Author Archive

For those who watch Lost and didn’t rush past the Octagon Global Recruiting commercial as you Tivo’d your way through the final episode of the season, you caught a brief glimpse of some fine viral marketing in action. The commercial’s low-budget industrial video vibe gave the spot a sticking-out-like-a-sore-thumb quality that led my boyfriend to yell out “Look, it’s a Lost commercial” as I Tivo’d by in search of the next chunk of story. So smart of them to have the commercial appear so unpolished in comparison to the high-dollar ads that usually run during the show, for just that reason – the Tivo phenomenon of commercial skippage.

The sort of baffling and pseudo-realistic nature of the commercial, i.e. What is this? Who is this? Recruiting for what? Why San Diego? Huh? led many viewers to explore further (not to mention the site URL is shown at the end). I was sent the link by a friend first thing the next morning www.OctagonGlobalRecruiting.com.

Just as brief and just as baffling as the commercial, the Octagon site is one page (if you don’t count the legalese links). And it is totally unrecognizable as Lost-related, but for the Dharma Initiative references and the little ABC copyright at the bottom.

It eerily attempts to pass as real, like the commercial, and joins the many other “pseudo” Lost sites out there, such as: Oceanic Air, The Hanso Foundation, Driveshaft, Mega Lotto and the Widmore Group.The one big thing the Octagon Global site does do is provide a big-old form field and submit button to collect your email address. (Oh, always with the email address)

So in lieu of having an ad that says “sign-up on our website to receive X,Y,Z”, the Lost franchise uses the mystique of the show to create an alternate universe of data collecting that is much more fun. Well, sort of. Of course, I entered my address. I have no idea what the outcome of that action will be … but my fascination with Lost continues, not just as a story but in its role as a TV guinea pig for new avenues of marketing – in addition to the TV/website tie-ins: like advergames, mobile, user-generated content and guerrilla marketing, not too mention the best full-episode video player on the web.

Why would you want to spend a lot of $$$ to build a site to permeate your brand into the mind of the public, and then never really show the brand itself? In the case of the Sound of Color, The GAP has a great concept, beautifully presented and meticulously executed, to support their “Color Redefined” campaign, yet the site never refers to the campaign, the logo, or Gap products. Not a stitch of denim anywhere! It does leaves the viewer with a strong and, more importantly, a new impression of the Gap brand. While still perceived as youthful, The GAP is seen as an idea generator, a patron of the arts, a catalyst for creativity, and in tune with technology and communication.

The message is delivered through the language of music and video, which the target audience speaks fluently. To their credit, The GAP has focused on the viral possibilities of the site and music downloads, rather than the more traditional use of media placement. The site will live for only a month, but the music will be woven into the fabric of daily life as its passed from friend to friend. The strong response elicited in their audience is one that will persist. That’s $$$ well spent.