A Blurred Line Between ARG And Viral Social Media

It all started back in November 2008. Following a 5 year hiatus from the music scene, information started leaking out that Eminem was working on a new album. In and off itself the news attracted some online chatter but nothing was confirmed. However, within a very short space confirmation of the forthcoming album, "The Relapse", began to pop up on various Social Media platforms. Although not in isolation, the most public tool in service was Twitter.

Use of Twitter or other Social Media platforms wasn’t a new move by any means, but the approach most definitely was. Over the course of the following 6 months Aftermath / Interscope Records created a stunningly impactful and captivating campaign. Flitting between Eminem's troubled public past and the new terrifying imaginary world from his latest album, the marketing team dragged fans into an eerie game of hide and seek. Using Twitter, a mix of disturbing thoughts and weblinks were filtered out to the digital community. All of this revolved around a fictional mental institution, Pompsomp Hills, in which the rapper was housed.

Besides the stark and grim mental images tweeted by the star, a number of images were also posted. These included a link to the album's cover, a collage of pills forming Eminem's face; screenshots of an iPhone game set in Pompsomp Hills; and a link to the following trailer for the album’s first single "3 A.M.".



Clearly set in the fictional institution, the video is both disturbing and frightening, as if some sort of demented cross between the Blair Witch Project and a Japanese underground horror. This was the precursor to albums microsite and interactive experience. Both these elements coupled with a “real” looking, amateurish website for Pompsomp Hills brought to life a stunning narrative that almost begged to be real.

Without doubt this was an integrated effort on several key fronts that started a long time before anyone was aware of where it would take them. And although the ‘clues’ were never hard to figure out, and sometimes as simple as a straight forward link, the campaign still stands out as one of note. Fans have been engaged and interacted with on a level that has not only created an exceptional amount of online chatter but ultimately an anticipation that will drive record sales.

Of course this isn't the first time an ARG has been used to promote an album. Most famously, Trent Reznor masterminded (of Nine Inch Nails) the "Year Zero" album release in 2007, that expanded the album's dystopian story line into a full blown audio, visual and mental experience, driven by hidden messages and microsites littered through out anomalously posted images and videos. Unsurprisingly perhaps, recent news has alluded to the concept being turned into a TV show.

Cadbury's Creme Egg: Twisted

In an integrated offline and online startegy, Cadburys have created an absolute craic'r of a campaign. The Cadburys Creme Egg Twisted campaign pulls together a great offline DM invitation with a Social Media driven online fulfillment. The campaign launched with ‘security strongboxs' being sent to all hardcore fans who have been talking about Cream Eggs on various Social Network sites.

The box contained 2 Cream Egg Twisted bars and an empty wrapper. Behind the empty wrapper, fans found a hole in the bottom where a third Twisted Bar had escaped. The boxes challenged the fans to visit the (then) exclusive campaign microsite and become agents of Cadbury's Intelligence Agency. Their task was to then track down the escaped Twisted Bars. After an initial exclusivity for the hardcore fans, online ads also went live directing users to the site.


The microsite utilises a Google Maps interface and clues via Twitter that agents would need to solve to locate the 16 targets, which all needed to be ‘gooed'. Agents were up with a chance to win a holiday in Morocco or a cash prize of £20,000.

The campaign has been developed by CMW, and represents my favourite work of theirs to date.

Dark Night of the Soul

This isn't necessarily the most digital thing I've ever posted about but I had to share. I first stumbled upon Dark Night of the Soul earlier this year through a couple of extremely vague blog posts. Even though information was scant, I will admit that I was seriously excited about what I read. Not only did it seem that the whole project was fronted by Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse's Mark Linkous, two of my favourite artists, but the third major influence and driving force was to be David Lynch, my favourite director of all time.

Essentially Dark Night Of The Soul is a project album with songs written by Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse and a bucket load of the industries most respected singers (with all elements contributing to the overall composition and production). David Lynch comes in providing the 100+ page book of photography that provides the backdrop and narative to the whole project. The album was initially planned to be packaged with the book of photographs and released by the beginning May, but unfortunately in now looks like an offic release has been suspended.

