Category: Update (Page 12 of 41)

Mail Call: Go Forth and Buy Some Charcoal Briquets

October 5, 2009 / Michael Andersen

graysonozias Over the weekend, I posted an article about Levi’s upcoming treasure hunt, the Go Forth Fortune Experience. The hunt is scheduled toÂ begin atÂ 5PM PST tonight. TheÂ treasure huntÂ raises a $100,000 question: who was Grayson Ozias IV, and where is his fortune? I received a few answers today in my mailbox, althoughÂ the information I receivedÂ raised just as many questions.

graysonozias2 When I opened my mailbox this evening, I found a brown package from the Levi Strauss and Co. Archives in San Francisco, California bearing aÂ logo with the words “GO FORTH.” Inside, the package included a photograph of Grayson Ozias IV with the address LEVI.COM/GOFORTH printed on the back along with a handkerchief bearing the question “Who Was Grayson Ozias IV and Where Is His Fortune.”Â In addition to the photo and hadkerchief, I receivedÂ an empty 10 pound bag of Royal Oak charcoal briquets.Â I can onlyÂ presume I’m being asked to fire up the grill for a night of burgers, beerÂ and brats. So whoÂ exactly wasÂ Grayson Ozias, and what does he have to do with charcoal briquets?

graysonozias1 While the answer to the latter question will sadly remain a mystery for now, Levi’s has released some information on theÂ enigmaticÂ man behind theÂ treasure hunt.Â Grayson Ozias IV, according to the company,Â wasÂ an American adventurer who journeyed across the country before vanishing into the wilderness in 1896. He was also fast friends with Levi Strauss’s nephew Nathan, who recorded the details about Grayson’sÂ exploits that hint at the location of his considerable fortune. The search for Grayson Ozias IV’s treasure will take players through cities and towns across America in order to solve an elaborate cryptogram requiring a combination of knowledge, skill and determination.

In addition to the $100,000 prize for the winner, participants will have the opportunity to win a number of other great prizes along the way. They can also nominate and vote for a U.S.-based non-profit organization to receive an additional $100,000 at the end of the campaign. Frequent readers of ARGNet will recognize one of the names attached to this project, as Jan Libby (Sammeeeees, lonelygirl15) is working with Wieden+Kennedy and Levi’s to bring the Go Fourth Fortune Experience to life.

For more photos of the package, click here to view the Flickr stream.

BREAKING NEWS: Evan Ratliff Gets Caught

September 8, 2009 / Michael Andersen

evancaught1 It appears that a penchant for gluten-free foods can cost you, as Evan Ratliff learned earlier today. As of 7PM EDT tonight, Jeff, the owner of Naked Pizza, the only gluten-free pizza shop in New Orleans, caught Evan redhanded. As a gracious gesture, Evan received the pizza free of charge. As we previously reported, Evan has spent the last three weeks attempting to avoid capture as part of a contest for Wired.com, with $5,000 at stake.

Read about Evan’s capture here, or follow the whole harrowing ordeal by reading about the hunt at wired.com/vanish. Congratulations to the @vanishteamÂ on Twitter for tracking Evan down, and to Jeff for sealing the deal.

Congratulations are also in order for Evan, who successfully evaded capture for three weeks before his appetite got the better of him. For a detailed account of his capture, read the breakdown at Newscloud.

The Mosaic Collective: What Did You See?

September 3, 2009 / Celina Beach

mosaiccollective For 2 minutes and 17 seconds, the world was plunged into unconsciousness – and awakened with a vision from 6 months in the future. What did you see? The Mosaic Collective would like to know… but why? The Collective states that it wants to piece together everyone’s visions, or FlashForwards, to try and piece together “a mosaic of tomorrow”, and possibly determine who – or what – is behind the “Global Blackout” (GBO).Â And why do they seem to be singling out certain FlashForwards as “more valuable” than others? Oscar Obregon, a “Pulitzer prize winning journalist and author” and proprietor of TruthHack.com has that same question… and an anonymous source has possibly provided him with those answers, via a set of encrypted puzzles -Â but he needs your help.

The Mosaic Collective is a promotion for the new ABC television show, “FlashForward”, premiering September 24th. The “pre-game” launched in late April with some minor viral images and interaction, but started in earnest with a booth at Comic-Con where attendees could record their “FlashForwards”, with some lucky folks being pulled aside by Mosaic Collective spokesperson Marcie Turoff. If you look closely, you may see the FlashForward of someone you know.

