• E-mail this page
• |  Print this page
• | 
• | 
• | 

FantasticMachine2 Is Coming To An Inbox Near You

I think "viral marketing campaign" is a contradiction in terms. The Internet is great for spreading the word about something interesting, but I just don't think you can force it -- if the thing isn't actually interesting in itself, word won't spread. And FantasticMachine2 is proof. If it hasn't hit your mailbox already it will soon. All 3.7MB of it.

FantasticMachine2 is a video clip that shows a . . . fantastic machine . . . playing some very cool music by shooting balls at . . . well, it's hard to say what they are. If you search Google for the filename, you will eventually find one of several blogs that will tell you some variation this story:

This incredible machine was built as a collaborative effort between the Robert M. Trammell Music Conservatory and the Sharon Wick School of Engineering at the University of Iowa . Amazingly, 97% of the machines components came from John Deere Industries and Irrigation Equipment of Bancroft Iowa , yes farm equipment!

It took the team a combined 13,029 hours of set-up, alignment, calibration, and tuning before filming this video but as you can see it was WELL worth the effort.

It is now on display in the Matthew Gerhard Alumni Hall at the University and is already slated to be donated to the Smithsonian.

Great story. Completely false, according to the CIAC's Hoaxbusters page, but a great story nonetheless.

It turns out the video is a pirated clip from a commercial DVD called Animusic created by a computer animation house of the same name. The track the clip comes from, called "Pipe Dream," is one of seven digital music cuts on the disk, which you can buy as a DVD ($19.95) or CD ($12.95) at www.animusic.com.

Is this or is it not a marketing campaign? Hard to say, but one clue may be the presence on ATI's Web site of two downloadable versions of "Pipe Dream," one a 34MB MPG file that plays 320 pixels wide, and the other a 45.3MB installable version that uses DirectX 9 and some ATI technology to play full-screen. (If several friends of yours haven't already overloaded your inbox with the FantasticMachine2.wmv file, you should give the ATI Radeon 9700 demo version a look if you can get it to play properly. It is simply terrific, both visually and musically.) Or better yet, go to the Animusic Web site and buy the DVD.

And tell them I sent you. If the clip truly is pirated, and the crazy story about tractor parts was concocted to cover up the truth, then it's proof of my theory that what works on the Internet is what's interesting, not what's paid for. But if it turns out that Animusic is run by sleazy marketing types who have devised a wildly successful viral marketing plan to make a fast buck, then I'll be twice as amazed, because by the time fantasticmachine2 gets done circling the Internet, they will have created two minor masterpieces -- a truly successful viral marketing campaign that would prove I'm wrong about viral marketing, and a great piece of synthopop that should go straight to No. 1 because it's got a good beat and I could dance to it. If I could dance.

« Traveling Light | Main | Podcast: Protect Your Organization From Insider Threats »