History Main / ViralMarketing

* The [=SportKa=] ads that depicted a cat being decapitated by a sunroof may or may not have been an intentional viral marketing campaign. In response to angry protests, Ford claimed that the clip was "accidentally" leaked by an ad company and hadn't been approved. On the other hand, the ads released at the same time that depicted a pigeon getting squashed by the hood were [[WhatMeasureIsANonCute far better received]].

* ''Film/CannibalHolocaust'' did something similar to ''The Blair Witch'' directly above [[OlderThanTheyThink about 19 years prior]]. Basically, the film was marketed as being based on a true story and the actors were forced to go into hiding to truly convince people. It worked... [[GoneHorriblyRight a little]] ''[[GoneHorriblyRight too]]'' [[GoneHorriblyRight well]]. A combination of featuring real indigenous tribesmen, the onscreen killings of real animals, and realistic onscreen human deaths got director Ruggero Deodato arrested under accusations of having produced a SnuffFilm. Deodato had to void the contracts of the actors in order to prove that they were alive and okay.

* ''Film/CannibalHolocaust'' did something similar to ''The Blair Witch'' directly above [[OlderThanTheyThink about 19 years prior]]. Basically, the film was marketed as being based on a true story and the actors were forced to go into hiding to truly convince people. It worked... [[GoneHorriblyRight a little]] ''[[GoneHorriblyRight too]]'' [[GoneHorriblyRight well]]. The film was infamous at the time of its release for its graphic violence, usage of real indigenous tribesmen, and featuring the onscreen killings of actual live animals. As a result, it was mistaken for a SnuffFilm and got director Ruggero Deodato arrested until he could prove that the actors were alive and okay.

* Before the launch of ''VideoGame/Portal1'', Valve created a web site for the in-game company Aperture Laboratories, encouraging people to try to guess the username and password and find out more about the game. [[http://www.aperturescience.com/ The site is still up.]] (Although it no lomger functions due to the shutdown of Adobe Flash.)

* Before the launch of ''VideoGame/Portal1'', Valve created a web site for the in-game company Aperture Laboratories, encouraging people to try to guess the username and password and find out more about the game. [[http://www.aperturescience.com/ The site is still up.]] (Although it hasn't been updated since the 2011 Holiday Season.)

** As part of the promotional lead-up to [[Series/TheMuppets the 2015 Muppet series]] on Creator/{{ABC}}, reports came to social media and other websites that Miss Piggy broke up with Kermit. [[http://comicbook.com/2015/08/04/kermit-the-frog-and-miss-piggy-officially-break-up/?utm_source=Comicbook.com&utm_campaign=cdfb258090-2015_08_04%3A17%3A54%3A07Comicbook.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_7a2d10cb6e-cdfb258090-268720229 Seriously.]][[note]]This serves as a SpiritualSuccessor to an early [[http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/The_Pig_of_the_Nineties viral marketing campaign]] that Creator/JimHenson himself was toying with in 1989-90 to repackage Miss Piggy as a quintessential gossip figure. The first stage of the campaign - a ''People'' magazine newsbit that also dealt with Piggy breaking up with Kermit - was published on May 14, 1990... [[AuthorExistenceFailure then Henson died two days after the issue was published]], thus halting the project.[[/note]] And it worked - its premiere got the highest ratings for a new ABC comedy show in the 8pm Tuesday timeslot in all of 2015. Sadly, the hype wore off fairly quickly and the show quietly ended after a {{retool}} failed to grab new viewers.

*** Some cities offered a viewing of a "Jokerized" trailer; some lucky people even got to take the reel home.

** The viral campaign for ''Film/TheMuppets'' in 2011 revolved around an entirely fake romantic drama called "Green With Envy", which was promoted (with stars Jason Segal and Amy Adams, and none of the puppets) as a legitimate project, which even had a fake press release and poster drawn up for it. The official trailer was even credited as "'Green With Envy' Movie Trailer", and seems to focus on a pair of star-crossed lovers...until the announcer suddenly starts introducing Muppet characters halfway through, and Segal (in-character) stops the trailer to break the fourth wall and ask if this is a Muppet film! Later online commercials parodied various popular films and shows that were all being released around the same time as ''The Muppets'', and the project got some serious viral promotion.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''Film/AntMan'' was promoted with tiny billboards carrying the film's name that were placed in a number of cities in Australia and several other countries as well.

* The infamous January 31, 2007 Boston bomb scare consisted of LED signs featuring Mooninites to advertise the upcoming ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'' movie.

** ''Film/ManOfSteel'': [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QkfmqsDTgY Zod's message to the world]] was released prior to the movie.

** They dabbled in this for ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3''. Did you know there was a real Lotso toy in the 1980s? It was released in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6dZtNYGlLM the US]] and in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5ZwkcHCVkE Japan]].
** They did it again for ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Cars}} Cars 2]]'': Take a look at [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRz5YDokhzE Cars N' Deals of Emeryville]]! (And be on the lookout for secret hidden messages.)

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-PkQRh3QXA Here]] is Cookie Monster trying to make his ''[[Series/SaturdayNightLive SNL]]'' audition tape go viral so he can become a host. It almost worked: while he still hasn't actually hosted as of 2015, he ''did'' appear on the show later that year; when Creator/JeffBridges hosted a December 2011 episode he invited Cookie Monster to perform "Silver Bells" with him during the opening monologue.

