought it was funny that someone might be outraged that someone stole something that they themselves didn’t remember stealing in the first place.
That’s not the comic we ended up with, but sometimes you gotta make a few detours to get to where you’re going.
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