Walking past the Whole Foods on North 4th and Bedford, I caught sight a typical New York phenomenon, a tall pylon letting steam blast from the sewers (as opposed to steem blasting from the rewards pool, which I’d image will eventually become a more routine New York phenomenon).
The closer I got, the more it became clear this was no ordinary vent.
I had stumbled upon a gigantic smoking joint, easily 10 feet high (pun intended).
(Look at the size of that thing! High Maintenance indeed)
Upon closer inspection—it was missing the telltale smell of the real thing— I realized that this was an HBO stunt activation for High Maintenance. And a pretty good one too. Smart because it was simple, a large prop and seemingly abandoned generator and fog machine hidden nearby in a cordoned off cube. Prop fabrication, gear rental, transport and permit, I’d guess the whole thing cost less than 20k
The power of stunt activations runs deep.
From zombies hiding in the sewers...
...a haunted coffee shop...
...to the gas station I helped take over on the west side of manhattan and won 3 Cannes Lions for my directing efforts.
These have the power to put very sticky thoughts in people’s heads. To lay the foundation that things aren’t what they seem, and magic can exist in real life.
Stunts make the intangible tactile. They make you think about the IP they’re related to in a new way, and the best ones make you search out their connection to the media they’re related to, gamifying the experience for even more of a fun lasting impression.
We should all dream up a crazy stunt activation to coincide with the release of the @hardfork-series and make it happen. You can never start planning these things too early. This is the perfect community to engage in this kind of wild and crazy activity. If you have any thoughts write them in the comments below. Something that helps seal our crypto-noir sci fi in people’s subconscious. The best one will win 5 SBD and best runner up will get 3 SBD, and if you’re more of a researcher find other cool stunts that have already happened and drop them in the comments for inspiration and full upvotes. You have a full week to enter! Make sure it’s crazy and will knock people’s socks off!
Yours in the Chain,
Doug & The HardFork Team
@HardFork-Series is an upcoming narrative film mini-series with a decentralized filmmaking approach to be produced in New York City and around the world, the team includes writer @ericvancewalton, writer/director @dougkarr, star and writer @bakerchristopher, producer @skycorridors, technical lead @complexring, executive producer @andrarchy, growth hacker @nickytothenines, the amazing HardFork-Universe crew, and the entire Steemit community. Please reach out to any and all of us to get involved, or simply reply below and we'll reach out!
We'd also love it if people posted about their ideas on Steemit using the #hardforkseries tag, we just want to point out that in order to avoid any liability that we will be assuming everything posted within that tag is intended to be a derivative work of the HardFork series and so the HardFork team cannot be liable for any apparent similarities between the content and the final product.
What would be great is if we, as a community, participate. If there was a free or low cost stunt that we could spread in our respective communities, it might create a lot of buzz. Even if it were leaving poker chips with the series on it around town, or leaving a "calling card" of some sort related to the series.
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I love the idea of community involvement in multiple places at once @coldsteem! And poker chips (or even 3D printed HardFork crypto coins) being distributed would be awesome!
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Crypto coins it is. If we could get 3D crypto coins and leave them at restaurants and bars, it could go viral and generate some press.
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I think this is a great start @coldsteem, but how can we amp up the shock value? The unexpected? The thing that makes receiving these coins unforgettable? What’s crazy about how they get them? What’s amazing about what they can do with them?
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Could we put a Qr code on one side that would scan to a hidden trailer?
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Now we're talking! Look at the size of that thing. Even in the future we can appreciate massive blunts!
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Definitely going to have to come up with some sort of crazy stunt. Will get thinking caps on ;-)
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Here is my suggestion it might not be an "easy " one to do, but it could be worth considering.
Restaurants would be a great target for a Hardfork Series stunt. There is one thing that restaurants have constantly on the minds of owners and managers and that is; “how to make the eating and payment experience more enjoyable for millennial customers” . Crypto currencies would fit well into the payment aspect of their concerns.
The National Restaurant Association has their annual meeting in Chicago in May. I propose that Hardfork-Series find a way to get the food caterer for the main dinner event to replace the normal forks at the dinner with nice “hard forks” that have the piercing prongs of the fork split widely apart by about two inches, so there would be two prongs on the left side of the fork and two prongs on the right side of the fork.
HFS would need a booth at the trade show, the napkin the fork would be wrapped in would give the booth # and invite them to come by and discuss the series and crypto currency payments for their business, along with an opportunity to take part in a “national hard fork day” when the series kicks off.
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Good idea! Thanks for your submission!
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One hit of that and...
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Haha. True that.
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I really believe in this project and this team. So I spent a couple hours pondering on how to help with this particular contest. Here is a post I made with a 13:45 minute video of a midnight brainstorming session for Hard-Forked promotion possibilities.
https://steemit.com/hardfork-series/@quinneaker/midnight-brainstorming-session-for-hardfork-series-contest-submission-video-4-juicy-inspired-ideas-for-hard-forked-stunt-type
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I am totally in to participate in a special event to promote and help brain storm....I will think of some ideas and let you know...
~~The New Paradigm Is Upon Us~~
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Stunt: Order smart cards from alibaba, put a few tokens on it and program the card so that it will get released once the people put in the code which they will see in the episode (or something similar). Good luck to Brooklyn and team Hard
fork!
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Hey Doug, I know that this might be a tough question to answer given that funding the project is still in the works but with any promotional stunt timing is very important and timing for putting it is equally important, any idea on how long before ya'll launch the series, or how long before the stunt would take place? How much time between now and the stunt will play into how I approach my idea for this contest entry.
Thanks in advance for your prompt response.
@sultnpapper
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Helluva publicity stunt! I wonder if HBO is doing the same thing in Dallas...
( Image from here, though I'm not sure if the hosting folks would appreciate this re-use. :) )
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Upvote and resteemed ✌🏻
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Wow it's amazing.
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lol
Carrie coffee shop stunt - hahaha amazing !
I like this content thanks @hardfork-series
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Evil zombies. D:
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Nice.
Ask for his advice yes let his steemit account can progress like you.
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That's insane.
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@hardfork-series really love reading your blog surely your presentation skills are dam wonderful. I am learning a lot from you hope you continue doing this and share many new things which will help many new people joining our steem community as well... Thanks for sharing @hardfork-series
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