Knowing the Alternate Reality of the ARG or "What I Would do if I Ran The ARG"

[glantern]

UPDATED May 8, 2006

This thread is intended to ground everyone in the facts that are known resulting from either the Lost television show or “The Lost Experience”. This is not meant to discuss clues. It is only meant for people to Understand the Alternate Reality.

Any additions or comments would be welcome. Please post them here or PM me.

The first post will be updated as the game continues. The second post will contain the “If I ran the ARG” places to look for clues.

Legend:
TV – From Lost TV Show
LE – From The Lost Experience ARG

The story so far:

HANSO Foundation ALL-HANSO Coordination Thread (http://www.losttv-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18430)

The Hanso Foundation (THF) is an international humanitarian/science organization founded by Alvar Hanso. (TV/LE)

Some of the specific projects of THF are: (LE)

Mathematical Forecasting Initiative
Worldwide Wellness and Prevention Development Program
Mental Health Appeal
Electromagnetic Research Institute
Institute for Genomic Advancement
Life Extension Project
- The Life Extension Project has been investigated by the Global Welfare Consortium for their potential involvement in an outbreak of a meningococcal disease.
- The GWC, under new leadership, later repealed its concerns about LEP.


There are other projects that were advertised before, but are no longer referenced (pre-LE):

Accelerated Remote Viewing
- The Remote Viewing was referenced in a telephone message between Thomas Mittelwerk and Hugh McIntyre. (LE)
Quest for Extra Terresrtial Intelligence (QETI)
Joint (can't remember the rest of the name!) (JEDI)
(Help with any others??)

There is however a project that the general public is unaware of, The Dharma Initiative (TV/LE)

There is (presumably) an insider in the Hanso Foundation who goes by the name Persephone that is trying to expose Hanso’s involvement in Dharma. (LE)

Either Persephone or another insider is alleging “The Hanso Foundation, setting the world speed record for subverting authority.” Implying that THF had a role in the change of leadership for the GWC. (LE)

THF has had dealings with Paik Heavy Industries and the Widmore Corporation. Unspecified allegarions are being made against THF, Paik and Widmore by unknown parties. (LE)

Foundation Executives ALL-CHARACTERS Coordination Thread
Peter Thompson is the only one currently in the Headquarters.
Alvar Hanso is apparently missing.
Thomas Mittlewerk is out for 3 weeks (starting time unknown)
Hugh McIntyre is out for 2 weeks (starting time unknown)

Hanso Related Locations:
Copenhagen, Denmark (Hanso Headquarters) (LE)
Makerere Hospital, Gambia (WWPDP) (LE)
Mogadishu Hospital, Somalia (WWPDP) (LE)
Conarky Hospital, Guinea (WWPDP) (LE)
International Aid Effort, Ethiopia (WWPDP) (LE)
Vik Institute, Vik, Iceland (MHA) (LE)
Bad Salzdetfurth, Lower Saxony (ERI) (LE)
Zanzibar (LEP) (LE)
Sri Lanka (LE)
Korea (offshore project) (LE)
The Island (DHARMA) (TV)

Hanso Timeline
Circa 1966 – The Hanso Foundation created
.
.
.
May 2, 2006 – THF launches advertising campaign in UK.
May 3, 2006 – THF ad campaign in US
May 4, 2006 – THF ad campaign in Australia

Gary Troup ALL-BADTWIN Coordination Thread (http://www.losttv-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18428]ALL-BADTWIN Coordination Thread)
Gary Troup wrote at least 2 books
The Valenzetti Equation (non-fiction – Out of Print)
Bad Twin (fiction – released May 1, 2006)

September 16, 2004 - Participated in interviews on “Book Talk” with Laird Grainger

Allegedly in Oceanic Air flight 815 that is missing.

Involved with an Oceanic Flight Attendant, Cindy (help me here with the name!)

Widmore Corporation ALL-WIDMORE Coordination Thread

A probable subsidiary, Widmore Laboratories, makes (at least) pregnancy tests (TV)

Paik Heavy Industries ALL-PAIK HEAVY INDUSTRIES Thread

Owned by Sun’s father in Korea (TV)
No information available.

[glantern]

UPDATED May 8, 2006

To date the ARG has focused on the television ads for the Hanso Foundation and thehansofoundation.org

I obviously have no idea how in depth the creators of the ARG are going to go with the cross-media exposure. Hopefully these ides will be able to help guide Team Vincent's search and can be used as a starting point for the combined power of the Team to get ahead of the game.

