Annotated+Bib


 * Name:** Saljuq Hashmi


 * Article:** Viral Videos Catch On That Only Hint at a Sponsor's Purpose


 * Source:** Online edition of //The New York Times//.


 * Tags/Keywords:** Viral video, Marketing, Promotion, New Age Advertising, YouTube

The emphasis of this article is about the viral marketing schemes by marketing firms in collaboration with corporations. This article in general talks about the brainchild of a marketing firm that goes by the name of Thinkmodo. Their main motive is to market to the mass public using methods that are unconventional and tap into the growing desire of marketers to appeal to and seek the attention of online video watchers on social sites like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. The strategy used by such firms include clever and authentic marketing ploys without clearly mentioning or overtly pushing the product. The viral video in question is shot in an unprofessional manner using a cellular device to get the authentic feeling of being captured by a friend. The video shows a young man explaining to the viewers how he can hack into any video screen in and around Times Square using his cell phone and a "transmitter". The video goes on to show that the young man achieves this feat by first transmitting himself on a newspaper kiosk screen and later by broadcasting himself on a larger screen in Times Square. This whole video was actually a hoax and was a marketing ploy for the movie //Limitless// which was playing on the screen next to the one that the young man hacked into. Therefore, as mentioned earlier this video caused enough buzz to get sufficient views and go viral, thus achieving the task it wanted to accomplish by marketing their product without being too direct about it.
 * Summary:**


 * Name:** Saljuq Hashmi


 * Article:** //Mass Effect 3//'s Reapers Are Invading the Earth Right Now


 * Source:** Kotaku


 * Tags/Keywords:** Promotion, Marketing, Alternate Reality, Twitter, Mass Effect

Mass Effect 3 is the highly-anticipated multi-platform game that was released recently. There were many methods of marketing used for the game, ranging from print ads on gaming websites to television spots for the release of the game. The promotion strategy talked about in the article is the use of an alternate reality application that the users can download and use it to take pictures of their real location. Using the application, the users can generate photographs of the "reapers", the alien villains of the game, landing their alien ships on the real world picture locations. This application was developed by Bioware, the makers of the game, to generate hype amongst the consumers and pump them up the day before the release of the game. Bioware integrated their application with Twitter, asking users to snap pictures of "reapers" landing in their geographic locations and tweet it to the world using the hashtag #solcomms. They encouraged the users to play reporters, spreading fake news of "reaper" invasion of various locations around the world. This created buzz amongst the various users of Twitters. Those knowledgeable about the game and its release understood the marketing ploy but those oblivious to the game or its existence were thrown into a confusion about actual alien invasion. Upon further inspection, it turned out to be a promotional event to create buzz before the release of the game and thus was a good promotion that affected all sorts of consumers, those who were interested in the product and those who weren't.
 * Summary:**