This weekend, a momentous discovery was made: The hidden fortune of Grayson Ozias IV was found. After almost two months of hints, puzzles, research and anticipation, Levi’s “G.O. IV Fortune” campaign has come to a close.

Two months ago, the campaign for Grayson’s fortune began with the revelation of the discovery of wax cylinders – audio recordings from the late 1800s. About “GoForth”, The Inspiration Room said: “Levi Strauss has launched a new advertising campaign, ‘Go Forth’, presenting an optimistic tone in a time of pessimism in the United States. The online (goforth.levi.com), print and television elements borrow words and concepts from American poet Walt Whitman to establish a pioneering tone for the ‘New Americans’.”

Levi’s new “G.O. IV Fortune” campaign included the promise that along with the discovery of Grayson’s buried $100,000 prize, the organization would donate an equal sum of $100,000 to a charity of choice. The campaign prompted players to learn about American history and solve puzzles based on clues revealed in old wax cylinder recordings of Grayson Ozias IV. The introduction to this long-buried treasure hunt can be heard from G.O. himself here.

I left my home and all I knew because I feared the complacency that was growing in me. I feared that I would be content to never experience anything of America beyond the city in which I was born. But after hearing Whitman, this complacency became unthinkable, and my comfort became my greatest burden.

This great man’s portrait of our land emboldened me to conquer fear and go forth, and I have never regretted it, even now. Which is why it is my hope that these words may in turn inspire another to conquer fear, and abandon comfort, and seek their unknown.

Therefore, I commit the fortune I have made in my travels back to the earth from whence it came. I leave all I have to America, so that America might set out and find it.

Yours most sincerely,

Grayzon Ozias IV

“In September of 2009, Levi’s verified the existence of $100,000 that Grayson Ozias IV buried.

He left it there for you.
And so did we.

Go Forth.”

Shortly after the hunt began, Wikibruce among other websites received a package from Grayson, which is documented here in the article and video “It’s never too late IV a rabbithole“.

After almost two months of clues and thought-provoking quotes from Walt Whitman by G.O. IV on Twitter, players who persevered were presented with the final clue, a final puzzle that would reveal the location of Grayson’s buried $100,000 fortune. On November 21st, 2009, Laura Hall was the GoForth participant who successfully made the trek to the boonies of southern Utah to recover Grayson’s buried fortune.

Laura wasn’t the only winner though. The chosen charity to receive an equal donation of $100,000 from Levi Strauss is charity: water. “Bringing clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations. 100% of the money raised goes to direct project costs—funding sustainable clean water solutions in the areas of greatest need.”

In the planned final trip to the secret location, she recorded her progress and adventure, tweeting about it, and ensuring others could follow along.

The official final video of her discovery has been posted for viewing at goforth.levi.com, and you can watch her documentation of the buried fortune in this video.

Laura has also begun a website to document, relive, and share her GoForth experience at goforthandbeyond.com.

To check out the progress of the entire game, you can visit the community wiki at goforth.wikibruce.com, or read about other people’s adventures in recovering clues around the United States and from other related events at whereisthemaninthehat.tumblr.com.

Congratulations to Laura Hall and Charity: Water, and an enormous thanks to Grayson Ozias IV and Levi Strauss for their positive, exciting, and memorable campaign through America’s history.

As “hach1r0k1d03″ shared near the end of the campaign, We’re all winners because we have gone forth & followed Grayson’s journey. His story is worth so much more than $100,000.

About the time of Levi’s launch of their new “Go Forth” campaign, reports began popping up of nifty packages being delivered from the Levi Strauss and Co. Archives in San Francisco.  Days after I reported the press release, another package arrived!  Unfortunately this time, there was no charcoal briquette goodness used as packaging.

There was, however, a red bandanna marked with a very good question: “Who was Grayson Ozias the IVth, and where is his treasure?”    So I had a creative urge and decided to share the opening of Grayson’s mail…

 

You can join the game and help solve the mystery by starting at goforth.levi.com

Then follow GraysonOziasIV on Twitter for updates, and stalk Grayson on Facebook

Then go and bookmark the community wiki here at goforth.wikibruce.com for help and answers (and please contribute if you want!).

