Viral marketing

Necronomicon

I've become a bit fascinated with the idea of viral marketing lately. Warner Bros campaign for The Dark Knight really intrigued me, and that was the first time I actually heard the term. I checked it out on Wikipedia and I didn't realise the amount of stuff they did:

42 Entertainment began a viral marketing campaign in May 2007, with the launch of a website featuring the fictional political campaign of Harvey Dent, with the caption, "I Believe in Harvey Dent". Their aim was to interest fans by having them try to earn what they wanted to see. A "vandalized" version, "I believe in Harvey Dent too", was also set up, where e-mails sent by fans slowly removed pixels, revealing the first official image of the Joker. The page was replaced with many "Haha"s and a hidden message that said "see you in December". During the 2007 Comic-Con International, the website WhySoSerious.com was launched, sending fans on a scavenger hunt to unlock a teaser trailer and a new photo of the Joker.
A viral website for The Dark Knight had photos sent in by fans of letters they had been directed to, uncovering the Joker's message, "The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules." After the death of Heath Ledger, the puzzle now contains a black ribbon.
A viral website for The Dark Knight had photos sent in by fans of letters they had been directed to, uncovering the Joker's message, "The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules." After the death of Heath Ledger, the puzzle now contains a black ribbon.

During October 2007, WhySoSerious.com showed an animated jack-o'-lantern whose mouth was shaped like a bat logo. The jack-o'-lantern had a candle that melted as time progressed, and half of the pumpkin's face also deteriorated. On October 31, 2007, the viral website changed into another scavenger hunt with hidden messages, instructing fans to uncover clues at certain locations in major cities throughout the United States and to take photographs of their discoveries. The combined clues resulted in showing a new photograph of the Joker from the film and a one-line audio recording from Ledger as the Joker. The completion of the scavenger hunt also led to another viral site called "Rory's Death Kiss", where fans could submit photographs of themselves costumed as the Joker at various landscapes. Those who sent photos were mailed a copy of a fictional newspaper called The Gotham Times, the online version of which led to the discovery of numerous websites.

Cloverfield had a pretty cool viral marketing campaign as well, where they released the teaser trailer without the name of the movie.

Any other cool ones?

failsafe

Practically every company are doing it these days!

The best that I can think I've seen over the last few years was the LOST experience (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lost_Experience).

In Ireland Powerade did a good email one with Paul O'Connell and Vodafone did one similar with Bosco. Snickers are using many viral elements in their "Get More Nuts" Mr T campaign too.

zAbbo

Blair Witch Project...