Legend:
TV - From TV Show Lost
LE - From The Lost Experience ARG
GLC - GLantern Comments
Changes to the post indicated by date added/updated

Advertising (includes all medium - web, TV, radio, billboard):

The Hanso Foundation CONFIRMED - WEB, TV, NEWSPAPER (updated 5/11)
Bad Twin CONFIRMED (added 5/11)
Paik Heavy Industries REFERENCED - NOT INVOLVED TO DATE
Widmore Corporation REFERENCED - NOT INVOLVED TO DATE
Oceanic Airlines

Others to consider:
- Santa Rosa
- Anything related to Hugo Reyes (GLC - it seems his is more of a holding company, so actual advertising my not be "realistic")
- Disney affiliates

Miramax
ESPN
Touchtone TV
Touchtone Pictures
SoapNet
Hyperion Books
Disney/Pixar movie CARS-ABC Shows

Late Night Talk Shows (like Jimmy Kimmel)
Alias (same producers as Lost)-ABC Radio ABC Radio Stations (http://abcradio.go.com/channel?id=35) (added 5/11)

Websites:

In addition to the one's we've already seen:

- Santa Rosa Mental Health (TV)
- Hurley's box company (TV)
- Other Hurley companies (TV)
- "Fake" U of M alumni association (DeGroots) (TV)
- Missing person websites
- Most Wanted websites (Kate, Sawyer) (TV)
- The hospital Jack worked at (St. Sebastian's?) (TV)
- LA Adoption agencies (Claire) (TV)
- Isaac (who tried to cure Rose) (TV)
- Monster.com (LE) REFERENCED - NOT INVOLVED TO DATE

(GLC - I wouldn't consider anything to do with Dharma in the name. Here is why. In the "reality" Dharma is a secret (?) research program. Things like this are not generaly out in the open. Info could be gleaned via inforamtion about the DeGroots, Hanso Foundation, or "Conspiracy Theory" sites (similar to the Montauk Project tell-alls). Also, information about Flight 815 could be found in the "Conspiracy Theory" sites.)

Other Media:
- Personal ads in newspapers related to Lost characters
Congratulations to Hurley for winning Megalotto) (Dionysus)
- Help Wanted (filling in for people who were on Flight 815)
- Business for Sale (Hurley related)
- Death notices

Liddy Walsh (FAKE?)- Isaac (see above)

[Dionysus]

Great job Glantern! :) I have looked at ABC and some other sites, as well as the commercials to see who sponsors ABC and what seems to be advertised during LOST. I have a bunch of real places, but am not sure I want it publicly posted. I saw an ad for a national pharmacy and wondered if the Sunday newspapers would have a fake ad or something related hidden for Widmore Labs or a related place in their weekly fliers.

Are these things we should look for?

My understanding my be off since I am not familiar with Arg's. I have gone to some of the sponsor's sites to see how they advertise as well. I worked for the Dept of Public Works once for Billboards. There are many laws for them but they are so huge they slip by. It cost tons of money to own 1 billboard. They pretty much do what they want. I would think anything directly Disney related would be there. There are a few family magazines too. I have a bunch of info but not sure I should post it here.

ETA. I hate to post this but I was even thinking along the lines of Newspapers etc. that exist now that relate to a character's hometown and things like that. You know maybe a congrats in a personal ad to Hurley for winning the lottery, a death notice, or a job want ad for Locke's company.

[VeeAyetheCPA]

- The hospital Jack worked at (was it ever named?)



I think it was St. Sebastian's

[LAN]

Nice work Glantern.

One thought I had was they might avoid getting involved with real entities such as Univ of Michigan Alumni Association, just to protect themselves legally.

If I was running the ARG, here is the first thing I would do. I would have a commercial with a totally blatant phone number flashing on the screen. When you call the number however, the number would be disconnected. I would use the red herring method of misdirection to throw the casual game players completely off. Then, I would have the actual phone number hidden within a clue in a seemingly innocuous commercial, that only the hard core would be able to solve. This way the phone lines would be less likely to get completely jammed immediately. Or I am way off.

[snakey]

hmmm, St Sebastian of the arrows in the body tied to a tree left for dead but heals and goes preaching again st. Sebastian?

[Dionysus]

LAN, That is what I was thinking as well. Like what about having say a SEARS commercial and putting someone in the background looking at phones and a number would be there. Not that SEARS has tons of commercials on ABC, just that might be an idea.

They might put BOB.:glasses: lollollollol

[LAN]

LAN, That is what I was thinking as well. Like what about having say a SEARS commercial and putting someone in the background looking at phones and a number would be there. Not that SEARS has tons of commercials on ABC, just that might be an idea.

They might put BOB.:glasses: lollollollol

LOL
If my spidey senses are attuned, then i would say we will not be seeing Bob's involvment in all of this until the very very end. I will be the Bob team leader as well. Dion, you can be co-leader.

