Mmmmmmm, Pointless But Hugely Fun Viral Marketing For Tron: Legacy

I really don't believe viral marketing has any impact on a film's box office performance.  All it provides is some pointless fun for the hardcore fans ready to invest in it............and there is nothing wrong with that.

In fact if a studio really puts the effort in to these things, they will be rewarded with a collective wave of positivity from the fanbase who will be at least partially reassured that this property which they love so much is in the hands of people who 'get' it and care enough about its fans to create hype content specifically designed for them.

'The Dark Knight' has come to define exactly that sort of passionate viral marketing but if you ask me, Disney's upcoming 200 million megaton bag of eye candy 'Tron: Legacy' may have trumped it by year's end.  It started at last year's Comic-Con with an exact replica of Flynn's (Jeff Bridges) Arcade which not only let fans play old school retro games but gave them the chance to see one of the film's new lightcycles in person.  We've had specially created websites related to the disappearance of Flynn himself.  And now, just to show up that delicious looking trailer we got this week, we get this courtesy of First Showing.net.

By heading over to Arcade Aid.com, you'll be presented with a wonderful picture puzzle containing the names of 56 classic videogames.  If you can guess the names of all of them then you have a chance of winning...............your own ENCOM (company that made the games in the first film) badge.

I don't even think the most ardent fan of Tron (and I'm kinda at that level) cares about winning a friggin badge but I just dig games like this which really play into our nostalgia.  You don't even have to officially play to win a prize.  Just play it for fun like I did.  I've guessed about 10 right so far, which is pretty pathetic but I've got all night. 

Or at least I would if I weren't putting together the latest 'Moaning 'Bout A Movie' video for you.  Stay tuned for that tommorrow folks.

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