The cracking of Oscar’s encrypted file is proceeding apace in the Unfiction thread , so come join in the cracking! And don’t forget to submit *your* FlashForward to the Mosaic Collective – who knows, maybe you’ll get interviewed by Marcie! You can also follow Oscar on Twitter and Facebook .

ComicCon Wrapup Part 2 – The IHC

August 13, 2009 / Celina Beach

IHC As reported earlier, The Institute for Human Continuity (or IHC), a promotion for the movie “2012”,Â went live in November of last year, and visitors to their website were offered the ability to enter a Global Survival Lottery for a spot in one of their “initiatives” to save at least a portion of humanity from the global cataclysm occurring December 21, 2012. Here is a brief run-down of game activity leading up to the event at ComicCon:

– December 21, 2009: lottery ticket holders were sent an email from Dr. SorÃ«n Ulfert, PhD, the Communications Director for the IHC, announcing the launch of the full IHC website in a few weeks and an upcoming discussion with Dr. Ulfert in February. Questions for this discussion could be submitted through Dr. Ulfert’s Twitter or email. Also launched was a wiki page for The IHC.

– January 2009: The full IHC site launched and contained a lot more information – disaster scenarios, news and press info, and details regarding the IHC’s “initiatives” to help preserve mankind after the 12/21/2012 disaster. Also around this time, a new site was discovered – This Is The End, a rebuttal site to the IHC’s, written by a character named Charlie Frost (portrayed by actor Woody Harrelson). Charlie’s opinion is that NO ONE is going to survive The End, and that the IHC, while mostly harmless, are just fooling people. Along with amusing blog posts are very funny videos explaining the nature of the disaster and why no one will survive. Charlie also hosts a “radio show” from his Winnebego where he takes phone calls and answers questions.

Coral Cross: Awareness Is Spreading

June 25, 2009 / Michael Andersen

coralcross2009 Vigilance.

Coral Cross has finally launched, with the goal of “gaming a pandemic for greater public vigilance.” At the community level, the game aims to outpace infections with awareness. Pursuant to that goal, the main page features a map of “the progress of pandemic awareness in real time.”

Upon registration, players take a simple 12-question quiz assessing their pandemic awareness. The more you know, the higher your vigilance score. Further vigilance points can be gained by methods including exploring alternative prioritization values, participating in the forums, and tracking down elusive links to “FluFacts” hidden throughout the website.

The game has just launched, so more methods of interaction may arise. So head on over to CoralCross.org, follow the Coral Cross twitter account, and start exploring.

Click Here for our prior coverage of Coral Cross.

HBO Brings Blood Copy Back From the Dead for True Blood Season 2

May 21, 2009 / Michael Andersen

UPDATE 09/12/2010: Welcome to ARGNet, True Blood fans! The BloodCopy.com website appears to be experiencing server issues due to the finale. If you’re interested in learning more about the viral marketing behind the show, check out our previous coverage, or read about the mysterious package that launched the campaign back in May 2008.

Last year, HBO and Campfire Media created an integrated media campaign to introduce the public to Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire series that included targeted mailings, vials of fake blood, and a fake protest in NYC by the American Vampire League, an organization working to secure equal rights for vampires. HBO summarized the content with a weekly faux-documentary, The Blood Copy Report.

With the season 2 premiere of True Blood scheduled to air June 14th on HBO, vestiges of last year’s viral campaign are beginning to surface. Andrew Kasday, one of the characters behind the website BloodCopy.com, was turned into a vampire, and has “revamped” the site into an expose on human-vampire relations. Andrew has recently hinted that he has a secret reason behind bringing Blood Copy back from the dead.

Building off the success of last year’s Blood Copy Report, many of Andrew’s stories have been picked up by HBO’s vampire news program, The Perspective with Victoria Davis, which is scheduled to run weekly segments until August 18th. While the experience has been relatively passive so far, the decision to air Victoria Davis’ faux-news segment concurrently with True Blood’s air time leaves the possibility for more open.

Click Here to visit BloodCopy.com
Click Here to watch the first edition of The Perspective with Victoria Davis
Click Here to follow Andrew on Twitter

Image courtesy of Jonathan, via Geekologie.com