Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Shark Week Viral Marketing Frenzy Decrypted
As I was pulling out of the driveway this morning I nearly hit the FedEx delivery guy because I didn't see him as I was backing up. He certainly saw me and waved me on and pointed to my house, because he had a delivery to make. I thought it was odd since I know we haven't purchased anything online lately since we have started our new budget but I headed down the road anyway. About 2 minutes later I get a call from Shannon telling me that I got a next day air delivery from FedEx. I asked her if it was a book, I get a lot of books sent to me, but she said it wasn't and that it was in a large box. So I told her I'd turn around and be there in two minutes.I arrived at the house and picked up the box and was surprised at how large it was, 12 inches tall by 12 inches wide. I assumed it was a viral marketing pitch by this agency named "Campfire Media" but I had no idea what it was. The from address on the shipping label was:
FrenziedWaters.com
Campfire Media
62 White Street, 3E
New York, NY 10013
This certainly wasn't an address (physical or website) that I recognized so I was even more intrigued. I was especially intrigued since the package said "fragile, handle with care" which is not the norm for most viral marketing deliveries.
What was in the box?
Interestingly enough there was a note (printed but with a handwriting font) and a sea glass jar (complete with faux rusted lid and glass that had been frosted by months at sea and it contained different items. Unlike some other people, the kind folks at the Discovery Channel responsible for Shark Week, did not send me an obituary like they did JoBlo. But he and I did get all of the other items. Here's an inventory of what the rusted sea glass bottle contained:
- 1 rusted boat key with a keychain for Discovery Marina SW09 (get it? as in Discovery Channel Shark Week 2009?)
- One pair of baggies (swim trunks for the non surfers out there) with the left leg tattered and torn and bloodstained (obviously from a shark attack)
- A faux Great White shark tooth attached to a copper keychain with the www.frenziedwaters.com url stamped into it (I'm not sure where they had these made but this keychain is top notch, the copper is even oxidized (good job folks)
- A paper warning sign that reads "BEACH CLOSED SWIM AT YOUR OWN RISK, FOR DETAILED CLOSURE INFO, CALL: (386) 675-0342 (the 386 area code includes the location in Florida where we see the largest number of shark attacks in the world, so the use of a 386 area code on this sign was quite nice. If you call this number you'll get a well produced recording about shark attacks, I highly recommend calling 1 (386) 675-0342 and hearing the message.
- A note on frenziedwaters.com stationery in a hand written font. I included the note on the stationery below.
Hand Written (not really) Note From frenziedwaters.com SW09
This jar holds a story -, the story of a single tragic accident, the details of which need to be unlocked. Dive in, investigate the evidence, and uncover what lies beneath the surface at frenziedwaters.com, part of an online experience leading into Discovery Channel's Shark Week.Now that we've gotten through all of the tedium of Shark Week 09's viral marketing campaign, I'll put up a follow up entry in an hour or so that breaks down the campaign and what works and doesn't work and how well we should expect this to perform over the next 7 days.
Posted By Jason Dowdell at 04:01 PM
Permanent Link: Shark Week Viral Marketing Frenzy Decrypted
| Comments (1)
Subscribe to The MarketingShift Feed