Print ads for a fictional product, "Tru:Blood," are appearing in popular magazines, while posters are showing up in NYC and TV commercials have been posted on YouTube. To accompany the ad campaign for Tru:Blood (a synthetic blood drink for vampires), HBO has set up a flash-heavy Web site that mimics those for popular alcoholic beverages, like Absolut vodka.
The viral campaign consists not only of ads for the fake drink, but also of a blog about vampires' integration into normal life, news clips about the new product and the integration, videos in which vampires around the world speak out, and a mysterious direct-mail promotion.
While the campaign as a whole is quite impressive, certain aspects are more well-done and much more realistic than others. The print ads are by far the best component of the campaign (and I'm not just saying that because I'm a print fan). The ads are bold and intriguing, and only the small-print HBO copyright gives a hint of the truth.
Print ads for Tru:Blood
The Tru:Blood product Web site packs quite the punch, but loses some of its effect with its "As seen on True Blood" graphic. However, the interactive components and the effort put into the site keep it as the second best component of the campaign.
Tru Blood product Web site
The vampire news blog, called "BloodCopy," is intriguing, but doesn't come across quite as realistically as the print ads and the Tru:Blood site. It is supposedly written about the vampires' integration by a non-vampire, but comes across as somewhat hokey. Plus, the fact that it's promoted on the Tru:Blood site seems to be a conflicting aim. After all, Tru:Blood is for vampires while BloodCopy is for mortals trying to make sense of the whole vampire integration.
The BloodCopy blog
The direct-mail promotion worked in the sense that it sparked interest, but it's receiving mixed reviews on the Web. Apparently, it is a two-part promotion. The first piece of mail consists of mysterious symbols and no message, and was followed up with a later piece that had more explanation. People who have read the books on which "True Blood" is based have been excited to receive the mail, but there have also been reports of the mail being received by people completely clueless about the books, and who thus didn't fully appreciate the campaign.
Discussion of the direct-mail promotion
But, despite the direct-mail promotion's failings, the "commercials" for Tru:Blood and related videos are, in my opinion, the worst component of the campaign. Both the French and the American versions of the commercials are hokey, unrealistic, and a bit off-putting. The other videos also fail at appearing realistic.
American Tru Blood commercial
I really haven't seen many, if any, campaigns like this before, so HBO deserves points just for trying something this comprehensive. And, while some components may not feel very realistic, they're a vast improvement over the character blogs and such that on most shows' Web sites.
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