Synopsis: Jawbone.tv presents 10 tips for hoax-based story and promotion.
On October 30, 1938, Orson Welles performed a radio adaptation of H. G. Wells' novel The War of the Worlds—and it scared the bejesus out of people.
In the broadcast, Welles presented the story through a series of news bulletins that gave the impression—intentionally or otherwise—that an actual Martian invasion was taking place. The result was audience panic (historical views differ on the severity), eventual public outcry over the deception, and Welles' launch as one of the most influential and groundbreaking storytellers of his or any other era.
Today, with narrative spilling across every channel, the pressure is on for story creators, marketers, networks and studios to do whatever it takes to ensure that their project stands out from the crowd—making the hoax more tempting than ever.
The modern hoax, however, plays by different rules.
Welles didn't have to worry about class action lawsuits from the duped. He didn't have to contend with more media channels than fingers. And he certainly didn’t have to thread the needle, so to speak, into any larger cross-media promotional plan.
Whether you're an independent filmmaker or a global brand, the obstacles facing hoax-based story and promotion are enormous. As such, Jawbone.tv presents some tips to steer you in the right direction.
1. Who are you?
Before embarking on an elaborate public ruse, it’s more than a little important to first decide if you are willing or able to swim in these waters. For War of the Worlds, the hoax was the means and the end. It worked because the final goal wasn't box office or product sales, it was the establishment of Welles as a story innovator. Mission accomplished.
Today, a hoax can blow up in the face of the Fortune 500, making it overly risky in most calculations, but properly executed it can still work well for independent creators trying to make names for themselves.
Lonelygirl15 worked in media bending supposed user generated online video to create the illusion that a young girl was involved with a cult. By the time it became clear that the Lonelygirl15 world was fictitious, the hooks were already in. The series creators landed $5 million in funding to start content studio eqal, which has gone on to produce Harper's Globe and Level 26.
2. Lead with the hoax
If your planned hoax is only part of a larger story or campaign, be sure to make it the lead event. Much can go wrong along the path, and you need to be prepared to harness every bit of attention as it comes. Opening with the hoax, even if the publicity is negative, means viewers will be funneled to the other pillars of the story. It also creates word of mouth (otherwise known as ‘gossip’) around the who/what/why of the event. That’s worth its weight in gold.
As an example of how not to do it, ABC recently announced their plans to promote V, its remake of the 1980s sci-fi alien lizard-fest, by using skywriters to draw red "V" shapes in the sky near major landmarks, several times a day. They then sacked the plan either due to pollution concerns, or more likely to freaking people out and getting sued concerns.
Admittedly, it would have been a ridiculous violation of tip #1 (how much is ABC worth?), but litigation aside, the media storm would have been immense. And, just imagine if they’d not only had the cahones cojones to go through with it, but if they’d ditched the pre-festivity press releases and led off with the sky Vs—everyone in North America would have known about the show. (I ended up missing the premiere of V … slipped my mind I guess.)
3. Authenticity and effort
Supposedly, War of the Worlds wasn't intended to be a hoax. And that may have been part of its effect—authenticity is hard to fake. Today, people have hypersensitive media savvy BS radars. They also have access to blogs and other geekdom that live to spot hoaxes before anyone else.
You can’t be perfect in your execution, but you can be thorough. Pay attention to the little things like distancing yourself from the event from a PR and planning standpoint so as not to burst the bubble. Whether you are discovered sooner or later, people will respect the effort.
Read Ever Dream This Man? Urban Myth, Viral Hoax or Terrifying Boogeyman? to see how something as simple as failing to hide domain name registration can blow the whole charade.
4. Don't wuss out
When it comes to hoaxes, you’re up against some serious competition, including professionals like the Yes Men who are in this to mess with the system, which makes them hard to beat.
There are also the nutty birds out there that do pranks just for the thrill of it, and maybe to secure their 15 minutes of fame.
When Georgia duo Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer claimed that they had found a deceased Bigfoot while hiking, even CNN ran the story.
The second you become a hoaxter, you’re up against people prepared to forever disgrace their own reputations in exchange for a few front pages. Scary. (It was later revealed that the Bigfoot was an internet-purchased Sasquatch costume stuffed with slaughterhouse leftovers.)
5. Don't outdo your revelation (avoid the anticlimax)
This is the other side of tip #5. Go too big with your stunt, or use this sort of fakery for something unworthy of the effort to begin with, and when the hoax is revealed you’ll leave people with a dissatisfied taste in their mouths.
In other words, if you're faking an alien invasion, you better not be pushing a slurpee promotion for Transformers.
Birds vs. Humans was a hoax influencer campaign in early October of this year that included anonymous delivery of a metal box containing a birds nest, eggs (unclear as to whether or not they were real), and polaroids of what looked like pagan rituals or zombie raves in the woods, with a message in a scroll, saying "your kind needs you." In the end, it was promoting an Australian cider called 5 Seed.
