When I agreed to participate in a promotion for the Discovery Channel’s upcoming “Shark Week” I figured it would be an opportunity to have another “give away” contest like our recent one for Burn Notice.
Instead, what I received today was more of a social networking/mystery package, and while it’s a cute collection of things, I’m not sure what to do with it on the site.
I figured I’d post everything and let folks check it out. If people think it’s worth having a “give away” contest around, let me know in the comments and I’ll cook something up.
Here’s what they sent (click on any image for a larger picture). Everything except the white card on the right in the first photo was initially packaged inside the jar in the first photo.
First photo:
1) White paper card with faux handwritten note: “This jar holds a story, the story of a single tragic incident that needs to be unlocked. Dive in, investigate the evidence and discover what lies beneath the surface of frenziedwaters.com”.
2) Glass jar, rusted metal lid, covered with salt as if it spent time in the ocean.
3) Fake shark tooth, attached by wire to an oxidized copper rectangle with the URL www.frenziedwaters.com inscribed on it. If you go to the URL there are four jars floating in the ocean, one is clickable that will put a Frenzied Waters link on your Facebook page. Two are future dated, presumably actionable then. One has a series of longitude and latitude points. I have not plugged them in and seen where they lead. Anyone who’d like to is welcome to post the results in a comment.
4) Key float with an oxidized copper key. Float reads “Discovery Marina, SW09″ [i.e. Shark Week, '09]
5) Tiny fake newspaper clipping (someone was mining Facebook, and adding some editorial fun):
Second photo:
Swim trunks, shredded with fake blood.
Third photo:
Warning Sign. If you call the phone number it’s an “advisory” message.
Besides the obvious, “spread the Facebook love” and come back on July 13 and 20 for more fun, I’m not sure what to make of it, but am happy to hear what other folks think that we should do.
Update: Some people cannot see the coordinates by the left most floating jar at frenziedwaters.com. Below is a screen capture with them, but they aren’t linked to any action. I was able to see them using Safari, but with Firefox I saw the Asbury Park, 1916 image below.
Commenter Jim Lehane has mapped the coordinates as follows. Anyone in their neighborhoods is welcome to investigate.
- Wise Surfboards, 800 Great Hwy., San Francisco
- Merz Apothecary, 4716 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL
- Abandoned building with the name “Andersson Marine” on it at 12712 W Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, CA
- House near the corner of E 7th St and S Williams St (~ 126 E 7th St) in Detroit.
- Antiques Market (can’t read exact name) at 534 14th St NW, Atlanta Georgia.
- Outside the Manhattan Plaza Health Club – ~468 W 43rd St, New York, NY
- Store called Pandemonium (~2404 Homer St, Dallas, TX)
- Hotel in Miami Beach. Gansevoort South Hotel?. ~2438 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL
- Store, Blue Fin at 2309 18th St, Washington DC
- Masquerade Costume Superstore – 1100 S Columbus Blvd, Philadelhia PA
- Entrance to I think Nautical Prints, but the door says Lannan Ship Model Gallery on it. It is at the corner of Congress and Purchase Streets, boston, MA.
This is what I see on the left most floating jar using Firefox, it links to a flash video of a shark attack from the first person perspective of the victim.
If I have a vote it’s that you unfeature this and feature the Warehouse 13 ratings — at least if web pageviews is a goal!
But i had a different experience at frenziedwaters.com. The left most jar says Asbury Park, 1916 — then you have the two future dates and then the Facebook app. Clicking the Asbury Park jar brought up a video that…still leaves me thinking you should feature the Warehouse 13 post over this
btw, for the prize seeking contest lovers there will be “Guess the Monk season premiere ratings” and/or (I think it will be both) “Guess the Psych season premiere ratings” and win prizes. More details in two or three weeks…
But those prizes will be like DVD box sets and not bloody swim trunks. Though theoretically the key above must open something — perhaps it’s a locker with $25,000). Or perhaps its just a prop in a goofy social networking promotion!
I wouldve rather wanted the head that popped out from under the boat that freaked out Dreyfuss in “JAWS”.
So…they’re hoping you get eaten by a shark, Bill?
Shelly, sadly, according to Discovery, Bill died on July 6 and his funeral is planned for tommorow, July 9. He needs to take a close up picture of the newspaper clipping (though he did include the text in the post above). That was the best part of the package!
Love Psych. Look forward to the contest.
Robert, Discovery certainly seems to have a dark sense of humor. I can’t believe they went to the trouble of making that clipping – it looks so real!
Monk and Psych are the best shows on tv i watch them every friday
i’m even reading a psych book for a summer book report
The first set of coordinates seem to be for a building for the company “Wise” in San Fran. Address is about 812 Great Hwy.
The second one is what seems like the entrance to “Lincoln Square” at the intersection of N Lincoln Ave & W Leland Ave, Chicago, IL
Third set are for what seems to be an abandoned building with the name “Andersson Marine” on it at 12712 W Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, CA
Jim, very interesting. The “Wise” in San Francisco seems to be:
Wise Surfboards. I may give them a call today and see how they’re tied in.
The fourth is at a house near the corner of E 7th St and S Williams St (~ 126 E 7th St) in Detroit. Does not look like a business.
The fifth is an Antiques Market (can’t read exact name) at 534 14th St NW, Atlanta Georgia.
6th – Outside the Manhattan Plaza Health Club – ~468 W 43rd St, New York, NY
7th – Looks like it is at a store called Pandemonium (~2404 Homer St, Dallas, TX)
8th – Is a massive hotel in Miami Beach. I believe it is the Gansevoort South Hotel but i am not certain. ~2438 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL
9th – Looks like a store called the Blue Fin at 2309 18th St, Washington DC
10th – Looks like it is in front of the Masquerade Costume Superstore – 1100 S Columbus Blvd, Philadelhia PA
11th – Is at the entrance to I think Nautical Prints, but the door says Lannan Ship Model Gallery on it. It is at the corner of Congress and Purchase Streets, boston, MA.
And this is the last of them. I can give you a picture of the locations if you like but it does not form a pattern in my opinion. Sorry I jumped in on this. I kind of like maps and puzzles.
Correction on #2. I narrowed it down. It appears to be at Merz Apothecary, 4716 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL
And yes, the first one is the same Wise as the Wise Surfboards website.
Jim, thanks! I will repost the entire list in the main post in a moment.
Here are some more websites:
2. http://www.merzapothecary.com/
3.
4.
5. http://www.14thstreetantiques.com/
6. http://www.mphc.com/
7. http://pandemoniumltd.com/
8. http://www.gansevoortsouth.com/
9.
10. http://www.masqueradeadventure.com/
11. http://www.lannangallery.com/
Jim, I called Wise Surfboards in San Francisco. The guy I talked to said they did get a package that sounded like pretty much the same basic kind of thing I received, but he didn’t know the particulars, nor was he that interested in talking about it
I found some more of those online as well:
http://www.joblo.com/index.php?id=27384&order=asc&test=1
http://www.marketingshift.com/2009/7/sharkweek-frenziedwaters-viral-marketing.cfm
Where did you find the coordinates on the webpage. I can’t seem to see them either.
Asbury Park, 1916 might refer to the shark attacks attong the Jersey shore back then – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Shore_shark_attacks_of_1916
Jim, as I wrote in the post, the coordinates by the left most jar are only visible to me using the Safari browser on a Mac. All other Mac browsers display the Asbury Park text and link to the shark attack video. Robert saw the Asbury Park text/link in Windows, but I’m not sure which browser he was using.
Did anyone call the beach closed number?