by Mandy J Watson

Posted: 1 October 2009 << Previous Page

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Many web sites were launched as part of the online viral-marketing effort to promote District 9. In this showcase we will look at those sites (collectively referred to as "The District 9 Movie Experience"), and more, to see how they related to, and complemented, the real-world marketing campaign. (Plus, for fans, find out about some amazing items and downloads you may have missed on each site.)

Requirements: None
Recommendations: QR Code reader; the ability to watch embedded YouTube videos

This site is not part of the official Sony "District 9 Experience but it was created by the marketing agency (Agency Magma; the site was registered on 13 August 2009) that set up the QR Code system to promote the film [ more on that here ] and this site is part of that promotion.

At first glance it appears as though there's nothing much here but if you spend some time on the site you can find some amazing items. There is a semi-hidden page (you can also access it by clicking on the non-human text at the top left of the page under the space-ship pixel animation) that mentions that content will be coming to the site and you should download a QR Code reader in preparation for it. There is one image on the home page that has a QR code embedded in it but it's so small that it's impossible to scan, so I have no idea of what it says.

If you're not paying attention you may think that it ends there but you'd be very wrong. As you can see from the image above (the long purple bar) the home page is very, very long (presumably simulating home-made web pages from the 90s) so I would suggest that you visit the site to see what's there and to play with the content. The home page displays a few images, some of which link to sites that feature District 9, including, unfortunately, an article on The Hollywood Reporter web site that requires a paid subscription, and links to a number of videos on YouTube that are designed to demonstrate why human beings are great. However, embedded in the videos are QR codes that subliminally flash (sort of - it's delayed enough so you'll actually see it) while the video is playing. If you hit pause and then use a QR Code reader on your phone and its camera to snap and process the images you'll get redirected links (once again using the BeeTag service) to hidden files and pages on the web site.

Ordinarily I'd leave you to find all the stuff for yourself but a lot of people don't have the ability to read QR Codes or the bandwidth to watch videos (especially in South Africa) so here's a breakdown of what you can find (I hope Agency Magma doesn't mind).


Funny Alf Video (Eating Cats) (1.2 MB Flash Video)
The QR Code in this video links to: http://r.beetagg.com/?41XYC1.
The BeeTag URL redirects to: http://www.humanbeingsaregreat.com/cyum.html.
  (it's not for sensitive animal lovers)


QR Code Video: 24 Hour Ghetto Workout (5.8 MB Flash Video)
The QR Code in this video links to: http://r.beetagg.com/?41Y6Z1
The BeeTag URL redirects to: http://www.humanbeingsaregreat.com/intuit.html
  (click on the image on that page to download a 2.2 MB PDF)


Other items that the site links to:

• The Hollywood Reporter: "'District 9' tops Friday boxoffice" (requires paid subscription)
    (there's a clue to contents of this link in the parade image)
• YouTube: Original District 9 Short Film [ read our review here ]
• MovieViral.com Forum: District 9 (2009)

Finally, you may be wondering what the large image at the top of the screen is all about. If you click on the little animated space-ship icon you can download this 912 KB PDF. It's a "lost" poster dated 14 June 2009 that shows a canister that you may recognise from the movie. The giant text in the middle says "lost", the text below it says "notify hunterprawn@gmail.com" (which is then repeated next to it in English), and at the bottom are tabs that you can pull off the poster if it's printed that also have the email address. I haven't sent an email to the address so I don't know what happens if you do.

At the bottom of the Human Beings From Space page it says that more links are to follow and I hope that's true. Some movie concept art or more classified MNU research documents would be fantastic.

Web: http://www.humanbeingsaregreat.com/


We have now come to the end of the article. I hope you discovered lots of items you had previously missed and enjoyed learning more about the Web-based marketing campaign. Other articles are still in the works (for starters, there was much more to the full marketing campaign - including promotions on Twitter and MySpace) so please keep an eye on brainwavez.org's home page or follow us on Twitter at @brainwavez for immediate new-post announcements. If you haven't watched all the videos yet start here or leave a comment on the first page of the article. We'd love to hear from you.

On The Internet

Official Site: District 9