Great internet campaigns make you... stop using the internet for a second.

Yesterday, a particular banner ad caught my eye. It was for an online dating site whose catchphrase was “the offline dating site” (the implication being that you might actually meet someone in person). I Googled it and the reviews said the site’s no good... And yes, I might have otherwise considered using it. Stop judging me.

So no dates for me :-(. But I started thinking about web campaigns that aim to actually get people off the computer (the nicotine gum of websites, if you will). Isn't that the idea though? Depending on the goal of your promotion, customers are going to have to take their face out of the screen at some point.

To that point, I’ve been trying for a while to figure out an excuse to write about one of my favorite concepts in social media campaigns: the alternate reality game. The most famous example is probably I Love Bees, an alternate reality game played in 2004 which was intended to hype the Halo 2 video game.

The phenomenon began when with some viral distribution of the url http://www.ilovebees.com/ (still active!). Purportedly someone’s personal webpage about beekeeping, the site bears all the signatures of amateur web design, right down to the annoying animated .gif of a cartoon bee. But upon visiting the site, it appears to be afflicted by a severely freaky-deeky virus or hack.

This is the impetus for a radio drama story, told in audio files posted to the site. The plot involves an alien artificial intelligence which is trapped inside the site. The site also gave players a set of global coordinates with no explanation of what they meant. Players discovered that the coordinates referred to the locations of pay phones, and the dates and times when the phones would ring. Players who answered the calls at the prescribed times got the opportunity to speak with story characters, and have their conversations recorded as part of the radio drama. Eventually, the game included Halo plot points and the "winners" were invited to a pre-release party for the game.

How freakin' cool. Everything old is new again, and whether or not you realize it, the coolest thing this century might actually be... pay phones? Well, no. But ironically, the most innovative social media tools of tomorrow's internet might be those which can actually get your face out of a screen in order to have a real life adventure in the "outside" world.

This is an important point to remember regarding the continued survival of movie theaters. With the success of NetFlix and the advancement of home entertainment, no one needs a theater just to see movies. But your house just isn't an adventure. Something needs to get you out.

This is part of the simple appeal behind New Think's "flash screening"promotion for Insidious. Any movie is a movie. But a one-time-only chance to go to a pre-release screening at midnight... Now, that's the adventure.

Today, we have access to everything we want, at the touch of a button, right here in the comfort of our homes. And you know what? It kinda sucks. Find a way to drag people out of their homes, and they just might thank you for it.

Pinterest teaches you how to pick up the chicks

Apparently, Pinterest shares a couple of parallels with the hottest nightclub imaginable.  Specifically, (1) you have to wait to get in if you don't already know someone inside, and (2) once you're in, 80% of the people there are women.

When I attempted to sign up for an account, I received this email:

Hi!
Thanks for requesting an invite. We'll be sure to send one soon.
In the meantime, feel free to explore a few pins.
We're excited to get you pinning soon!
—Ben and the Pinterest Team

What the hell are they doing in the meantime???  Every other mass social site creates your account instantly upon a single click.  Are they running a background check, based solely on my e-mail address?

An e-mail confirmation makes sense to confirm that the e-mail I've given is real.  But why the delay?

From The Social Network:

Tyler Winklevoss: The difference between what we're talking about and MySpace or Friendster or any of those other social networking sites…

Mark Zuckerberg: Is exclusivity.

Also consider:

"I don't want to belong to any club that will accept people like me as a member."
---Groucho Marx

Again, from The Social Network:

Eduardo Saverin: People had the ability to invite, or not invite, their friends to join.  See, in a world where social structure was everything, that was THE thing.

Now that Facebook has taken over the world, the "college kids only,” "invite only” structure is out.  Everyone thinks they need a Facebook profile anyway (and you do, don't you?), so there's no need for a manufactured "this club is for cool people only” phenomenon.  But I'm pretty sure the strategy still holds.  Despite Pinterest's supposed obstacles that prevent people from joining up, it has become the quickest growing new social networking site of all time, with about 12 million users.  Some exclusivity, huh?

It's the oldest trick in the book.  You can give something away for free, but no one will want it.  Tell people they can't have it, and suddenly they will pay dearly for it.  If you advertise that your club would like more members, no one will join.  Announce that your club is full, and people will be desperate to get on the "waiting list.”

So now I'm like a pretty girl that's given my phone number out to this cool new guy Pinterest, but I'm not going to get an invite right away.  Cool guys wait before calling you.  Tell ‘em, Trent:

As I know from someone who's already on Pinterest, I'll soon get a couple more e-mails:

From first e-mail:

You're in!
I'm excited to invite you to join Pinterest, a social catalog. I can't wait to have you join our little community.

From second e-mail:

Hi ______!,
YOU are the newest member of Pinterest, a community to share collections of things you love. We're excited to have you as a member and can't wait to see what you pin.

A few tips to get the most out of Pinterest:

[cropped]

- Pin carefully! As one of the first members of Pinterest, your pins will help set the tone for the whole community. Use big images, write thoughtful descriptions, and pin things you really love. Also, no nudity :)

Thanks for joining and happy pinning!

- Ben and the Pinterest Team

This is exciting. I'll be one of the very, very first [12 million or so] inside their little [12 million or so] community!

The internet may have changed the venue and technology of social networking, but social dynamics haven't really changed at all since you were a child.  Ultimately, if you want to be the leader of the Cool Kids Club, you have to make people fight to get inside it.  Hats off to Ben Silbermann and Pinterest for keeping their cool, and not inviting the hot chicks too soon.  I think it's working.