Moshi Moshi: Bytware Says 'Hello' With New Animated Series

Published: April 15, 2008

by Alex Woodie

Bytware is launching a new animated series on the Web called Moshi Moshi that's designed to highlight Bytware's range of tools for i (the operating system formerly known as i5/OS and OS/400). The series, which includes prizes for participants, kicked off at the recent COMMON conference, and will run for several months.

Set in Japan, the new Moshi Moshi series chronicles the day-to-day business difficulties faced by a fictitious company, Moshi Moshi Corp., and the IT solutions introduced by a new American systems administrator, the heroic Harold Stanley--or Hal, a reference to the HAL 9000 computer featured in "2001: A Space Odyssey." While addressing Moshi Moshi's IT needs and keeping its System i server running smoothly, Hal must deal with office politics and navigate the strong personalities at work there (sort of like real life).

Hal's Moshi Moshi adventures are structured into a series of episodes that are delivered via Flash animation on the Moshi Moshi Web site and on YouTube. Starting with episode two, participants will be encouraged to play games that relate to the IT lessons learned during the corresponding episode, and win prizes. Episode one is currently airing and episode two will begin shortly.

Moshi Moshi is the brainchild of Christopher Jones, Bytware's marketing director, the owner of the Stellar Debris Web and advertising design firm in Tokyo, Japan, and the narrator of the series. But this is by no means Jones' first foray into the world of so-called "viral" marketing.

Just last fall, Jones launched the i5 Virus ad campaign, which used actors to tell the story of a Chinese crime syndicate and its efforts to infiltrate a fictitious company's System i server. The campaign, which highlighted Bytware's antivirus software for the System i, either won or made the short list for several advertising industry awards, including an ADDY and a Webby.

By the look of the first Moshi Moshi episode, Jones is aiming for more awards. In any event, you can check out the series at www.moshimoshicorp.com.

And by the way, "moshi moshi" is a Japanese greeting used when answering the phone.

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