When prominent occult film bloggers and fans began receiving strange letters written in dead languages and mailed in wax-sealed black envelopes, a shockwave of curiosity and excitement rippled through the horror-film fandom. A legion of bloggers and message-board posters set to work translating the letters from languages like Babylonian and Ugaritic into English, discovering that the missives led them to a mysterious and macabre Web site featuring an image of a seductive lady vampire. The site advertised a beverage called TruBlood-a synthetic blood developed by the Japanese, which vampires could drink as an alternative to feeding on humans.

As visitors explored the site, they discovered short webisodes for the then-upcoming HBO television series which incorporates the TruBlood beverage into its storyline. The letters and Web site were developed as part of a viral marketing campaign by HBO and Campfire Media, an independent agency founded by two of the creators of the successful 1999 film The Blair Witch Project. Viral marketing is the propagation of brand or product awareness through pre existing social networks, using unconventional media, with the hope that the campaign spreads as a cultural phenomenon.

In addition to the letters, Campfire established a fictional blog and MySpace pages written by characters from the show, launched a human-vampire dating service, advertised TruBlood on vending machines, and strategically leaked tidbits of information and multimedia about the show. Campfire employees closely monitored popular horror blogs and message boards in order to gauge and encourage public interest, as well as orchestrate the release of new materials.

The campaign was an incredible, if somewhat subversive success-not only did Campfire generate momentous interest in the show, but a number of individuals actually tried to locate a TruBlood distributor. "We didn't mean to dupe people," said Zach Enterlin, HBO's vice president of advertising and promotions. "We just wanted a campaign that breaks through and resonates a little bit. It's a testament to how true to form the ads are. Some people aren't paying close attention." Viral marketing campaigns are ideal for shows like True Blood, whose fans fervently share and discuss ideas within Internet communities.

In addition, as it's based on the popular Sookie Stackhouse series of books by Charlaine Harris, True Blood came with an avid built-in fan base of those already familiar with the story. Viral marketing has been a successful part of many advertising campaigns, such as those of 2008 films Cloverfield and The Dark Knight Cloverfield, a film in which gargantuan monsters rampage through New York City, is captured on handheld video cameras. It was introduced to viewers through an untitled, unexplained teaser trailer that played before 2007's Transformers movie.

As speculation mounted, Cloverfield marketers unveiled a number of enigmatic Web sites, as well as a tie-in campaign for the fictional Slusho! beverage and a Japanese drilling company, both of which play a part in Cloverfield's mythology. In May of 2007, 42 Entertainment began a viral campaign for The Dark Knight, a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins. The campaign focused on the film's antagonists: a Web site titled "I believe in Harvey Dent" was created as an advertisement for district attorney candidate Harvey Dent (played by Aaron Eckhart), as was a site titled "I Believe in Harvey Dent Too," a defiled version of the former which slowly revealed the first image of The Joker (played by Heath Ledger) as visitors sent e-mails through the site.

The Joker's catchphrase "Why so serious?" spread virally on the Internet, and was used as the URL of a Web site that sent visitors on a Joker-themed scavenger hunt. As True Blood's premier drew near, HBO and Campfire turned to less obtuse, if still unorthodox, methods of advertisement. A prequel comic book about an elder vampire and the development of True Blood was handed out for free at 2008's San Diego Comic-Con, the largest pop cultural convention in the world.

The first episode of True Blood was distributed on DVD for free to thousands of moviegoers at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival, and was made available for rental from Blockbuster Video several days before it aired on television. True Blood premiered on HBO on September 7, 2008-six months after Campfire's subtle marketing campaign began. According to Nielsen Co., the first three-quarters of 2008 saw HBO's viewership drop by nearly 23 percent compared to the previous year. However, thanks to interest in new shows such as True Blood, HBO saw a 2.4 percent increase in fourth-quarter viewership compared to 2007. Without question, the success of True Blood is due in part to the novel marketing developed by Campfire Media.

Questions

1. What is the communication process for viral marketing? Is it different from conventional marketing? How so?

2. What was the initial promotional mix of the True Blood campaign, and how might it suggest an observance of IMC?

3. Did Cloverfield use a push or pull promotional strategy? What about The Dark Knight? Explain.

4. Why did True Blood shift its promotional mix as its premier neared? Was this a good or a bad strategy? Explain.