ABC is really gearing up for the premiere of
Lost's fourth season (which, unfortunately, will probably only be eight episodes long). However, ABC isn't going about it in your typical way. Viral marketing has become all the rage as of late and now
Lost is getting the viral treatment. Everywhere you look, advertisements for Oceanic Airlines are popping up. Billboards, TV commercials, websites, it's all over. As is goes with marketing virally, there is no mention of ABC or
Lost on any of the Oceanic ads.
So, here's how it works. All this viral marketing is pointing people to the website
FlyOceanicAir.com. If you go to their you'll find what looks to be a clandestine site singing the praises of a trans-continental airline. However, the welcome video on the front screen is hacked by a man named Sam. He explains that Oceanic Flight 815 lost radio contact six hours after it departed from Sydney, and Oceanic is going to declare tomorrow that they are giving up the search for the plane. Sam explains that his girlfriend worked as a flight attendant on 815, and he is not giving up the search. The URL
Find815.com is then flashed on the screen. When you go to Find815.com, we get a peek into Sam's world. He is going to do everything he possibly can to find out what happened to that flight. There's some other cool stuff regarding Sam, but I won't spoil it for you.
It's pretty creative stuff from an incredibly creative show. Viral marketing only works if it first creates mystery, then creates a buzz. The thing about
Lost that makes me question the need for such marketing is that, at this juncture, if you're a fan of
Lost, you're a fan of
Lost. Nothing is going to change that and for anyone new to step in and become a fan, it'll take a lot of time to work through the first three seasons on DVD. However, I can see where ABC may believe that picking up new fans is reasonable when you consider the on going writers' strike. With less content available, TV viewers may decide to take this down time and catch up on a show like
Lost. We'll see if it works.
Lost's fourth season premieres on January 31 at 9pm.
-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer (Image Courtesy of FlyOceanicAir.com)