Living in the 21st century means you're subjected to weekly viral campaigns set off by creative marketing teams trying to capture your short attention span. Yeah, I'm talking about Nike's famous video of Kobe Bryant jumping over a car, Sunsilk's bridezilla who cut her hair off hours before her wedding and even District 9's anti-robot bus stop ads.
But what happens if a viral campaign is just so mysterious that it leaves the public completely confused? Today we're marking the creepy "What Is 230" campaign as this week's Actual Moments in De-Evolution, since the empty website, complete lack of information (despite all the Googling you can do) and annoying presence on Hulu, baseball games, Twitter and billboards everywhere goes to show that sometimes being a little too cutting edge in marketing can send you back to the Dark Ages.
Hey, 230 people. Slow down. Evolve on the same speed as the rest of us. Your viral campaign isn't working because we're only spreading the confusion rather than hype over a new product. And the lack of hints just makes us tired of trying to figure this thing out.
So what is 230? No idea. Some people are speculating a new hybrid vehicle debuting in August 2010 or August 11th, smart people believe it's connected to the American electric grid and others (like me) are predicting the zombie apocalypse via electrical outlets. Beware the electric undead!
Who knows. I'm just waiting until some Internet geek figures it out and screams "FIRST!!!" on their blog.
Comments
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ChrisTilton
Are there really people idiotic enough to think that it is a change of a power grid?
1) it's 240, not 230
2) power grids run much higher than 230
3) 240 is already delivered to your home and then dialed down to 120
4) appliances like washers and dryers use 240 and have the correct plugs already in place
5) you can't just "switch over." It requires physical rewiring
6) If there was a "magic switchover," everyone who had appliances or electrical devices that do not have an automatic voltage switch (such as a toaster, coffee machine, etc) these devices would break/overheat/catch fire.
jhoe45
i think its the volt from gm
kir_kanos
Ok, FIRST!!!
There is another YouTube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=wYLyzBA9oQo) that ties a domain to DNStinations which is a domain buying proxy (dead end). The ads for 230 run on Hulu.com, GM advertises on Hulu and is not currently running any other ads on the site and owns Chevrolet. There have been comments on Flickr that state that one of the 230 ads (not on Hulu) linked to Chevrolet.com. There is an event this weekend 'Plug-in 2009' at which Chevrolet has a presence.
All of this points to an announcement about a Chevrolet hybrid
jnickholds80493
Don't be takin' my font theory! I was the first person to notice that!
IKnowWhat230Is
I know what it is, but I can't tell! :) Be on the lookout for more signs (especially if you live in a large city), but not the internet kind! ;)
Moye Ishimoto
I'm with grkpektis on this.
The style doesn't look like Apple at all. Maybe they're trying to throw people off?
CoreyPaige
230 is actually the sequel to the popular movie 300. Left over Spartans tried to form as many as they could before the deadline of the movie because not enough people added their group on facebook in time. As for the smiley plug ing face its Zack Snyder homage to his last movie Watchmen putting the iconic smiley face in plug in form to promote a more electrifiy box office turnout. LOL
paradiso12
wow, I'm usu good at finding answers to things like this (beyond google, of course)! But this one has me stumped. I would have to say it is about the Chevy Volt. The font in the ads is the same as fonts used by Chevy and if you do Google "chevy volt 230" even without the quotes, it does return a nice amount of correlated info about the Chevy Volt and 230 mpg (the 2011 model). That's my guess.
mwinger
All I know is that there is going to be a big announcement on Tuesday, 8/11, so we will all know then!
Brokendisc
There is NO WAY this is related to a change to the U.S. power grid. Does anyone remember that it took nearly a year of reminders before we switched from analog to digital TV signals? The even delayed that so MORE ederly people could get on board with the program.
Stinkybone
sorry 4 the double post. FBUI (FaceBook Under the Influence). It happens.
Stinkybone
I think that it's the time u usually get home if u happen 2 live in a state whose bars close @2. Having moved 2 TX recently from Vegas, 230 is well known 2 me as the horrible by-product of last call.
Stinkybone
I think that it's the time u usually get home if u happen 2 live in a state whose bars close @2. Having moved 2 TX recently from Vegas, 230 is well known 2 me as the horrible by-product of last call.
Orkinman831
I guess Chevy uses the MarkMonitor registrar too so it's probably the Chevy thing.
Orkinman831
It's Apple. The new products are just around the bend just in time for the new school year. The domain is registered through MarkMonitor.com which is the same registar that Apple uses. It stinks of an Apple campaign.
grkpektis
If all this hype is about an f-ing hybrid I will have to punch someone.
grkpektis
If all this hype is about an f-ing hybrid I will have to punch someone.
10thSymohonia
always dreamed wat a zombie apocolypse would b like...
antfreq
VW's 2010 hybrid
http://www.ecogeek.org/conte nt/view/1617/69/
rprebel
Yeah, sounds like a conversion to 230V. idk, this is the first I've heard of it.
whatis230
I have seen YouTube videos on the frustration of it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v =RiEs570CmB8 and there is a blog http://whatis230.blogspot.com that speculates that it is a conversion to a 230 volt power grid or a hybrid car that gets 230 MPG or goes 230 miles on a charge. Could be the Chevy Volt that is supposed to come out in 2011 but that is only supposed to go 40 miles on an electric charge.. I DONT KNOW WHAT 230 is!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I know the official site http://www.whatis230.com is useless..
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