1. The story
• 'Lost' was produced for ABC by Touchstone Television . The creators of the
TV series were Jeffrey Lieber and J.J. Abrams (Abrams) & Damon Lindelof
(Lindelof).
• Abrams, Lindelof, Bryan Burk, Jack Bender, and Carlton Cuse (Cuse) served
as executive producers for 'Lost'.
• The story is about a plane crash, after which the survivors find themselves
stranded on a remote Pacific island. The island is apparently populated by
supernatural forces.

2. The story
• A character for all
• Different level of interest
– Theory lovers
– Nickname generators
– Literature fans
– Math and science geeks
– A man of faith
– A man of science

3. Marketing for Lost
"The show breaks so many rules, and we're really trying to do the same
with our marketing and be organic," Mike Benson, senior vice president of
marketing for ABC Entertainment said.

4. Integrated marketing mix
The media strategy for 'Lost' was predominantly TV led. The show was
extensively advertised on TV and this medium accounted for a sizable
portion of the promotional budget.
ABC showed a lot of re-caps in the breaks between the two episodes. It
also showed narrated recaps to ensure that new viewers were quickly
updated on the story. Viewers who had missed one or two episodes could
also get updated...

5. Lesson to learn
Lesson to learn
• Make your product available!
• Marketing idea has to start with the product!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/timothyschenck/

6. Marketing 2.0
IS NOT IT IS
PRODUCT PRODUCT
PACKAGING PACKAGING
DISTRIBUTION
DISTRIBUTION
CRM
CRM
ADVERTISING
ADVERTISING
CONSUMER
What’s Next in Marketing PAUL ISAKSON

8. Advertising
• ABC had developed an integrated marketing campaign for 'Lost' that cut
across various media channels - official and unofficial websites, fan
message boards, websites that provided details about the characters,
podcasts, text-message updates, print magazines, newsletters, Video-on-
demand(VOD), etc.

9. ABC Raises the Bar
• Tom Lowry of BusinessWeek wrote, "Using podcasts, interactive games,
websites, and good, old-fashioned hype, ABC has turned a cult-style show
into a cross-media sensation."

10. Lesson to learn
• Use multiple channels to reach
audience
• Give more information and details
to the ones who ask for it
• Don’t just copy same information
through channels

11. Advertising 2.0
Advertising 2.0
IS NOT IT IS
11

12. PR
• The integrated marketing effort strove to keep the 'Lost' fans involved
during the summer reruns, when viewership generally fell drastically, and
before the launch of the third season.
• A tie-in book called 'Bad Twin' was also launched, which went on to
become a best-seller in the US. ABC resorted to publicity stunts and TV
and print ads that gave a real feel to the show.

13. Bad Twin

14. Lesson to learn
• Love your Fans!
• Feed your Fans!
• Layered messages through different involvement levels works!

15. PR 2.0
IS NOT IT IS

16. Viral
• May 2006, ABC provided free ad-supported episodes via ABC.com.
• In October 2006, ABC began to provide downloads of 'Lost' to iPodsvia
iTunes for US$ 1.99 per episode. These downloads proved quite popular
and surprisingly did not even affect the viewership of the TV show.
• In fall 2006, ABC was set to launch a serialized version of 'Lost' videos that
could be downloaded into mobile phones. A video console game and a
mobile game were also being developed based on 'Lost'.

17. A new way…
• Earlier, advertisers were concerned that consumers, especially those who
had DVRs, could skip the ads that were aired during commercial breaks..

18. Marketing the experience
• On April 24, 2006, ABC Entertainment (ABC) along with UK's
Channel 4 Television (Channel 4) and Australia's Seven
Network (Seven Network) announced the launch of 'The Lost
Experience' (TLE), a web-based alternative reality game (ARG).
• With TLE, ABC was seeking to engage its loyal fan base
through yet another medium. The game was designed to
reveal many secrets about the show, in which the mystery
was yet to be unraveled even after two successful seasons
had been completed.

19. Marketing the experience
• ABC aired ads of a fictitious organization that featured in the
show. These ads provided vital clues to TLE and directed the
fans to different websites that provided clues. Several
websites were created by fans to discuss, analyze, and share
clues.

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21. Dharma wants you!
• ABC and Sky’s flagship television show “Lost”
is embracing the Internet to drive publicity for
the new series in the form of a new viral
marketing message.
• A press release has been distributed online for
fictional company “Dharma Initiative” as part
of an ongoing recruitment guide.

23. Lesson to learn
• Don’t tell a story, create an experience
• Let them be part of the “game”
• Customer is not a moron!

24. Viral 2.0
IS NOT IT IS
“Something remarkable is worth talking
about. Worth noticing. Exceptional. New.
Interesting. It’s a Purple Cow. Boring stuff
is invisible. It’s a brown cow. …
Remarkable marketing is the art of
building things worth noticing right into
your product or service.”
Seth Godin

25. Bonus
• Sprite/LOST Experience
• Program Summary:
• Sprite began on May 10th by placing the new Sublymonal.com URL into a faux TV
commercial that ran in primetime during the ABC network show LOST. The URL
drove consumers to a puzzle solely related to the show with the only brand
mention being the actual URL. Afterwards, the ARG transitioned to a scavenger
hunt with embedded DJ podcasts, videos, and hidden memos within
Sublymonal.com. A final component includes embedded codes in print ads in
Entertainment Weekly and People Magazine. The codes can then be used to
unlock further content online.
• Results:
1. Sprite web traffic up 400%
2. Average visit time up 275% and +300% vs benchmark
3. 500K valid codes entered ... and climbing!

26. Lesson to learn
Lesson to learn
• It works!
• Give something worthy not just free give aways! And they will come…
• And they will remember the experience…

27. Marketing mix in the new era
COMPANY
INNOVATION INFORMATION
& CONTENT & INPUT
BETTER
BRANDS
AGENCY INSIGHTS CONSUMERS
& IDEAS
What’s Next in Marketing PAUL ISAKSON

28. 1. Entertain them
2. Don’t try to be something
you are not
3. Put them in control
4. Re-calibrate your risk
tolerance
5. Leverage the power of
your network
Youth Marketing DAVE KNOX