I think we can all appreciate a clever marketing gimmick. Especially the ones that are honest about it. Viral marketing stopped being all exciting and edgy about five years ago, and while it’s still kinda cool, it has definitely lost its sheen.

Honest marketing gimmicks it is.

A few of them have popped out of the woodwork recently, and I’d like to give them some attention – because, if nothing else, they deserve points for creativity. If, of course, they’re real. (Well, one of them definitely is.)

First up is the much-touted “win a threesome with Scarlett Johansson” site. Of course, a “threesome” is just a date to see the upcoming Woody Allen movie Vicky Christina Barcelona with Scarlett and another rabid fan. Not quite as exciting as the alternate definition. Even so, there is speculation as to whether or not this is a real contest. There is little information on the site, just an email address to send in your applications. No rules, no T&C, no details…this has led many to believe that it’s merely a cybersquatter harvesting email addresses. But surely there’s an easier way to do that?

So far, nobody involved with the film has commented. Is it real? Is it fake? If it’s real, it’s pretty edgy and clever (even for a movie about a threesome). If it’s fake, well, good job.

(My advice? Use a junk e-mail address if you insist on signing up. Chances are, spam will be involved.)

And on the “definitely real” front, we have the fifth annual upcoming Saw blood drive. Yes, a Saw blood drive. Technically it’s promotion for the film, but I guarantee that more people know about Saw at this point than know about the blood drives. That makes it less promotion and more just an act of goodwill, which is very cool indeed.

A lot of sites have recently debuted the poster for the Saw V drive, which you can see up at the top of this article (click for bigger). Steve’s already done a thing on how it’s scarier than the actual poster, which might be true, but that’s only because Saw II already gave us all a “AH GOD NEEDLES POKING INTO MY SKIN” complex. Apparently the “sexy nurse” theme is a regular thing, and it puzzles me a bit because about 3 minutes total of the entire Saw series has actually taken place in a hospital. I get that it’s for the blood drive part, but they could have made a little more effort to tie the two themes together. Like, for instance, a poster with Jigsaw wearing an Uncle Sam hat pointing at the camera going “I WANT YOU TO GIVE BLOOD.” Just to pick one example. (Empire Movies has what appears to be an alternate poster. It’s much less scary and looks fan-made, but then again, they all kinda do.)

But I can’t really complain, because this is a good thing they’re doing. I can’t find any further information, dates, or locations yet, but those will undoubtedly be forthcoming.

And if they don’t come to your city, give blood anyway. It’s a nice thing to do.

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