From a bird apocalypse to cider. Disappointment is too kind a word. (Read Birds vs. Humans: Aussie Booze Behind Mysterious Influencer Campaign.)
The Blair Witch Project, on the other hand, (it came out more than ten years ago if you can believe it) had a massive fake front-side and end product that was straight up box office—typically a hoax letdown—but the film itself was still part of the illusion. Its Internet marketing campaign was a fiction laden transmedia effort, with a network of background web sites about the movie’s mythology that resulted in many ticket buyers watching in horror what they believed to be authentic documentary footage of the tragedy. The prize was worthy of the trail. Oh, and it made $250 million.
6. Hoax influencers first
Some marketers call it viral velocity. It’s the same powerful force behind viral videos in that at a certain point beyond your control, they become self-propagating. For a hoax, it’s crucial to target an influencer network that can act as an organic bullhorn for your message. You are engaging in a form of guerilla warfare after all, so make a list of high priority targets (bloggers, journalists, celebrities, whoever). Make it your mission to convince them, or at least have them think it’s clever enough to share.
A suggestion would be a list of 50 targets, understanding that you will be happy to get 20 of them to buy in. Birds vs. Humans might have stumbled in the end, but they got it right with their targeting of Aussie counterculture bloggers who then spread the story around the world (including here in Canada where we covered it).
Also, avoid hoaxing on April Fool's Day. It's crowded, and now even the media runs its own hoaxes. It’s like launching a new pro football league during the Super Bowl. Find a time when your list will be most receptive to your efforts.
7. Fiction only please
Don’t, don’t, don’t connect a hoax promotion to anything non-fiction that is based on trust or credibility. If the big revelation will connect the hoax to the launch of a news agency, for example, common sense should tell you that the news agency is in serious trouble (as is the Latvian telecommunications company that faked a massive meteor collision). Oh, and one of those bigfoot guys was a cop. He lost his job over the scandal.
8. Have A, B and C plans
This one is really important. Just for fun, have someone play devil's advocate to table the worst possible outcome of your hoax, then decide if it's still worth doing, and how you will respond.
In the case of ABC’s promotion for V, this sort of ten-minute exercise would have killed their idea before it ever left the room, avoiding the embarrassment of axing it publicly.
If the rewards are too good to pass up, draft response plans to the nasty potential outcomes so you aren’t caught off guard. Prepare a ‘perfectly executed’ scenario, a ‘middle of the road’ version, and a ‘nightmare’ outcome.
9. Careful who you mess with
There are factions out there that, once unleashed by a hoax, are hard to stop. This can work for you, but it can also turn on you quickly.
Take the Derbyshire Fairy, a mummified fairy supposedly found in Derbyshire by Dan Baines a few years ago. Even after he revealed the mummy to be an April Fool’s Day prank, he continued to be harassed by hardcore fairy believers who claimed to have seen exactly the same things, and one person who demanded he return the remains to the grave site or face the consequences.
In the case of YourOtherYou, a promotion for the Toyota Matrix, the car company and their agency Saatchi & Saatchi went beyond hoax and instead created tools to enable others to pull off the hoaxes themselves:
(Source: tmspreview.com/yoycampaign) “YourOtherYou is a unique interactive experience enabling consumers to play extravagant pranks. Simply input a little info about a friend (phone, address, etc.) and we’ll then use it, without their knowledge, to freak them out through a series of dynamically personalized phone calls, texts, emails and videos. First, one of five virtual lunatics will contact your friend. They will seem to know them intimately, and tell them that they are driving cross-country to visit. It all goes downhill from there. The Matrix integrates seamlessly into the experience and you can follow the progress of your prank in real-time online. Each piece of the campaign assures that the experience is as Google-proof as possible.”
The problem, in case it isn’t obvious, is that the ‘hoax’ is eerily similar to cyber-stalking. It resulted in a multimillion dollar lawsuit.
10. Let people in on it … a bit, sometimes
In the end, don't discount the fun factor of a hoax that people kind-of-sort-of know is a hoax. It sounds like blasphemy, but sometimes it’s best to at least hint at the lack of authenticity, especially if the stunt runs counter to common sense. Making light of it, as long as it's done well, creates a sense of belonging to something selective amongst audiences (and the media). Just remember, people like scavenger hunts, but they don’t like wild goose chases.
When DC released a comic called The Death of Superman, supposedly killing off the multi-billion dollar man of steel, no one really believed it, and DC played it straight but with a smirk. The media coverage was massive, the comic book sold out on the first day, and on multiple reprints, and when The Return of Superman arrived, as everyone knew it would, it went like hotcakes.
There are also some good tonal lessons from the transmedia/alternate reality game extensions created around Lost and other sci-fi series. Although a stretch to label any of them a hoax, it’s easy to see the sort of thing that works when the public becomes part of the story. (Google the Dharma Initiative to see what we mean.)
Want to learn more about hoaxes on- and off-line? We suggest the super bizarre Museum of Hoaxes. No, seriously.
