The Last Palm Tree Blog: Quarantine's Viral Marketing
First, Sony put up a mess of videos on YouTube to promote their upcoming horror film, Quarantine. Today, they put up a blog, The Last Palm Tree, to further infect you with the horror spirit.
The actual idea for the vlog is pretty cool, in a Blair Witch kind of way, although most of the videos have been run-of-the-mill: "Can you tell me where to find a good restaurant" is the subject of one. Another video, "Case 1017," features amateur camera work, but on the street, you'll see something suspicious: Government types wearing Hazmat suits and searching a building. Then -- a shot rings out.
The blog, supposedly written by a retired missing persons detective, has 21 posts, all a little mysterious, and some quite creepy. A woman is desperately seeking her husband in one post, and there's the answering machine message to prove it. There are links to photos of the mystery on Flickr, but they don't reveal much. Meanwhile, the blogger is getting sick. All in all, the viral marketing is nicely done, although you do wonder, What do those palm trees have to do with Quarantine?
Palm trees are dying in Los Angeles. Perhaps they are a metaphor for people who are missing?? It says on his profile that the palms are disappearing faster than missing people in LA.
Might be a stretch. pretty picture tho
The photo of the palm trees and the blog's name got me interested. I looked it up. Nice use of palm trees to lend an air of mystery. Good job of making it feel real.
i think the whole viral marketing thing is actually done pretty artfully, a hard thing to do. thanks for the comments.