The interactive online comedy ‘Where Are The Joneses?’ followed a sister and brother - Dawn and Ian Jones - travelling through Europe in search of numerous siblings, having discovered their father was a prolific sperm donor who had been careless enough to misplace a list of addresses…
Sponsorship by Ford Motor Company put the Joneses behind the wheel of a Ford S-MAX, liveried in a specially commissioned shade of purple.
The story unfolded in real time. The two characters (and a small production team) spent three months on the road and their adventures were filmed as they unfolded. These episodes were then uploaded to YoutTube and linked to from the Where Are The Joneses? blog in daily instalments of up to 4 minutes.
The people they encountered and the places they explored were dictated by the on-line audience, who could comment on developments and shape the next day’s events through an innovative media format devised by communication and design agency Imagination.
It comprised a blog and a wiki. The blog presented each day’s episode and offered the chance to leave feedback; anyone could contribute to the storyline through the wiki and also upload images and video. A handful of contributors even appeared in some episodes.
The production drew on a diversity of Web 2.0 services, including Wordpress, Wikidot and YouTube. ‘Where Are The Joneses?’ used the Creative Commons Licence, which facilitates media sharing, to ensure both commercial and public audiences could download content for free.
Ford branding, in addition to the vehicle, was deliberately restrained. The sole attribution was the inclusion of a small ‘Sponsored By Ford’ marque on the blog and at the close of each episode.
‘Where Are The Joneses?’ represented a bold initiative by Ford to make its brand more relevant to consumers by engaging with them through the cultural milieu of social networks, fast growing in popularity.
The viral nature of ‘Where Are The Joneses?’ prompted user-generated spin-outs from the ‘sanctioned’ blog onto other networks, such as Facebook, MySpace and Flickr, as well as blogger’s sites. It also generated a significant amount of national news and industry coverage.
Blog - wherearethejoneses.com
Wiki - wherearethejoneses.wikidot.com
YouTube - www.youtube.com/user/wherearethejoneses
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