I'm Officially Not Following This Anymore

I started following the "Test Subjects Needed" viral marketing campaign because I originally thought that it was for "The Dark Knight Rises." Then I realized that it wasn't, but Terry O'Quinn from "Lost" was part of it, so I was still intrigued. But then it just got way too smart for me. So I just stopped following it. You can check out movieviral.com if you want to know what is going on with that campaign.

Here are my thoughts: I think that it is really cool that "Test Subjects Needed" trusted its fans enough to leave a lot of stuff up to them. However, if it becomes too smart, I tend to shut down. Which is what happened. I think the creators have to walk a fine line between trusting the fans and helping us out, but the creators of this campaign trust the fans WAY too much. And I think that is a problem. Plus, let's look at what they are doing the campaign for. You'd think it was for a video game or a movie with how intricate it is. But no, it's for gum. Really? Know your product, people.

Rant over.

I'm Not Smart Enough For This

I cannot claim any credit for figuring this stuff out. This viral marketing is WAY too over my head, but it is pretty interesting. On this website, they posted a recap of what happened so far. I'm still trying to make sense of it - so check out that website and I'll post my thoughts on it later.

Countdown Clock Leads to.... Another Countdown Clock!?! - UPDATE X2

The countdown clock on "Survival Code - The Genesis" finally reached zero!

If you click on the countdown clock, this is what you get:

I went to my profile but there were no new log files... yet. Now if you click on the countdown clock, you get this message:

So this countdown clock (which was the result of a countdown clock two weeks ago) leads to ANOTHER countdown clock?!? This is getting to be a bit much, right? Stay tuned!

UPDATE #1 - Now if you click on the countdown clock, you are taken to a page that looks like this:

Here's a closer image:

I have no idea what this is...

UPDATE #2: Still no idea what is going on, but the forums are blowing up with all sorts of ideas. People have tried overlaying this image on maps, star charts, navigation charts - you name it. Here is a screen shot of one of the ways people are trying to figure this thing out:

I'll keep updating this post as I find out more information...

Wrigley's 5 Gum is a Part of This Campaign Afterall

ust a real quick post - I finally have hardcore evidence that shows that the "Test Subjects Needed" viral marketing campaign is related to 5 Gum. What is my proof? I bought a pack of the gum, and what should appear right on the front of the package but Mr. Icefly himself.

Can you see him flying around behind the 5? I have other proof as well, but it is super late and I am very tired. I will post more about it tomorrow. But I have to end with this - while, it turns out, this might be affiliated with 5 Gum, I don't think that the TSN campaign is specifically for 5 Gum. I just think that they are working together. This is way too intricate and complicated of a campaign to just be for gum. Sorry Wrigley, but it's not even great gum. So the jury is still out as to who the campaign is actually for. Batman has to have minty fresh breath, right???

Survival Code and the Traelek Institute

I know I'm a little bit behind the times, but we hit a huge milestone during the whole Mission Icefly Rescue event that I wasn't able to post about because there was so much going on. This site has finally passed the 1,000 site hit mark! In fact, because viewership of my dorky little blog has increased drastically recently, we are currently at 1,290 site hits! Thank you so much for your continued support and I follow my two passions: Batman and advertising.

As I posted about recently, Mission Icefly, it seems, is over. We have rescued the Icefly from the different US cities and he seems to be safe and sound in a few lucky people's homes. That website lead to the next leg of the viral campaign: Survival Code. If you put in your log in information on that website, you are taken to your account page, shown below.

There are a lot of things to take away from this new webpage. At the top is your profile information (yes, my username is TheMarkKnight... Don't be jealous), and if you have filled out your profile all the way back at the Test Subjects Needed page this should be 100% complete. There is also an achievements section, of which there only seem to be two. Also, there is something about putting in a key code, but everything I have tried to type in so far does not work.

At the bottom right hand corner of the page, there are five comic book looking pages, each of them spouting the same info about the human senses and potential that Terry O'Quinn was saying in the video on the Survival Code website. Here are the comic book pages:

I don't really know what the purpose of those pages are, but if you look at the one with the drawing of O'Quinn, there is mention of the Traelek Institute. After searching for that institute on Google, I came across this website:

There is some basic information about the institute on the webpage, and then it says, "feel free to peruse the site," but there is nothing to peruse, yet. However, at the bottom of the page there is a telephone number. If you call that number it seems to be the main line of the Traelek Institute itself. They have you do a little word association quiz (to which you can leave your answers after the beep) but that is about it. They have you come up with the first thing you can think of when you hear the words decoy, ascent, blameless, and misguided. Besides that phone number, there is nothing else of any significance on that website. However, if you add each of those words, one at a time, to the end of the URL, you are taken to a new site. For example, www.traelekinstitue.com/decoy leads to this image:

At the bottom of that image (not pictured here), it says "sometimes It's necessary to sacrifice riches for salvation." Here are the rest of the pages, in no particular order. The last one is a brochure for a fictional academy, but a Google search of that academy yielded no results.

Here's my take on this whole campaign: MovieViral maintains that this is a campaign for Wrigley's Five Gum. I think that it is way too intricate and involved to just be a campaign for chewing gum. They even have a big name actor like O'Quinn as a part of this campaign - that's big bucks for gum, in my opinion. Do I think it is for "The Dark Knight Rises?" I haven't ruled that out yet. It's looking like it probably isn't, but I've been wrong before. I guess we will have to just wait until July 15 to figure anything else out about this intriguing campaign. The thing that will convince me the most that this is not part of TDKR is if something big happens with that marketing campaign between now and July 15. If nothing happens, however....

Maybe Mission Icefly IS for "The Dark Knight Rises," After All...

I know I've posted a lot today, but a thought just occurred to me. Remember the new countdown clock on the "Survival Code" website? Well it is set to get to zero on July 15th, at 1:00 pm. Guess what movie comes out on that day? "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2." And guess what teaser trailer is set to show before that film? The very first trailer for "The Dark Knight Rises." It is a huge coincidence - almost too big to go unnoticed. I know I've gone back and forth, but maybe this whole "Test Subjects Needed" business is part of the marketing campaign for the next Batman film. If so - John Locke in a Batman film? Genius. The guy is a very talented actor. Stay tuned as I try to find out some more information.

New Website Launched (Part of Mission Icefly)

If you watch the weird video on the Mission Icefly rescue page, towards the end a URL flashes on the screen. The URL leads to a website called "Survival Code - The Genesis."

The full video is posted at the bottom of that website. If you watch that video and wait until the very end, there is a little interactive clip that you can participate in (hint: just follow the icefly). This little clip leads to ANOTHER countdown clock - this one ending in two weeks. I guess that is all we will find out for now, but I am definitely interested in what is going on with this campaign. No way it is for gum, right?