Terminator: Dark Discovery

Client Scenario

In late 2007, Fox turned to Millions of Us to create an alternate reality experience to build buzz for the new science-fiction series "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" based on the Terminator universe.

Approach

The MoU creative team concocted a live-action alternate reality game that allowed the viewing audience to actually interact with the characters from the reality-bending project. "Terminator: Dark Discovery" begins when a Silicon Valley tech company called Enitech Labs creates a sophisticated piece of technology that generates imagery of the future. Each week, the research team that made the discovery would publicly update viewers with videos on their website, showing discoveries and events as they happened thereby sparking the imagination of viewers from around the world.

Participants enthusiastically blogged, posted, started Facebook groups, and chatted about their own theories and opinions about the unfolding events. Ultimately, the researchers found themselves being hunted by deadly Terminators from the future, seeking to stop their work permanently. The drama built to an explosive conclusion with a deadly confrontation between the helpless scientists and a monstrous 30-foot spider-like Hunter-Killer robot sent by the malevolent Skynet to eliminate them in the parking lot of Enitech's offices.

Results

Over 2 million people touched some part of the "Terminator: Dark Discovery" project. Blogs and forums around the world covered the saga of the researchers. Media outlets such as Wired, Ain't it Cool News, BoingBoingTV, Gawker Media, and more found something to discover inside the "Terminator: Dark Discovery" project.

"Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" scored the highest opening-night ratings of any new TV show in three years and was described by industry publication Multichannel News as the "number one new show" of the season.