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Sunday, January 13, 2008

The X Games Are Totally Ripping Off Cloverfield

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I know I'm not the only blogger who's hyped for Cloverfield.

Which is why I'm way disappointed that Winter X Games 12 is blatantly using the buzz created by Cloverfield to help publicize the upcoming event in Aspen. Fake rumor alerts and Youtube videos clearly outline a viral campaign of event promotion. Hell, ESPN even got help from competitor Chris Burandt to breed intrigue (click NEWS and look at the 12.14.2007 entry).

Now, that is a complete non-issue until you see the commercials for this thing. Wobbly camera views and static let the audience know they are looking through a handheld camcorder. A monster is seen just outside the Superpipe. Imminent danger is felt within an iconic landscape.

When I first saw the commercial, I thought to myself, "Oh no, did Cloverfield sell out to Disney in some cross-promotional stunt a la Led Zeppelin?" Nope, just an advertising scheme that is clearly in place due to the months of discussion that Cloverfield has created.

The picture above is the best I could do with a shoddy cell phone and the Winter X commercial. Plus, none of you dorks have uploaded the video of it to Youtube yet. Don't be askin' me to do that stuff. Its beyond me.

Conclusion - Weak ripoff.



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9 comments:

Anonymous said...

you really think that tv spots showing a mountain turning into a monster is ripping off a godzilla remake?

so is cloverfield ripping off blairwitch?

tecmo said...

Timing, anon, timing.

Would ESPN really be running ads like this without all the Cloverield hype lately? I'd call Cloverfield a Godzilla ripoff if this movie was made shortly after any of the Godzilla installments. Or if Blair Witch was still culturally relevant. The last Godzilla is 10 years old, and Blair Witch came out last millenium. ESPN is directly taking a marketing scheme from a movie coming out just days before Winter X 12.

And the fake websites, danger rumors, etc.? Clearly a viral campaign borrowed from Cloverfield.

Anonymous said...

i don't know if its ripping off cloverfield as much as capitalizing on a current marketing trend. Halo, Lost, Obama + any number of other viral campaigns going on. and i didn't say cloverfield was ripping off godzilla, i just said it was a remake...which is going to be sweet

Anonymous said...

Can I have the 3 minutes back I spent reading this. Who even gives two fucks about "cloverfield" in the first place? No one thats who. Viral marketing worked GREAT for snakes on a plane, the internet crowd surely propelled that movie to great heights at the box office. Oh wait, no it didn't.

Get over yourself.

Anonymous said...

uh. i'm not sure what's a good campaign or not. but i went looking for those x games spots and they are kinda similar. at least in how they were produced. did cloverfield do something like this too?

www.winterxrumoralert.com

looks like the x games actually created a bunch of rumors about buttermilk mountain in aspen then refuted them!

wtf?

Anonymous said...

oh - and to the aggro comment before. we would like nothing more than for you to take your 3 minutes back. obviously you have a ton of important stuff to do at 430 in the morning.

tecmo said...

I know I wrote this piece, but 3 minutes? I ran through it in like 30 seconds.

Skillet - Everything with the Slusho ads and fake Youtube vids for Cloverfield just shows how the X Games took a page right from the Cloverfield ad campaign.

getfreshdesigns said...

well, 3 minutes is a good estimate when you keep checking to see if that video you want to watch is still loading.

Anonymous said...

i think its fair to say that the x stuff looks like the cloverfield stuff. it also takes a page from the UFO haiti stuff, the heist stuff done by audi the stuff ABC did for Lost in the last couple months and any number of other ARGs going on right now. and while blair witch is sooooo 1999, its still the bad boy that started it all.

ilovebees.com is still one of my favorites