A new achievement in viral marketing

A former coworker just tipped me off to this. You may have seen trailers for Tropic Thunder, the new… ermph… war comedy starring Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and Robert Downey Jr. (as Kirk Lazarus).

Well… it’s clear that building up the online presence of this non-existent personality is one of the film’s more interesting marketing tactics. And it’s extended to creating websites for other films he’s acted in, which of course don’t exist. The one my friend brought to my attention is called Satan’s Alley. Although it doesn’t exist, a Google search reveals another connection: it’s the title of the Broadway show John Travolta’s character Tony Manero stars in in Staying Alive, the 1983 sequel to Saturday Night Fever.