The Picture Production Company Creates Online Viral Marketing for the Watchmen Movie with The New Frontiersman.net

TheNewFrontiersman.net is part of the online viral marketing campaign for the upcoming Watchmen movie inspired by the right-wing extremist publication read by the main character Rorschach in the original graphic novel. It was launched in early January and I previously wrote about how the web site extends the narrative of the film through transmedia storytelling into highly populated social media sites like Twitter, Friendfeed, YouTube, Flickr and Digg. Documents, photos and videos are all aggregated on the web site uncover evidence in both the public and secret history of the Watchmen.

A number of the blogs had suggested that the Warner Brothers team behind The Dark Knight was driving the campaign, but the web site is being spearheaded by Dan Light, head of interactive at The Picture Production Company, for Paramount which is distributing the film internationally, outside the U.S. But that hasn't stopped it from getting plenty of attention from U.S. blogs and sites. Anthony Ha of Venturebeat spoke to Light who said, “I can’t think of another campaign that makes such economic use of these tools in such a cleanly integrated way.” Ha had noted that Facebook was omitted from the list of sites, which nowadays, seems like it would be the epicenter of any viral marketing campaign. However Light noted that, "Our implementation of Twitter and Friendfeed is very lean. We've kept it simple, and used the right tools for the right jobs."

The interest has been overwhelming with fans, both old and new, commenting on and engaging with the content. The PPC blog noted that the first video, an excerpt from a 1970 newsreel looking back on 10 years of Dr. Manhattan had been viewed 125,000 times within the first 24 hours and currently has 447,992 views. Flickr views and Twitter followers are growing as well and they were also excited to be featured on Epic FU. PPC Interactive had been pitching ideas for the movie five years ago were also thrilled that most of their original ideas are seeing the light of day.

Here are two more new videos from their promotional campaign.


Who Watches the Watchmen? - A Veidt Music Network (VMN) Special - 1983. Uploaded from BetaSP archive. Integrity in journalism... subscribe today! www.thenewfrontiersman.net



The Keene Act & YOU (1977) Government PSA on behalf of the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
Integrity in journalism... subscribe today!

So who watches the Watchmen? Something tells me a lot of people will be doing that in about 12 days. Stay tuned for more on the story behind Warner Bros Sponsorship of For Your Imagination's Watchmen Axis of Comedy Network and also for upcoming details on a special promotion of my own for readers of this blog.

Related:

• The New Frontiersman
• The New Frontiersman - the dossier is open
• Larry Kless's Weblog: Watch the Watchmen Get Social Through Transmedia Storytelling
• Who watches the Watchmen: Twitter, FriendFeed, and Flickr " VentureBeat
• Watchmen Viral Short a Message to Comics Fans « NewTeeVee
• MTV - New Watchmen' Viral Video Features 1970s News Report On Dr. Manhattan
• Empire: Movie News - New Watchmen Viral Video
• FirstShowing.net - Must Watch: An NBS Retrospective, 10 Years of Dr. Manhattan "
• The Dish - Watchmen Goes Viral

Watch the Watchmen Get Social Through Transmedia Storytelling

Watchmen is considered one of the greatest comic book stories of all-time. Published as a 12-part maxi-series by DC Comics in 1986 and 1987 it's still hailed as a masterpiece of sequential storytelling. Now finally after years of attempts to adapt the series into a feature film comic geeks prayers have been answered as it makes its big screen debut on March 3, 2009.

Writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons and colorist John Higgins created a world layered with the grime of deceit and dirty little secrets of the tortured lives of has-been superheroes. In a George Orwellian landscape the story unfolds as a murder mystery and delves into the gray areas of what made these characters choose the lives they've led, what brought them together and what broke them apart.

Now, with the upcoming Watchmen movie release, elements of transmedia storytelling has surfaced this past week in the form of THE NEW FRONTIERSMAN, a new web site with chronological blog entries featuring photographic evidence, documents, and videos presented as breaking news. Each blog entry uncovers evidence of the the existence of the governmental program that created the super-powered being known as Manhattan as seen in the this video below.



