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Creativity Online

Rate the Ad: Terminator: Resistance 2018

A Twitter-based fan game for the upcoming release of Terminator Salvation.

Published: May 13, 2009
Last week on Rate the Ad, we took a look at Crispin Porter + Bogusky's latest for Burger King. Crispin transformed the Burger King and a couple of similarly plastic-faced thugs into Kingons to hawk BK's Star Trek-themed drinking glasses. We asked Trekkies and otherwise, what do you think? Cool swag promo or enough already? Well, once again, Adsters were split. But, one thing's for sure: most everyone loves the nipple twist.

Representing the defenders of the Kingons, commenter l.21 says, "It's fast food, not dining with royalty. Part of BK's brand is silliness. It's funny and speaks to their target audience--adult males 20-40 stuck in their teens. You really think they're going to come just for the cups? Hee hee, nipple twist."

And on the other side were those sick of the creepy King and ready for Crispin to serve up a new angle. Commenter "doctorsid" says, "It's not quite as bad as the spoof on Spongebob, but this is pretty lame as well. I think in the age of special effects, real creativity has taken a back seat. The King needs a makeover for sure."

This week, we stay on the topic of movie marketing and peek in on what's happening in the Tweetosphere. For the upcoming release of Terminator Salvation, Sony Pictures Entertainment created a Twitter-based game. Resistance 2018 lets "members of the human resistance"—we're guessing that means fans of the movie—communicate with each other and intercept communications. Fans follow @resistance2018 and can decode or answer its tweets to win points. The Resistance 2018 blog has more on game play.

Elsewhere in the world of marketing on Twitter, Interscope Records and Los Angeles agency Omelet also used Twitter in April to create buzz around Eminem's upcoming release "Relapse." Shady twittered the below photo of himself checking into a rehab center called Popsomp Hills—Popsomp is fictitious and so is Eminem's relapsed prescription pills abuse. Read Popsomp Hills slowly: Pop Some Pills. The twitpic was the beginning of an extensive integrated campaign surrounding Popsomp Hills.

Well, are these just the beginning of the many Twitter marketing campaigns to come? Are they successful? Will you be signing up to follow the Terminator game? What's your take on marketing on Twitter in general? Share your thoughts, below.

1 Comment: By ajmuir May 15th, 2009 10:07:27 am

In regards to the Terminator Game: I have to say that it was nice in the beginning, when they tried to make it look/feel real. The Skynet website strove to be authentic, and to draw players into the world of the movie. However, as a player, I found it sad when the emails started coming out that so obviously screamed "Hey! We're losing players! Don't forget about us!" There was one that very blatantly said that the site was experiencing problems, which turned out to be a clue in the background noise. But they didn't even try to hide it, they just outright said "Hey, we've changed something, so go check it out. And, oh, by the way, listen to the noise, listen to the noise, listen to the noise." I guess what I'm trying to say is that the game became no fun to me the moment they stopped trying to make it look/feel real. Pretending I was in that world was what made me interested in it, and I only disliked it more, the more they said "it's a game." The resistance twitter doesn't even try to disguise itself as an underground transmission anymore. All the mystery, the adventure, is gone, because they brought the real world into it.

Anyway, it could have been sculpted in a much better way that didn't break the entire illusion into a million pieces for those of us who were playing because we liked the idea of the illusion. I think the thought that they could keep people interested after breaking the illusion was a very bad decision, and I wouldn't be surprised if they lost more players than just lil' ol' me after that.

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