C4 runs ‘suicide kittens’ viral to promote 4mations
- Added:
- Oct 13, 2008
Channel 4 has launched a series of viral campaigns to drive awareness and traffic to 4mations, its new video-sharing animation website.
4mations is a collaboration between Channel 4, animation specialists Lupus Films and Aardman Animations, the studio behind Angry Kid and The Wrong Trousers featuring Wallace and Gromit.
Since its official launch less than three weeks ago the site has attracted over 120,000 unique visitors and over 320,000 film views.
There are currently 1000 films uploaded to the site and many flash games as well, and as more users upload their work these figures are rising daily.
Created by Rubber Republic, the viral series is intended to drive traffic to the 4mations website www.4mations.tv. The campaign includes a game called Suicide Kittens where users have to manoeuvre the 4mations' kitten-skull character "General Tiddles" and shoot laser beams from its eyes in a bid to ultimately self-destruct in a Kamikaze-style finale. General Tiddles also appears in two animated viral films ‘Driving School’ and ‘Deep Philosophy’ and an ‘interactive blog badge’ designed to let bloggers support 4mations by adding it to their blog.
The game will also be promoted by digital specialists Hot Cherry.
Commenting on the campaign Camilla Deakin, executive producer of 4mations, said: "The campaign reflects the fun, entertaining and often surreal nature of the animation to be found on 4mations. We believe that the site will appeal to anyone who enjoys watching, making or discussing animation. We aim to provide everyone with a fun place to do this and give them the tools that they need to create animation for themselves, for example the recently launched TH!NKS application allows anyone from novices to pros to create their own instant animations.”
http://www.4mations.tv/kittens