jonathan nguyen

this has been one of those posts that has been sitting as draft in wordpress for a couple of months now.

the idea started out as an excited facebook message (who emails anymore?) from a very dear friend, lisa, who is now living in new york:

“So, there’s something very cool going on here at the moment.

It all centers around a new drink called ‘True Blood’ which is being pushed in every corner store & bodega (including the one in my building)…. but it’s a synthetic human blood, enabling vampires to come ‘out of the shadows’.

The campaign behind the whole thing is big…. I mean REALLY, REALLY BIG…. posters, protests, billboards, fb profiles & even a dating site – it has people talking & arguing BOTH sides of the debate passionately!

I’ve been hearing (drunk) people debating whether the drink is actually synthetic blood & what it tastes like… kind of funny for a fictional beverage (if only another brand> garnered this much attention!)”

the new york times has a complete review of the campaign but the most interesting parts below:

On May 21, HBO and Campfire, a small independent agency founded by two of the creators of the 1999 film “The Blair Witch Project,” began sending cryptic letters in black envelopes sealed with red wax to people who might generously be described as pillars of the goth community: horror film bloggers, subscribers to the horror movie magazine Fangoria and the like.

The letters were written in dead languages like Babylonian and Ugaritic, but — to no one’s surprise — the recipients duly pitched in to translate them. The group effort, carried out on blogs and message boards, led to a macabre Web site guarded by a beautiful vampire, where visitors could view short prequel episodes to HBO’s new series and learn about a product called Tru Blood that obviates the need for vampires to feast on humans.

hmmm. this was intriguing. “i must post about this sometime…”

then a colleague of mine, the very lovely lexy klain posted on the subject of covert marketing, where companies such as mcdonalds and sony engage in much more subtle methods to reach their target audiences.

well out came the post.

clever advertising about a bloody drink, that wasn’t a bloody drink at all, but a t.v. series.

a game that wasn’t a game but branding.

a tourist who wasn’t.

not the first time though right? during the leadup to cloverfield a fairly intricate advertising campaign was woven with hidden clues, starting with a cryptic number shown during the opening of the transformers movie earlier in the year. the entire campaign led users down various internet garden paths where eventually it led them to the movie website. clues were hidden on various websites and in the t.v. series.

i want to ignore the for the moment that the cleverness of these campaigns. i want to also ignore the fact that they treat their target groups as participants and not just eyeballs. what i want to look at the ethics.

what if though, a casino used the same tactics to lure gamblers in? what if big tobacco used the tactics?

i hear the collective oohs and ahhhs. probably not a good move right?

is that because as a society we tolerate, condone and sometimes even laugh at a little storytelling by reputable individuals and organisations? when a less socially acceptable or reputable organisation acts in the same manner, is it seen as a deception?

in essence what i am asking is, is this really a “new media” issue or is it simply a manifestation of an age old issue? will a measure of good judgement be enough to determine whether or not a covert marketing strategy can work for us or against us?

if a stranger on the street came up to me and under the guise of a street performance relieved me of $5 but entertained me, i would laugh, thank him and walk away. if the same stranger offered me a noxious drug as a free sample, i’d call the police.

i think it’s probably that simple.