What DID Happen in Piedmont?

In 1999, the story of three college students who disappeared some 5 years earlier while investigating the legend of "The Blair Witch" in Burkittsville, Maryland swept the nation.

For several weeks, the burning question was whether or not the movie was documentary or if it was fiction. We all know how that worked out - it was marketing of the most brilliant sort...and utterly fictitious. It's now about 10 years later, and the entertainment industry is trying to catch that genie in a bottle again - this time it's "What Happened In Piedmont."

What DID happen in Piedmont? That would be nothing.

The movie "The Blair Witch Project" was a low budget ($22,000) independent film that was the first film that was distributed by the only company up to that time that actually understood how to create myth and how to harness the internet. They understood what has come to be known as "going viral." Understood it to the tune of just about $250 Million in gross revenue.

Much like business at any level, it became important to emulate the process that made the movie successful. The movie industry had it's first demonstration of the power of the internet.

Recently, the movie "Forgetting Sara Marshall" tried to take a similar approach. For weeks before the movie was released, we began to see billboards and Google Ads for the movie. Clicking on the link went to a website that told the story of a man who had just been dumped by the hottest woman ever and how he was trying to get her back. The ads were white with black letters, but something about it just didn't seem legitimate - perhaps it was the fact the "guy" looked a little too much like that guy in "How I Met Your Mother." As it so happened, it was.

So, as I'm poking around through the web, I come across this little gem. My first thought was, "hey, cool looking blog. I wonder what the backbone is." I can't find it. Hmm. Then I start looking at the content. Peculiar.

The big thing I learned from the Blair Witch Project, was that if there's any question in my mind whether something is real, its probably not.