This is the kind of stuff I want to do for a living.
There are many things I would love to be a part of at some point in my career in the realm of television, film and entertainment in general. One of the things at the top of that list is to create online content for films that further immerses viewers into the fictional world, deeper than the film itself. (Think this dream job is too far out of my league? Yeah, I don’t care.)
The Daily Bugle The Amazing Spider-Man
This example for the Daily Bugle, the newspaper that employs Peter Parker/Spider-man, is a rather simple approach, but still awesome. All the writing must be done in-character while also aligning with the theme/tone of the film. What I think I love most about this, from a marketing standpoint, is how it never directly promotes the film out-right (as it would be breaking character), and yet still manages to build excitement through rich content.
Oscorp Industries The Amazing Spider-Man
(The site has been removed.)
Another great example of an off-screen, interactive fan experience are websites that serve as a ‘real’ version of fictional entities pulled from films. Prior to the release of The Amazing Spider-Man, a microsite was created for the fictional Oscorp Industries. Any web-slinger fan would recognize the company name and, upon visiting the site, would find it to be both content-rich (concise copy, images, videos and even mini-games) and very well-aligned to the representation of Oscorp through the comic books and other media. Additionally, taking in the content provided on the site gave fans clues to the plot of the film, which helped to build anticipation without spoiling the story. This microsite was a part of a comprehensive viral marketing campaign
Trask Industries X-Men: Days Of Futures Past
My final example of this is the website for the upcoming film X-Men: Days Of Futures Past. (Sensing the superhero theme yet?) Any Marvel fan can tell you that Trask Industries plays a major role in the world of X-Men and the super-microsite launched to generate buzz for the film is Trask Industries company page. The interface is very interactive and the information is presented in a manner which one would find on any corporate website. The very creation of this microsite gave fans a hint of the plot of the film well before any information had been release. The site itself allows users to share links onto their own social media feeds, leveraging user-level advocacy to build awareness for the film. This site sparked interest, from inciting peer-to-peer level discussion to garnered media coverage from prominent online entertainment blogs and publications.
Update:
As I mentioned above, the use of microsites is excellent for attracting media attention. The latest post from the Daily Bugle viral Tumblr page was published yesterday from the point-of-view of J. Jonah Jameson, the fictional publication’s editor-in-chief. Today, I came across an article from ScreenRant discussing the post (they actually embedded the entire post into their article) and speculating whether or not this meant the eccentric character would be making an appearance in the sequel. This was, of course, one of the desired results of the viral site.
sweet somethings 