The Signal
Issue 11 | July 2009
Agency
Proximity Spain
Creative Team
Executive Creative Director: Eva Santos, Creatives: Alba Vence , Pablo Mateo Lobo, Liliana Tavares
Other Credits
Strategic Planning: Juanma Ramírez, Technical Director: Vicens Fayos
Date
2008
Background
The Signal is a novel about the next great catastrophe of our times, a dangerous computer virus capable of destroying our world.
It is based on the real Global Conscience Project (GCP) at Princeton University which, some believe, predicted both the attacks of 9/11 and the Asian tsunami. In the ‘The Signal’, the viral assault is also predicted. But can it be stopped?
Its audience are geeks who generally stay away from bookstores.
The aim, then, was to use their medium, of choice, the internet, to generate buzz and sales on very little budget.
Idea
If the book is about a virus, why not create a virus which people would download and choose to spread?
A laboratory was created called Lakesis and at its website visitors were able to download software which would predict global disasters.
Within the application is a real virus which takes over every computer onto which it is downloaded. A skeleton head starts eating your files. Then a game of space invaders takes over, shooting at and deleting your folders. Then a cyborg appears on your screen announcing the end of the world and “There is nothing you can do to stop me.”
After the initial panic, the viral directs the viewer to the Lakesis website where they can find the keys to a hidden website which announces the launch of the book. Here, visitors can personalize the Janus virus before mailing it on to their mates. Among other things they could choose the videogame that destroys folders; choose from a number of horror messages; get the friend’s printer to spontaneously print a picture of a ghoul; and record the victim’s panic-stricken face from their webcams.
As well as seeding the idea in relevant areas on the web, important geek bloggers were mailed packs and invited to trick their readers into downloading the virus.
Results
120 bloggers gleefully responded and invited their readers to go to www.proyectoconciencaglobal.org, where the virus took over their computers temporarily.
There were over 20 stories in mainstream media, leading to 875,000 computers being infected. Average interaction time was over four minutes.
Our Thoughts
The interesting thing about this clever and involving idea is that it relied on good old-fashioned mail to get it going. In the early stages of online direct marketing, it looked as if postal services were going to suffer. In fact, they can, and do, work brilliantly in tandem with digital media.