You can also join a community discussion at Unfiction.

Now get II it and Go IVth!

Levi’s is stepping up. Check out this Press Release about a new game and contest with a $100,000 prize, and the chance to choose any non-profit charity for which Levi’s will match an additional $100,000 donation. Relevant links following the release.

LEVI’S® BRAND BURIES $100,000 SOMEWHERE IN AMERICA WITH THE CHALLENGE TO PIONEERS TO “GO FORTH”

The Denim Leader will match the $100,000 fortune for a philanthropic chance to change the future.

SAN FRANCISCO (October 5, 2009) ­ The Levi’s® brand challenges today’s pioneers to uncover a $100,000 fortune buried somewhere in America by solving the question “Who was Grayson Ozias IV and where is his fortune?”

Launching October 5, 2009, at levi.com/goforth, this interactive challenge invites participants to solve mysteries as they unfold, keep up with other players or go for the gold themselves with the final cipher. It is a mystery, wrapped in a puzzle and an adventure across our country.

“The question we asked ourselves was ‘how do we bring the spirit of Go Forth to life out there in the world?  How do we bring the unique history and rich legacy of the Levi’s® brand to life in a fun and compelling way?’ The story of Grayson Ozias’s lost fortune seemed like a mystery just waiting to be solved,” says Doug Sweeny, Vice President of Levi’s® Brand Marketing.

Grayson Ozias IV Fortune

The narrative behind the challenge follows Grayson Ozias IV, a fictional character based on the Levi’s® brand’s pioneering and innovative spirit, on his adventures across America until his 1896 disappearance into the wilderness, after hiding his considerable fortune. Grayson Ozias IV was a friend of Levi Strauss’s nephew Nathan, so the story goes, who recorded newly discovered details about Grayson’s journey that hint at the final hiding place of his fortune. These newly discovered recordings and the story they tell will lead participants on a new adventure of discovery.

The story of Grayson’s 1890s adventure exploring America will guide our modern-day event. The game’s scavenger hunt leads to many cities and towns across America, each a part of Grayson’s journey, encourages players to step out from behind their computers and will lead some lucky player into the real world directly to the buried treasure. Each task triggers the next clue in the challenge.

The ongoing puzzle, an elaborate cryptogram, requires a combination of knowledge, skill and determination. The players will be receiving clues and pieces of the puzzle from launch to finish. The first player to crack the final puzzle and send it to the Levi’s® game team will win Grayson Ozias’s buried fortune.  Players can also win other great prizes throughout the journey.

The Levi’s® brand is not only awarding the Grayson Ozias IV challenge winner with $100,000, the participants of the challenge will be given the opportunity to nominate and vote for a U.S.-based non-profit organization to receive an additional $100,000 gift from the blue-jean-inventing icon. Sweeny adds, “This is the legacy of Levi Strauss who himself donated a robust portion of his first earnings to a local orphanage that the company still supports today. This began the company’s tradition of sharing its prosperity with the community.”

The hidden fortune is the third expedition from Levi’s® Go Forth campaign, first launched July 1, 2009. The campaign will be supported heavily in digital social media (Facebook, Twitter), online via rich media and offline (ESPN The Magazine).  The first two expeditions—the New Declaration and the New Americans—were an homage to today’s America.

 

About Levi Strauss & Co.

The Levi’s® brand epitomizes classic American style and effortless cool. Since their invention by Levi Strauss in 1873, Levi’s® jeans have become the most recognizable and imitated clothing in the world ­ capturing the imagination and loyalty of people for generations. Today, the Levi’s® brand portfolio continues to evolve through a relentless pioneering and innovative spirit that is unparalleled in the apparel industry.  Our range of leading jeanswear and accessories are available in more than 110 countries, allowing individuals around the world to express their personal style.  For more information about the Levi’s® brand, its products and stores, please visit http://levi.com.

While the contest itself is open only to the United States, anyone can participate and enjoy the game.  And in case you hadn’t noticed:  ”G“rayson “O“zias “IV“(th)  ;)

Links:

• GoForth.Levi.com
• Grayson Ozias IV on Facebook
• Grayson Ozias IV on Twitter
• GoForth discussion at Unfiction

Perhaps this article would be better entitled: Why I love Halo: An Epic Analysis.