A spokesperson for Danger Mouse has said, "due to an ongoing dispute with EMI" the book of photographs will "now come with a blank, recordable CD-R. All copies will be clearly labeled: 'For legal reasons, enclosed CD-R contains no music. Use it as you will.'"

A pity that's for sure, considering that the artists involved, in addition to Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse, include James Mercer of The Shins, The Flaming Lips, Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals, Jason Lytle of Grandaddy, Julian Casablancas of The Strokes, Frank Black of the Pixies, Iggy Pop, Nina Persson of The Cardigans, Suzanne Vega, Vic Chesnutt, Scott Spillane of Neutral Milk Hotel and The Gerbils.

You can order the book or poster, both without music, from the official Dark Night Of The Soul Web site. If you want to listen to the album (obviously I reccommend that you do!), yopu'll need to pop over to NPR Music.

Star Trek Alternative Reality Game

I've posted several times about the various ARGs that have been created recently. Unfortunately the Star Trek ARG was not something I participated in, and I really wish I had - it looks like it was incredibly well done. Check out this video run through of how the game played.

Colonel Sanders' Privacy

I've posted on Google Street View a couple of times, both about introduction of the service to Ireland and also the comic views that turn up sometimes. As I've mentioned several times, the major topic of conversation has always been about people's privacy when it comes to Google roving around taking photos of them in public. To counter this, Google introduced a feature that automatically blurs out people's faces. Interestingly, it's not fussy as to whether they're a real person or not!

A New Irish Agency: Radical

Thursday saw the launch of a new Irish Digital Agency with the merger of Captivate Digital and Interactive Return, to form Radical. The two companies were already both part of Publicis Media. This move is a clear confirmation of the continued increasing market demand for integrated digital marketing solutions.

Radical describes itself as offering client solutions for search engine marketing, online advertising, search engine optimisation, web design & development, web analytics, email marketing, social media marketing, online public relations, usability, and online marketing training.

"This is a very exciting time for us," commented Martin Murray, Managing Director of Radical. "Offline marketing spend is down 30% in 2009. Due to its greater measurability and accountability, online marketing is still showing steady growth in Ireland. Digital marketing is expected to grow to 27% of total advertising spend in the UK in 2009 and we expect Ireland to follow suit over the coming years."

John Dunne, Strategy Director of Radical said, "This merger makes a lot of sense for our clients. Radical will deliver integrated digital marketing solutions across all online channels."

News of the impending changes was first released as a teaser through the Interactive Return twitter account (now rebranded for Radical) with this post:


From here the following news was then tweeted on Thursday morning at the same time as the Captivate Digital and Interactive Return press conference:



Considering the recent Cybercom campaign in conjunction with Gavin Bate, this is yet another example of Social Media being put to the forefront of marketing. I don't think anyone can question the necessity for companies to pull up their socks and get with the Social Media (and Digital) program. It ain't going away, and is going to continue to increase in importance and prominence.

Good luck to the guys in Radical!

BBC's 'The Cut'

The BBC has confirmed the launch of it's latest youth orientated tv programme, 'The Cut'. The show takes the form of 5 minute online episodes with a weekly TV omnibus on BBC Two.

Tapping into the recent trend of online youth programming such as 'Kate Modern', the show has been a collaberative development between BBC Switch and 'EastEnders' writer Al Smith. Interestingly, both Pete Gibson and Sarah Walker, 'KateModern' producer and director respectively, are also involved with the show.

The BBC describes the production system as using "the latest tape-free digital video cameras and edited in house" allowing the show to be "fast and reactive, with an efficient digital production process allowing capture and broadcast to be just a few weeks apart." The main objective from this is that they will use viewer feedback to make decisions on future storylines and to choose new characters. All-in-all it sounds like an exciting idea at least.

Geoffrey Goodwin, head of BBC Switch, said: "This series reflects the way many young people want to consume content. We've united top British writing talent with the freshest and newest interactive ideas to make appointment to view content for soap loving British teens. The story is fast paced and relevant to young audiences, with secret crushes, family dramas and plenty of intrigue. The writing is quick, witty, and knowing, rich with pop culture references and with storylines suggested by teens themselves."

The show currently has an active discussion board to talk about the proposed storytline, as well as a form to drop in your email address to get notified of when it's all starting.