* When ''Series/{{Glee}}'' first came to the Italian network "Italia Uno", they aired some [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jgt3BfIVTbs rather awkward bumpers]] which they dubbed "GLEE-talia Uno!". Evidently Mediaset wanted to surprise anyone who doesn't have internet and/or anyone who's never heard of ''Glee''. It's almost sickening.

* ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies'' had a rather successful YouTube campaign with their music video and videos of zombie cosplayers.

* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D28iUMvHU6c Counter Counterfeit Commission]] for the BMW Mini Cooper.

* ''Film/CannibalHolocaust'' did something similar to ''The Blair Witch'' directly above [[OlderThanTheyThink about 19 years prior]]. Basically, the film was marketed as being based on a true story and the actors were forced to go into hiding to truly convince people. It worked... [[GoneHorriblyRight a little]] ''[[GoneHorriblyRight too]]'' [[GoneHorriblyRight well]]. The film was infamous at the time of its release for its graphic violence, usage of real indigenous tribesmen, and featuring the onscreen killings actual live animals. As a result, it was mistaken for a SnuffFilm and got director Ruggero Deodato arrested until he could prove that the actors were alive and okay.

* ''Film/CannibalHolocaust'' did something similar to ''The Blair Witch'' directly above (despite being made [[OlderThanTheyThink about 19 years prior]]). Basically, the film was marketed as being based on a true story and the actors were forced to go into hiding to truly convince people. It worked... [[GoneHorriblyRight a little]] ''[[GoneHorriblyRight too]]'' [[GoneHorriblyRight well]]. ''Cannibal Holocaust'' was infamous at the time of its release for its graphic violence, usage of real indigenous tribesmen, and having actual live animals being killed onscreen. As a result, it was mistaken for a SnuffFilm and got director Ruggero Deodato arrested until he could prove that the actors were alive and okay.

* In ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' strip [[http://xkcd.com/125/ Marketing Interview]], an interviewer questions Blackhat's validity in marketing business, seeing as he never led any major campaign. Then he realizes he heard about him through word of mouth, hiring him on the spot.

The political equivalent is "{{astroturf}}ing" which is a fake grass-roots movement.

** Actually, this is a somewhat instructive example of Viral Marketing done well: The Muppet characters were sufficiently [[UniversalAdaptorCast adaptable]] to fit in this context, and the presentation was very much "[[InUniverseMarketing Found Document]]", rather than anything that could be construed as AstroTurfing.

* WordOfGod on the blog TheRealmsOfNeldak is that it was created specifically to hype the as-yet unfinished novel ''Literature/EHUDPreludeToApocalypse''.

* ''Series/{{Westworld}}'' has several viral marketing websites, often united under the brand [[https://delosdestinations.com/ Delos Destinations]] (an in-universe subsidiary of the main Delos Corporation that financed the development of the theme parks). Westworld's subsite is [[https://discoverwestworld.com/# DiscoverWestworld.com]], described as "Westworld: A Delos Destination, to go with the mockumentary travel site tone. At Delos Destinations, one can activate the chatbot Aeden and ask him various questions (or just keywords) about different aspects of Westworld and its known sister parks. Based on the events of the episodes and the seasons (during a premiere run), the sites' contents can subtly change and wary. [[spoiler:During the broadcast of the second season, when the hosts (androids) of the parks rebel against staff and guests, the viral marketing sites were often depicted to be hijacked by host rebels, [[{{Troll}} inserting creepy and threatening messages to the humans]], among otherwise cheerful promo-speak about the park. This extended to the slogan, with the hacked version saying "live without loops" (i.e. android routines) instead of the tantalising "live without limits" aimed at guests.]] In a fun easter egg, it's possible to access a hidden part of the Destinations site, where one finds the control panel, mailbox and chat of park employees. This hidden employee part of the site doubles as an AlternateRealityGame.

* Another backfire in the world of viral marketing: IBM's "[[http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/news/2001-04-25-ibm-linux-graffiti.htm Peace, Love, and Linux]]" ad campaign from 2001, in which artists would stencil images of a heart, a piece sign, and UsefulNotes/{{Linux}}'s penguin mascot Tux across the streets of San Francisco and Chicago to promote the operating system on IBM computers. The biodegradable paint was supposed to only last a couple of days from footsteps and weather, but they were far more permanent than once thought, charging IBM with vandalism and forcing the company to pay thousands of dollars to remove the hundreds of stencils across the cities.

* ''Film/DCExtendedUniverse'':

* The former website mir12.com claimed to be a shadowy group called [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Mir-12]] working to reveal a massive conspiracy perpetrated by cold war-era Russia with the cover up still continuing. It did a fairly good job of staying incognito until it posted a design, hypothesising that it was a glove for handling the chemical agent which is the basis for the conspiracy. Not at all coincidentally, the glove looks exactly like the TMD or Time Manipulation Device to be used by the player in an upcoming FPS called ''{{Singularity}}''. The site went down because the game went through several changes to its story, and the viral marketing no longer fits the plot, since Mir-12 only exists in an alternate, ''very'' different timeline, and not ours. For posterity, the videos can still be found [[http://www.youtube.com/user/MIR12Truth#p/u here]], with plenty of comments from viewers who not only believe it, but a few who ''still'' believe it despite the final video breaking the illusion.

* ''Film/Metropolis'' is another very early example; during March 1928, a pre-publicity stunt in Melbourne, Australia went as follows: Frederick Ward, the director of marketing for the film, placed a number of newspaper teaser advertisements in the form of editorials, asking questions of mothers, workers, clergy, business men and others about the dangers of technological advancement and becoming too dependent on machines, but without mentioning Fritz Lang's film. These editorials got people talking.