Zeroes (above), a suspiciously-slick yet imaginative parody of NBC's Heroes, has been one of the most popular clips on YouTube and other sites this winter.
But Zeroes is not what it seems. Turns out it's part of an insidious, secret promotion from NBC itself, produced by the in-house advertising team that worked on the now irrelevant "Must See TV" campaign.
Creative director Vince Manze says he spent $17,000 on the video and didn't even tell Heroes creator Tim Kring about it.
Variety reveals that the Zeroes clip is one of dozens-- if not hundreds-- of NBC-created viral videos the network has unleashed over the past year. Most of them are identified as promotional material. But not all.
Manze sez: "It was an experiment. We wanted to see how far we could go, and we wondered if (the audience) knowing we did it would be a detriment."
We hate to say things are "ironic," but it does seem ironic in light of all of NBC's sabre-rattling and lawsuit threats aimed at YouTube for running its clips.
Just wait: next we'll find out that LonelyGirl15's not for real.
Comments (1)
Scam or not, it shrieks "desperation" to me.
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Posted on March 19, 2007 2:59 PM