1Tim Street asked, "Does Hollywood Get Social Media? Have you seen any Social Media Marketing campaigns from Hollywood studios that you think were successes?" Tim shared the video above in his post which inspired me to write this post because I think these Hollywood producers and marketers do get it. As part of a viral marketing campaign to promote the movie, The New Frontiersman is getting social on Twitter, Friendfeed, YouTube, Flickr and Digg and has created the Watchmen widget below to share on Watchmen fan sites.



As with each of the social networks The New Frontiersman is sharing updates on each of these networks allowing for comments and conversation. While this online marketing effort is not at a level of LG15 Universe, which incorporates social media audience participation into the storyline, it's still an interesting application of transmedia storytelling by using our current social media networks to extend the narrative across mediums.

Related posts:

• Larry Kless's Weblog: Transmedia Storytelling and the Future of Entertainment
• NewTeeVee Live Panel: Bridging the Gap Between TV and Web « NewTeeVee
• ScribeMedia.Org: Social Entertainment: The Art of Building Communities and Engaging Viewers
• ScribeMedia.Org: Can Social Networks Be An Advertising Medium?
• The Global Couch: EMBRACE THE TRANSMEDIA APPROACH!

Updated: 1/26/09

Transmedia Storytelling and the Future of Entertainment

In his book Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, Henry Jenkins describes the term "transmedia storytelling" as "a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience."

He added that, "Transmedia storytelling is the art of world making. To fully experience any fictional world, consumers must assume the role of hunters and gatherers, chasing down bits of the story across media channels, comparing notes with each other via online discussion groups, and collaborating to ensure that everyone who invests time and effort will come away with a richer entertainment experience."

Is this the future of entertainment?

Transmedia storytelling was the subject of a recent panel discussion at NewTeeVee Live called Bridging The Gap Between Television and Online. The session was moderated by Chris Albrecht, NewTeeVee and the panelists included Jesse Alexander, Former Writer and Executive Producer, Heroes; Bill Gannon, Director of Online Operations, Lucasfilm; Jeff Gomez, CEO Starlight Runner Entertainment; and Greg Goodfried, Co-Founder, President and COO, EQAL.

In the session "Content creators both indie and traditional tell us about pushing the limits of format, interactivity, and storytelling to reach their audience." They talked about the important of transmedia, what are the metrics for transmedia and how to make transmedia media work. You can read the NewTeeVee post on the seesion here or view the video below.



At their at Streamingmedia West keynote Greg Goodfried and his creative partner Miles Beckett discussed their version of transmedia which they call "social entertainment" for their web series LG15|The Resistance which encourages participation from their dedicated fan base to figure out puzzles, find clues and watch videos to unravel plot mysteries.

The web site is a fundamental tool to tell the story in a MySpace type format with ARG (Alternate Reality Game) elements, daily blogs, videos and social shows. They created a universe for community to be an active participant in to help solve puzzles and be part of the resistance. A good vs. evil storyline.

"We call the shows that we produce ’social shows,’ and they’re very different from a TV show or a film,” says Miles Beckett. “The way that you actually construct the narrative, the way that the plot points flow over the course of the week, the way the site interplays with the video, the way the community works together and talks to the videos and talks to the characters, is all different,” - from EQAL » Blog Archive » Video: ‘Lonelygirl15′ creators Beckett, Goodfried discuss new drama

Their keynote from Streaming Media West 2008 is featured below.

In this video, Jesse Alexander at NewTeeVee Live from Chris Albrecht on Vimeo, Alexander says for his next project having a transmedia component integrated into the DNA of the show is very important. He thinks the next step in transmedia drama fiction is building gaps in your fiction to create a participatory space where the audience can interact with the narrative in a meaningful way. Much like what Greg Goodfried and Miles have done with their LG15 franchise and what CSI Franchise creator calls Anthony Zuiker "cross-platform storytelling."


Jesse Alexander at NewTeeVee Live from Chris Albrecht on Vimeo.

Clearly, transmedia storytelling is not for everyone but it will continue to grow as Hollywood studios and content creators look to broaden their markets and direct their content across many channels to increase revenue.