[supermodel]

I'm on the other side of the TV-ad coin. I think we're more likely to see fake ads. That way ABC can use it's own airtime that it might normally devote to show promos or whatever. I'm not sure it would be easy for TPTB to convince advertisers to incorporate ARG info into their marketing messages, which are very carefully considered. If I am the big ad honcho at Sears, and I have a bunch of marketing objectives, will I be interested in basically donating part of my ad buy to Disney? How is that good for Sears?

Although as I'm typing this I'm thinking maybe some of the Disney subsidiaries could be brought in to the loop much more easily. Anyone had a chance to jump on Hoover's or someplace and get a list of everything Disney owns? Dion, you are a scrupulous researcher, have you looked into their corporate affiliations?

[Penelope]

Disney has its hand in many pots.

Its affiliated with Miramax, ESPN, Touchtone TV and Touchtone Pictures.It also owns SoapNet, Hyperion Books.

One thought I also had was that the clue could be in a movie ad. - I note the Disney/Pixar venture CARS is due out in early June.
I'm researching more Disney connections, fyi.

ETA: Disney affilliations: http://www.afa.net/disney/companies.asp

[Dionysus]

Yes Family magazines I just happened not to renew recently too. I was thinking about the movie connections and maybe a trailer at the beginning would have a small clue. Honestly I don't know. I was looking today about Disney/pixar since I have children, on cereal boxes.( Not the children the clues!) Usually when new DVD come out and they have dumb coupons that I always throw out. A bunch of new Star War toys just came out, not sure if they relate though. Thought that Disney may be too Obvious. There are many avenues.

Isn't Javi involved in this a bit as well? I think there was a line or too when Truff was there for his chat. Disney World and/or ads. I will try to follow up with more if you think I should.

I am trying to think of what 3-Putt posted , what JJ and DL like and what media outlets it would tie into. I just don't want to waste my time on irrelevant things.

Any other suggestions?

ETA. LAN, Thanks! can "Dave" join too? lol

[supermodel]

Perhaps it would be worth our while to review the Alias ARG, since that is also JJ's show, probably some of the same creative people will be involved. Anyone got a good summary of that one?

I'll go look.

[Dionysus]

I also was thinking how many fans from our frappr map seem to be concentrated on the east coast. I would think if I was running an Arg I would try to stick to where we know where the fan base is. What specifically jumps out from these locations that would make it a good place to put a clue. You know hide a letter or something on the Swan Boats in the Boston Common would be a great place.

[Penelope]

Following Dion's post above -- huge Disney presence in Florida (obviously) -- and a Kate character connection to the state. We should keep an eye out on Florida.

ETA: California also has a huge Disney presence and multiple character connections -- it would be my second state to watch for physical clues.

[rottenralf]

Æ

[Ratchetman]

I have a feeling that this is going to be how Lost generate more $$$$ from advertisers. I mean they would pay bucks to get foot traffic in any store!
Think about the traffic Badtwin is creating................

[Penelope]

Just taking that Sears ad thought one step further. Where would you buy a state of the art front loading washer and dryer? It would really be a kick if they advertised the washer and dryer model that is in the hatch and told you to call for details.

this is what I'm talking about. We must scrutinize the commercials very closely. Do not overlook a phone number because its in a seemingly innocuous commercial. I have sat here the past few hours and there are approximately 5 commercials per hour with a phone number or internet address on my local ABC.

[truffula]

this is what I'm talking about. We must scrutinize the commercials very closely. Do not overlook a phone number because its in a seemingly innocuous commercial. I have sat here the past few hours and there are approximately 5 commercials per hour with a phone number or internet address on my local ABC.

Hahaha, I just thought of something....I hope they realize that we will be calling EVERY phone number we see during the show on Wed.
There will likely be a repeat of the "FrootLoop" incident - which I think would be HYSTERICAL!!! :rotfl:

And I REALLY like the idea of a commercial for the washer/dryer in the hatch with a number....that would be cool (but I'm still leaning on Widmore ;))

[foxxie]

I agree with you guys! I have Tivo and won't only be watching the commericals the first time, but over and over! :D

[Mr33Degrees]

Did you guys hear about the Audi ARG? Supposedly they had a physical clue in one of the Audi dealerships in Georgia. You had to go into the dealership and insert a flash card into one of the cars' radio and get a secret code or something like that without getting caught by the people working there. I thought that was pretty insane.

[Ratchetman]

Survivor and Pontiac did that too. You had to get a special parchment and then enter into Pontiacs website and input the code to see if you won a new Torrent.

