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=**The Newfrontiersman – Warner Bros.**=



The Newfrontiersman was an online campaign run by Warner Bros. to promote their new blockbuster film ‘Watchmen’. In ‘Watchmen’, the Newfrontiersman was the most popular newspaper everyone preferred, much like New York Times.The Newfrontiersman site acts like an online newspaper reporting news pertaining to the ‘Watchmen’ universe. The site does an exceptional job in producing a wide variety of content that visitors of the site can consume, and adds depth to the ‘Watchmen’ universe. The idea of seeing this universe unfold can cause raucous excitement from fans of the graphic novel, and send enthusiasm for the upcoming film release through the charts.

Some of the content posted on the website are leaked government documents pertaining to the destruction of Vietnam, old posters advertising Adrian Veidt’s ‘Unforgettable’ cologne, as well as plenty of photographs of the Watchmen documenting their lives in the 20th century. There are pictures of Dr. Manhattan in Vietnam as the Vietnamese surrender to their knees, pictures of Dr. Manhattan on the moon during the Moon landing as well as even short news report videos on Dr. Manhattan (shot just like a 1980s ad would look like!). The attention to detail in all of these pieces creates a layer of authenticity and involves viewers to participate in the discourse and the Watchmen universe.

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The design of the Newsfrontiersman is clean and visually appealing. A copy of the papers can be seen behind what looks like an open portfolio where all the content is located. It’s as if we’re sitting in someone’s desk and gendering at things that we have no business looking at. There’s definitely a cool factor at play here that makes it seem like we’re active participants in helping uncover this mystery taking place. Being a huge Watchmen fan, I was overcome with tremendous glee like a kid in a candy store upon hearing news that such a viral site existed as I literally spent hours on end trying to scour the web for any Watchmen film related news I could get my hands on.

The target audience for the site is most obviously Watchmen fans who have read the novel before and are familiar with the universe. I showed my friend the site who had not yet read the graphic novel, but was excited to see the film but the site didn’t illicit the same response from him as it did to me. The viral site is an obvious love letter to the fans by Warner Bros. The film was backed by a tremendous marketing campaign online and offline much similar to the Dark Knight marketing campaign (also by Warner Bros.) It was said that the Watchmen borrowed quite a few elements from the Dark Knight online ad campaign in order to generate the same success in the box office but they came up short as the appeal of the Watchmen wasn't as universal as Batman's.

Nonetheless, the Newsfrontiersman became a site that all Watchmen aficionado's were appreciative of. Through the site, Warner Bros. added a layer of depth in the Watchmen universe. Fans checked daily for new content to pop out, for new video diaries, new easter-eggs on the site etc. Warner Bros. created an engaging online discourse through the Newsfrontiersman which in turn generated buzz for the film. I was thoroughly captivated throughout its run, and made the wait for the film much more shorter.

http://www.thenewfrontiersman.net/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/thenewfrontiersman/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCpl3MLVwUc
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=Tiger Woods Walks on Water - EA Sports=

Levinator25: media type="youtube" key="h42UeR-f8ZA" height="390" width="480"

EA Sports Response: media type="youtube" key="FZ1st1Vw2kY" height="390" width="480"

The Tiger Woods 'Walk On Water' video is an online campaign created by EA Sports as a response to a fan created video which exposed a serious glitch in the golf simulation title. The video shot by a fan showed Tiger Woods teeing off from a body of water something that's obviously physically impossible even by Woods' standards. The gamer known by his screen name as 'Levinator25' decided it was best to post the video online to poke fun at EA. The video received hundreds upon thousands of hits from the moment it was posted. The video was posted on gaming websites such as Kotaku, 1UP, IGN and became circulating in message boards from around the world, it became an instant overnight sensation.EA caught wind of this video floating around and decided to do some ingenious damage control. They shot a short commercial spot that featured Tiger Woods hitting his ball in a nearby lake. He looks flustered and takes off his shoes and socks, and does the unthinkable... he walks across the lake and tees off a perfect eagle. Text appears that reads 'It's not a glitch, he's that good' is a nice counter jab to Levinator25's video.

Moments after EA posted up the video, people applauded EA for their sense of humour, and their wit. The response video has reached 5.6 million viewers to this day and has definitely boosted the image of the company not only to the eyes of gamers, but as well as fans of Tiger. My Dad who is a really big golf fan thought the commercial was brilliant. I think what everyone finds appealing about the whole ordeal is the fact that EA could've just as easily dismissed Levinator25's video but the fact that they took time out of their busy schedule to film a rebuttal video just shows how EA sports values our opinions. With this video, they certainly did some damage control and gained legions of fans as well.

I believe this 'glitch' was the best thing that could have ever happened to the game. In an advertising standpoint, I honestly think that EA's rebuttal video is much more effective than a standalone game trailer would be because it's something new, and unexpected. It's fresh and creative and those are some of the values that keeps brands relevant these days in the online world. It created a whole ton of buzz throughout the gaming community as well as fans of Tiger Woods, viral videos and such. EA didn't really try to put down "Levinator25" or lash out at him for attempting to ruin and jeopardize their product, in fact they welcomed it. Here are some excerpts from a LA Times article about the EA vs. Levinator bout. "Neither party took offense to the mutual jabs. In fact, both Levi and EA's Moore could agree on one thing: They think the whole situation is very funny." "They told me they loved my video." "A lot of people are saying that I got owned by them, but I kind of laugh at that because I think it's pretty cool," Levi said."

What this situation has taught me is that creativity will always prevail. EA Sports was able to turn a bad situation into a good one that generated great PR from the public. Not all setbacks can be labelled as negatives, in fact with a creative mind, they can be turned into positives as the Tiger Woods example clearly shows us.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/webscout/2008/08/levinator25-get.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ1st1Vw2kY http://www.youtube.com/embed/h42UeR-f8ZA
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