TOYOTA MATRIX
Paranoia Pays: Young men sign in to sic a pseudo-stalker on a buddy. Result: 4 million views, a lawsuit, and a happy client.
DEL TACO
Talkitos: A mock late-night online talk show grew the company's Facebook friends from 20,000 to 67,000 in six weeks.
MICROSOFT VISTA
Nice Try: A subtler campaign with Demetri Martin introduced 5 million people to the (ill-fated) operating system.
TOSTITOS
Dork Chum: Videos from the imaginary NOLAF.org got 3.5 million views and an average on-site time of five minutes.
A version of this article appeared in the May 2010 issue of Fast Company magazine.
