Lost viral

I admit it, I am addicted to the show. It has a great story that keeps me engaged; the only thing working against it is the frequency of repeats that ABC has been throwing into the mix. I remember when I was a kid, the new TV season would start and it would run its course, interrupted only by major sporting events and/or news events. Stations now feel they can string you along for with a new episode every few weeks, thereby increasing ad revenue and maintaining viewer-ship. I am not sure that is the way to tell a story, but at least ABC seems to have something smart going on…a viral campaign for the show.

During the last few weeks of the season, there were ads run for the Hanso Foundation. The first time it ran, I thought something was peculiar but quickly forgot to investigate it online. After taking some time to find some information I ran across several sites. They are all weaving some sort of story and have begun hiding other components within the page(s) to allow you to track down more information.

Within the Hanso Foundations site their are purported to be other clues and links to an ever-expanding universe of information to fill in more of the story about the island and its occupants.

Recently, even the Oceanic Air website has begun hiding messages on the site. This message is hidden on page load:

If anyone should find this message, please get word I'm alive and stranded on an island somewhere in the South Pacific. Please send help soon. Things are bad. And they're getting worse...

After a set time this message than appears over the regular editorial copy:

I survived a horrific plane crash and am stranded on an island somewhere Northeast of Australia and Southwest of Hawaii. In the event that I am never found, please forward word of my fate to my parents.

Finally, one of the first sites I had found was Driveshaft's website. It provided a back-story for Charlie and his band, while dropping some clues for other sites. The main one, never really going on line (charlieslost.com).

Some of these sites have been sponsored by advertisers and the producers of the show run a risk of backlash if this becomes just a hard sell. However, if these sites add to the expansive narrative of the show, it will be one of the more successful viral campaigns putting Mickey in the lead of leveraging multi-media to promote his products.

Ultimately what does it all mean to the story? I am not sure, but here are some of the links that I have found; explore for yourself:
http://www.sublymonal.com/
http://oceanic-air.com/
http://www.thehansofoundation.org/
http://www.driveshaftband.com/
http://letyourcompassguideyou.com/
http://andfound.com/2006/05/09/persephone-thomas-mittelwerk-clue/