Sliding up the eMarketing ladder

Ok so those who watch Foxtel would know about the new Fox8 series Slide which started on Tuesday night.

Chances are, if you liked Skins you're probably going to want to watch this (very similar but Australian).

The website for Slide is a piece of eMarketing genius. Not only are the Fox8 marketers making the website an interactive experience with 'webisodes' prior to each episode, games cenered around the storylines, graphic novels of the characters (made by one of the characters, Eva), forums, the ability to comment on everything that is posted and behind the scenes content but they have also got Facebook pages, YouTube channels, MySpace blogs (made by character Tammy) and Tumbler accounts (made by caracter Scarlett).

For a show that is targeted at teens and young adults they have found the best way to reach their audience perfectly.

It's common knowledge that teens and young adults spend hours on the internet everyday (on average). In fact, as I'm writing this I'm listening to music on YouTube and chatting on Facebook. I can just as easily have a quick look at the Slide stuff while I'm online rienforcing the desire to watch it.

This use of eMarketing allows the end users to really connect to the characters in the series making them feel like real people who do the same things as the regular modern teenager (excluding living in hotels and throwing burning couches off balconies of course).

This has the potential to create a really loyal audience as well as possibility gaining a reputation in countries outside Australia (possible expanion strategy Fox8?).

Here is the trailer if you haven't already seen it;



What do you guys think? Is the new frontier in TV promotion?