I really like JJ Abrams at the moment.

1. He created Cloverfield.
2. He created Lost (yes I am still completely transfixed) and
3. He uses online in an exciting and intelligent way to sell his wares.

I have long been an advocate of the different marketing mediums working together in a beautifully symbiotic fashion, with each feeding and being nourished by the other – and Abrams has mastered the art of doing this to incredible effect.

In the run up to Cloverfield launching (long before the posters and the TV ads) Abrams had instigated an online frenzy – where a long-winded but highly satisfying online treasure hunt led the eager ‘geeks’ (in the modern, positive sense) from clue to clue. Whether it was the series of fake websites created promoting fake soft drinks brands like Slusho; the YouTube video of the fake news footage or the blink and you’d miss it reference to another fake company on the t-shirt of one of the actors in the trailer, which for the severely dedicated led to another fake website (all of which exited in the Cloverfield world). Abrams knew that to get people truly hyped about his new film he had to make the ‘noise’ about it as user-generated and organic as possible. And the internet is still the best tool for this.

Similarly, any true fan of Lost will know that there are a flurry of sites, blogs and forums dedicated to unlocking the island’s mystery. I wouldn’t put it past Abrams to even use some of the incredibly considered fan theories in the show itself. I know I’m sold on some of them, and who’s to say he is not writing, or hiring people to write, a lot of them anyway.

Here is a picture of Sawyer without his top on to illustrate my point! (Ah hem)

With the perceived shift of focus moving to marketing online, a great way of other methods keeping ahead of the game would be to do ‘an Abrams’ and use the internet to generate as much interest as possible.

TTFN – Jude xx