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Mad Max

The line between reality and media continues to skew. Imagine, for a moment, a game played online and in the real world where everything from a telephone number scrawled on the wall of a club in Berlin to a cryptic link found on a web Forum could be clues to an unfolding mystery. Imagine if you weren’t even certain that you were playing a game until weeks into it.

This is the world of ARGs, or alternate reality games. More and more, companies are beginning to use ARGs as a way to engage large numbers of users in a way that is both entertaining and highly compelling.


Alternate Reality Games

Take, for example, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails who wanted to give a special gift to his fans. For a upcoming album release, he wanted his loyal followers to get a taste of what life would be like in a near-future dystopic police state.

True to style, he simply created one. To help him, he hired Jordan Weisman, a former Microsoft Executive and founder of 42 Entertainment (which specializes in creating ARGs), to put together a complex game involving people from across the world stumbling across clues ranging from a flash drive left in a nightclub to a t-shirt with an encoded message. All of this in an effort to embroil normal people into a subtle mystery.

Trent’s ARG is by no means the first game to use this model. Jordan has been responsible for creating alternate reality games for products ranging from Window’s Vista to the movie Dead Man’s Chest. Even before that, as early as 2001, games like Majestic were pushing the boundaries between reality and media.


Web 2.0 Roundup

So, why would a company consider an ARG to promote their product? Well, here are a few reasons.

  • They are viral. People love finding clues and solving mysteries. A well designed ARG can attract a huge number of participants.
  • They are demographically agnostic. While not everyone will care once the mystery is over, games are one of the few marketing tools that are appreciated by a extremely broad range of consumers.
  • They are “new.” ARGs are a form of promotion that consumers are not yet blind to. Consumers still see them as clever.
  • They are fun. Sometimes the best form of marketing is just giving your consumer something fun to do. A drop of engagement can be worth an ocean of brand loyalty.

ARGs aren’t for everyone or for every product, but they do represent another interesting weapon in the arsenal of anyone trying to develop a marketing strategy.

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