Before we could introduce the Buttermilk urban myth to the public we needed background material. To seed the story we created a series of digital artifacts revealing a narrative of first and second-hand accounts of incidents occurring around the spirited mountain.
Our main site was ButtermilkIsAlive.com which was full of links, history and theories about the Buttermilk myth. The site was hosted by our central character Dr. Jim Vaile, who interfaced with followers via a daily discussion group. Some of his followers were naysayers, like Rusty. BUTTERMILKISALIVE.COM Dr. Jim Vaile's Buttermilk Weblog
Rusty is a teenage conspiracy theorist who writes Leetspeak and is overflowing with angst and cliche. He can prove that Buttermilk's power is alien, and he keeps an online journal of his feelings.
ESPN produced this video to compliment our viral efforts. Although many fans were skeptical as to whether the rumors held weight, everyone was entertained. Fan reactions and forum comments can be found here: http://www.wonderweasels.org/buttermilk/index.html#rusty
and here: http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=23110
The storefront cycles through puuurrfect Zodi soundbytes until user enters via mouse or touchscreen.
Interacting with Zodi's ouija board reveals details about the users pet.
Now Zodi can divine a personalized pooch or kitty fortune!
In addition to the personalized fortune, we created two dozen zodiac cards representing the range of pet personalities. There were twelve cards exclusively for quirky kitties...
And twelve unique cards for lovable pooches! The full set of cards can be viewed at the illustrator's site: Julie Salzman