Fox Co-Opts Spurned Die Hard Fans and Finds Viral Marketing Success

This past August, when NY-based comic-rock group Guyz Nite wrote a punky pop song dedicated to first three Die Hard movies and used footage from the films to make an online video, Fox's legal department demanded that it be removed from YouTube. But in February, with Live Free or Die Hard coming out in the summer, the studio's marketing department contacted the band and offered to pay them to repost the video and even give them additional clips to use from the upcoming installment. The band added a fourth verse to promote the new movie and the video returned to YouTube and has become a viral hit.

The new version has been viewed almost 90,000 times, and the old almost 100,000. And although the song feels a little more synthetic now that I know that Fox co-opted these guys to sell their flick, it's still pretty great and shows that the studios keep getting smarter/bolder when it comes to allowing fans limited access to play with their intellectual property. The new video is posted below and you can read more about the Guyz Nite/Fox marketing connection in the New York Times.