Dr Who leak ‘deliberate’, geeks to blame
March 17th, 2005That Doctor Who being leaked thing? Turns out it might be my fault. Well, mine and several dozen others:
To one advertising consultant, the leak is clear evidence the BBC is taking advantage of some recently learned lessons on the power of viral advertising it got from a collection of hired guns known as the Broadcast Assassins.
I took part in the Broadcast Assassins thingy (with many other similarly clued-up geeks), where I discussed the power of p2p with various BBC managerial-types, which was somewhat a revelation to nearly all of them, but they were also quite open-minded and amenable to it at the same time. If they have taken it to heart and decided to use viral adverts, it wouldn’t really surprise me.
March 17th, 2005 at 14:19:23
To be honest, I’ve been suspecting this for a while. After the first story, it just seemed to be one of those unfortunate things that happens with stuff (see the number of films that make it online before their official premieres). By the middle of the second day’s worth of it being mentioned in BBC News bulletins, it was pretty clear that even if the leak wasn’t deliberate, they were going to use it use it as an excuse to plug the thing to death.
March 17th, 2005 at 15:46:28
Well, in that case, thankyou very much Chris. I thoroughly enjoyed the episode, and I’m pleased your efforts paid off… ;-)
In seriousness, I do agree. It was great viral marketing, and there’s no way I’m going to miss an episode now. Doctor Who is the ideal show to try this out with as well - the core audience are the ones most likely to access it this way. Wouldn’t have worked quite so well with Ballykissangel, I suspect.
(Now that you’ve got them to leak it online, could you use your influence to do something about the dodgy CGI in the wheelie bin sequence…?)
March 17th, 2005 at 16:35:45
Rumour suggests the leaked version had unfinished CG. This may well be bollocks, however.
March 18th, 2005 at 15:19:44
If you wanted to promote (via viral marketing) a new drama show, wouldn’t you be better off “leaking” the first, say, 30 mins of a drama, getting to a climatic good point - and then stopping the leak there, so you’d have to watch it on TV?
Plus I don’t think people are that clued up at the BBC ;-)
How did you get a gig as a Broadcast Assassin btw?
March 18th, 2005 at 20:09:12
IIRC, I answered an post on the b3ta messageboard - I also saw the same message forwarded to me on a mail list I used at work.
March 21st, 2005 at 13:09:19
badlydubbedboy - I’d imagine (having not seen the leak) that Dr. Who is sticking with the traditional multi-epsode story format; i.e. Saturday will end on a cliffhanger, and even if you’ve already seen it you’ll need to tune in for week two to see the second part.
March 24th, 2005 at 14:41:32
Grauniad misunderstands, claims that you are part of a sooper-seekrit viral marketing agency:
“Internet magazine Wired said the BBC called in a group of new media and marketing specialists, know as the Broadcast Assasins, to advise it on viral marketing - where seemingly unofficial information is spread by email and newsgroups.”
March 29th, 2005 at 10:24:45
Or, maybe you didn’t after all. Too much conspiracy for my liking:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4378881.stm