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Thinkmodo Scores Viral Hit with Carrie Coffee Shop Prank
The New York-based Thinkmodo has specialized in the best form of advertising on the internet: viral content that is shared freely by viewers and placed by editors — like this one — on websites free of charge. “Thinkmodo mashes-up viral fun with marketing function to create effective viral video campaigns for brands,” they write on their site. “Our unique strategy generates tremendous online engagement and valuable earned media coverage worldwide.” Case in point is their latest, advertising Kim Peirce’s upcoming Carrie remake, which I learned about from the Twitter feed of U.K. mentalist Derren Brown, who declared it “magnificent!” (The video is of a piece with the types of stunts that regularly appear on Brown’s specials.) In just a day, the video has scored almost four million views on YouTube.
The Carrie video, which only reveals itself as an ad at the end with a short button announcing the movie, takes place in a N.Y. coffee shop rigged to produce all the effects we know from the “angry telekinesis” genre — people being thrown against walls, books flying off the shelves, etc. It’s worth a view, but I can’t help but feel that this one could be totally staged. The spectator reactions just seem off. What do you think?