I’m not a Halo fanatic…relatively speaking. I’m not shy about being an enormous fan of the Halo franchise, but I don’t own a Master Chief costume, nor have I ever worn one. I don’t know every little intricate detail of the Halo universe. I can’t ramble off stats, ID numbers, the name and rank of every known character. I don’t play the video game most of the day, every day, and it’s a fat chance I’d “pwn” anyone in multiplayer these days if I did. At all. I’m what you might consider a discoverer, or a story enthusiast.

I was an early adopter of the original Xbox back in 2001, due solely to previews of Halo: Combat Evolved. At that point, I was a gamer. My friends at first were annoyed with my constant raving about Halo, yet many eventually caved and began playing as well – and soon, much more than me. My game-playing fanaticism and multiplayer skill slowly faded as I was drawn further into the mystery, the story world that had been created by Bungie Studios.

I would not hesitate in the slightest to refer to the Halo franchise as “Epic”.

Quite often I compare the potential scope of this universe to that of Star Trek or Star Wars. To me, for a story to be epic, it must have potential to become a ‘part of the whole’, a story told within what feels to be a much, much larger untold story. For an epic to be successful in my opinion, it needs to employ a certain formula. It needs first to be told from the perspective of an individual, or providing only a very small portion of the larger picture, and still make a personal connection with the audience. If done right, this story alone would capture its audience.

Consider recent entertainment franchises like Terminator, The Matrix, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, or even the Chronicles of Riddick. Each begins by telling a self-contained story from a single perspective, while leaving many questions unanswered in the end. Sarah Connor has to survive against a deadly killing machine from the future. Neo strives desperately to discover and understand what the Matrix is. The little hobbits in peaceful Hobbiton have their worlds turned upside by an unknown, evil force. Harry potter learns about a strange, magical, hidden world. The convict Riddick uses his extreme skills to survive and escape a deadly planet. Each of these tease at a larger universe with untold stories, but begin with an engaging tale of discovery or exploration of something unknown.

Enter Master Chief, Spartan John-117.

Presuming one knows nothing of the previous, indirectly related Marathon titles – with Halo, we begin from the Chief’s perspective, opening up not only in the middle of a war we know nothing about, but making that first, eerie discovery of a foe that threatens much more than we could imagine (I will never forget watching for the first time the cinematic cutscene in which the Chief discovers the Flood). Already, the premise is clear that this isn’t just a self-contained video game story, but actually only a very small window into a universe filled with history and a future, conflict, and characters that truly feel as if they have backstories and full lives.

( Continue to the next page )

What did you see?

Back in April, a commercial for an organization named The Mosaic Collective aired on ABC, forwarding people to themosaiccollective.com. Visitors were asked to report into a database what they saw during a very brief flash of an image on screen. The collective would then generate a mosaic of these ‘visions’ for the public.

Recently, The Mosaic Collective has begun collecting more extensive visions from people regarding their 2 minute and 17 second “Flash Forwards” – visions of their lives six months in the future, which everyone on earth experienced during the GBO (Global Blackout).

I was one of the fortunate few to meet up with the collective at Comic Con in San Diego in July, and was able to finally get my flash forward reported and off my chest. I met Mosiac Task Force Intelligence Analyst Marcie Turoff who was intrigued by my vision and asked some followup questions after my report. However, I’m uncertain if this is something I should have done, given the personal and sensitive nature of my vision. But it could end up taking one of two directions: reporting my vision ends up changing the future and I no longer have to worry about my safety, or reporting my vision has made my eventual knowledge public and inevitably leads to that very future and the danger I will soon be faced with.

Judge for yourself. The Mosaic Collective has published my report via their Youtube account. I truly hope this changes things.

The Mosaic Collective is “dedicated to connecting the world one experience at a time.” The GBO wreaked havoc across the earth as 7 billion people blacked out simultaneously for 2 minutes and 17 seconds. Many did not survive. The rest were left dazed and confuzed, having to make sense of what just happened. The Collective aims to unite humanity with their efforts to paint a mosaic of the future by analyzing as many flash forwards as they’re able to get a hold of.

