David Nutter's 'Scarlet' Unveiled ... As An Ad

By MICHAEL HINMAN Apr-29-2008

Already a popular director who has worked on series such as "Smallville," "Supernatural" and "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles," David Nutter has convinced one television group to put up money for a series that will never be made.

The faux series is known as "Scarlet," and trailers for the film have been making its way around the Internet. The television group isn't a studio, however. It's LG Electronics -- a company that makes televisions.

"The most difficult thing for me on this campaign was to convince myself and my bosses to really own this idea," said Kwan-Sup Lee, vice president of global brand marketing for LG who developed the idea of using viral marketing to advertise a new panel television being offered by the company. "To spend money without letting people know about our brand is really, really risky, right? But that's the idea of this. We need a breakthrough idea to change the rules of the game."

Nutter was brought in to direct the trailer while actress and model Natassia Malthe took on the role of "Scarlet." The concept is meant to advertise the LG products, but not a single LG television is featured in the ad campaign, according to the Associated Press.

Those who discovered the "series" were directed to ScarletSeries.tv where they were welcomed as if a production company was trying to get online interest in a new series.

However, LG let the cat out of the bag on Monday during an invitation-only party in Hollywood where stars like Milo Ventimiglia from "Heroes" and others were told that the true source of the "series" was LG.

The entire production was shot in Bangkok, and there are clues it's not a real series, especially with an announcer at the end telling the audience that "things aren't always what they seem."

However, the buzz surrounding "Scarlet" has been minimal, since no network was attached to the production and many people seemed to discover that the production was some kind of a commercial on their own, even if they didn't know what the commercial was promoting.

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About the Author: Michael Hinman is the founder and site coordinator for Airlock Alpha and the entire BlipNetwork. He owns Quantum Global Media Inc., the parent corporation of the BlipNetwork. He's a print journalist by day, and lives in Tampa, Fla.
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