[Syndyla]

Don't know if this is helpful or not but I am staying at a Disney property this week until Sat. Not FL or CA tho'--I'm in SC (Hilton Head Island) I will definitely keep my eyes and ears open!!!

[Sweet One]

Following Dion's post above -- huge Disney presence in Florida (obviously) -- and a Kate character connection to the state. We should keep an eye out on Florida.

ETA: California also has a huge Disney presence and multiple character connections -- it would be my second state to watch for physical clues.


FYI - Can't remember the exact epi, I think it was season 1 but Saywer said something about "THE TAMPA JOB" that phrase stuck out at me since we are in Tampa Bay. Disney is about 1.5 hours...we are planning on going on a Sunday in May but don't have an exact date - we'll make an exact date if necessary....

[rottenralf]

¼

[Penelope]

Glantern this is a great sounding board you are compiling at the beginning of the thread. Here are some other ideas:

1. The hospital Kate's mom was a patient and her ex-love worked - in Iowa.
2 Kate's dad, Sayid - the military connection there with a project in Australia (sydney news articles)
3. Ad for a psychic - Sydney
4. Eurpope music news - Driveshaft related

[Dionysus]

Here are some direct advertisers I have been compiling that I found related to LOST.

Sears
Disney
Family Fun (magazine)
CVS (Great one for Widmore Labs;) )
Honda
Knorr
Lipton
HalliburtonThere may be a parent site for some of the above. I haven't checked.

These are sites I found either through some of ABC's Web sites, like the officially ABC LOST site.
http://registration.classmates.com/registration/?s=2733 (http://registration.classmates.com/registration/?s=2733) This would be an excellent place to hide a clue maybe.

http://www.callwave.com/landing/poplanding_nocc.asp?site_id=0000712965&media_id=0000342899 (http://www.callwave.com/landing/poplanding_nocc.asp?site_id=0000712965&media_id=0000342899)

http://abc.go.com/site/localstations.html (http://abc.go.com/site/localstations.html)
http://www.zerohalliburton.com/ (http://www.zerohalliburton.com/)

http://www.pharma.us.novartis.com/index.jsp?BNav&checked=y (http://www.pharma.us.novartis.com/index.jsp?BNav&checked=y)

http://proteus.com/home.jsp (http://proteus.com/home.jsp)

Found this too,
http://proteus.com/images/abctv_emmys.gif

[glantern]

I will try to update the first page of this Thread with the info about the "reality" we are in later tonight, as well as revamping some of the "If I ran the ARG" message (#2)

[Lain & Freeman]

You know, when I saw the title of this thread, I thought it had more to do with the direction in which we were going to approahc the ARG.

Nevertheless.....

~

Noting the continuous re-appearance of the name Penelope, I initially thought it was someone on the island. ALright, not true.... thsoe who found out the codename Breaking Strain got it from Penelope making the message on the phone.

My opinion ?

The ARG is not dealing so much with the island, as it is dealign with something outside it. Kinda like what the Beast was in the movie AI (I don't remember the murder in the Beast actually being referred to in the movie) Penelope may be on to a conspiracy that involves Hanso, and, for all we know, we may end up digging something that shows what Hanso really is, and what exactly they were doing on the island....

[The_Island]

Noting the continuous re-appearance of the name Penelope, I initially thought it was someone on the island. ALright, not true.... thsoe who found out the codename Breaking Strain got it from Penelope making the message on the phone.....

Penelope or Persephone?

all we know, we may end up digging something that shows what Hanso really is, and what exactly they were doing on the island....

I think thats exactly what this ARG is supposed to do. Background of the island and its secrets that wont get the chance to be told on the show itself.

[Lain & Freeman]

. My bad.

Persephone.

~

Maybe it's Monica Belluci :P

~

True, but I think that they won't be presenting in on a silver platter, as in the focus won't be so much on what's going on with the SUrvivors, but rather, what's going on with Naso.

Lost, ultimately, is all about the Survivors, so just as we may end up finding about stuff that we can't find out about the show, at the same time, we may end up at a dead end. SOmething like, say, a less spcific detail. Don't forget that the last clue only revealed a mole and three letters about meningities, but not much about anything else.... I am tempted to think they may do the same thing here.

[glantern]

I just posted the story so far in the first post of this thread. Unfortunatelty, my HTML coding is a bit off. Any comments, input or corrections are welcome by posting or PM.

[3-Putt]

Glantern, great job on posts #1 and #2. That helped me. I'm gonna have real trouble keeping up with the Lost Experience AND play the golf that I want to this summer. I have resigned myself to only having time to read the top posts in each thread. (I'll read all of the posts in the ALL-Character thread (the team I'm on).

Just wondering if there is a website for Hanso's munitions company. Or has he gotten out of that business ? Do we know ?