An investigative journalist, Oscar Obregon, reporting for Truth Hack (Youtube), described the collective this way:

Mosaic’s general approach is an interesting one; in one way they’re offering the public a service – an international clearinghouse to find corroborating information for FlashForwards. At the same time, they’re building a database that could potentially create a a vivid portrait of our collective future – and possibly explain whatever could be behind the GBO [Global Blackout] itself. It’s not quite open source, but it’s close, and seeing the Bureau embrace a more “web 2.0” approach speaks well of Wedeck’s instincts.

Something is believed to be scheduled to happen at JoinTheMosaic.com on August 16th.  Keep watch!

---

Flash Forward is a new ABC TV series slated to premiere September 24th.

For more information, visit these sites:

• Official ABC Flash Forward Homepage
• Flash Forward @ Wikipedia
• Flash Forward promo spot

Here are some campaign sites to get you connected:

• TheMosaicCollective.com
• TruthHack.com
• JoinTheMosaic.com
• whatdidyousee @ Twitter
• truthhack @ Twitter

And of course, there is an Unfiction community discussion you can join in as well.

It has been a busy summer. Year, even. But two days from now, a community of alternate reality gamers and creators, media and casual folk, fans and fanatics, will descend on Portland, Oregon for the annual ARGFest-o-con.  2009 marks the 6th year of the ‘con, which began as a group of friends gathering for a meetup in Las Vegas. It’s certainly come a long way!

My flights are booked, hotels reserved, and later today I’m heading out for the trip to Portland.  ARGfest has always been an amazing experience, both socially, educationally, and professionally. That it’s also highly entertaining goes without saying.  If you’re also registered for attendance, keep an eye out for me and say hi! :)

For more information about ARGFest and the events of the weekend, be sure to bookmark and visit ARGFestocon.com.  Watch for new announcements, teasers, press, editorials, photos and videos, and much more to come out of the ‘con.  Catch up on the latest discussion at the Unfiction thread.

---

Not to be outdone, after the ARGFesters have dissipated, I’ll be attending the San Diego Comic Convention the following week.  There, all forms of entertainment are present and respresented, from comic book artists, to TV shows, to video games, to upcoming major theatrical releases, and of course many fans decked out in their favourite characters’ costumes.  It’s a sight to behold!

This will be my first attending of the SDCC, and to say I’m extremely excited is an understatement. Be sure to watch this space for updates, news, rumours, and – hopefully – intimations of upcoming ARGs and quality promotional campaigns!  These events are hot spots for mysterious happenings and hints of upcoming announcements. Let’s hope there are some upcoming campaigns with some meat, some substance!

At the very least, there will be a sore lack of sleep, lots of talking, lots of news, definitely lots of photos, and many announcements.  Watch this space for updates!

Two years ago Comic-Con was host to a part of Batman: The Dark Knight’s campaign Why So Serious, with a live event and lots of fanatical attendee activity. Last year, Comic-Con saw dropping of content related to Resistance 2’s campaign Project Abraham.  What might this year hold?

We shall see…

As above, if you’re also planning to be in attendance, watch for me – the guy with the black Canadian ball-cap – bold red maple leaf in the front! :)

Elan Lee, co-founder of Fourth Wall Studios and long-time ARG Puppetmaster, recently tweeted that a new paper he co-authored about ARGs and storytelling had been published online.

Titled “Storytelling in new media: The case of alternate reality games, 2001-2009“, authors Jeffrey Kim, Elan Lee, Timothy Thomas, and Caroline Dombrowski cover and discuss a variety of Alternate Reality Games that took place over the past 8 years, and compare their strengths and shortcomings.

Abstract:

New media allows previously passive consumers to tell and shape stories together. Yet most information is still disseminated in a top–down fashion, without taking advantage of the features enabled by new media. This paper presents five Alternate Reality Game (ARG) case studies which reveal common features and mechanisms used to attract and retain diverse players, to create task–focused communities and to solve problems collectively. Voluntary, collective problem solving is an intriguing phenomenon wherein disparate individuals work together asynchronously to solve problems together. ARGs also take advantage of the unique features of new media to craft stories that could not be told using other media.

You can read the entire paper at UIC.edu.