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Stunning 'Icefly' Viral Drops Thousands of Lit Iceflies Over Bonnaroo

by Alex Billington
June 17, 2011

If anyone had friends at Bonnaroo last week, they might've already heard about this, but you have to see it to believe it! One evening at the Bonnaroo music festival in Tennessee, hundreds of thousands of floating, blinking, blue LEDs floated down from the skies over the crowd. Apparently it was a stunt connected to that other Test Subjects Needed viral we wrote about recently. We didn't even hear too much about this until we were pointed to a new website - missionicefly.com. It has a countdown timer, but if you click the little box at the bottom, it links to a YouTube of the event, which looks like it was a very mesmerizing experience.

What is Mission Icefly and what does it have to do with anything? Obviously we still don't know yet, but we're damn well intrigued, that's for sure. Once the lights landed, it was discovered they were actually just small paper helicopters (genius!) that included the viral phrase "Mission Icefly" on them which brought us to that new website. There's good photos of the "icefly" over on Flickr, for those interested in seeing it. But the real video worth watching is this one, where you can see what it was like to watch as thousands of small, blue lights blanketed the night sky - beautiful. Why can't they do something this crazy epic at Comic-Con?!

The Pulse is Growing. Can You Feel It? We're still holding out hope this may be for a movie, but it's anyone's guess at the moment. If you made a login on the Test Subjects Needed website, which signs you up for the Human Preservation Project, you most likely would've received a small package this week (I got one) with a note and one of the iceflies. There weren't any other clues in the package, but it leads to that Mission Icefly website, where the video is and we have to wait 12 more days until the countdown is up. Iceflies, Human Preservation, test subjects, Bonnaroo, what does it all mean? "Way better than fireworks!"

As always, we'll do our best to keep you updated on this viral. We try to focus most on movie virals, but sometimes there's a crossover, as we never know what this stuff is for until it's all revealed. That said, no matter what this viral is for, I'm hooked and I'm definitely going to be following closely. For now, be sure to bookmark missionicefly.com and testsubjectsneeded.com if you want to find out what's next. Any ideas?

Filed under Cool Stuff, Opinions, Viral

From around the web:

Angry Chief

At the viral website, there is that long warning paragraph or whatever. Mentions being changed into a fly if I read that correctly. Is this a rehash of the Fly? Edit: lol, it says verboten.
Jwa131

This is a massive viral. Today I received something in the mail. A blue, flashing LED light and a tag that said "Mission Icefly." Not sure what it all means.
- http://www.firstshowing.net Alex Billington
  
  We just explained in the post above exactly where that came from and what you would've received, but as to what it means, we're still not sure yet.
  - Angry Chief
    
    Do you have to be in the business to get something in the mail or are they just sending it out randomly?
    - Traveler
      
      I signed up on the Test Subjects Needed website when Alex first wrote about this and received my icefly yesterday. I can't wait for what the countdown reveals.
    - http://www.firstshowing.net Alex Billington
      
      Yea, I don't think so on this one, all you needed to do was sign-up on the test subjects site. That's why virals are awesome - sign-up you receive stuff!
Xerxexx

I live like 30 minutes from Manchester...I should have went!
- Daltonwvr
  
  Same here. I about got to work there, but that didn't happen. Would have been cool to see this in person though
  - Xerxexx
    
    Oh man that would have been awesome if you actually got the job.
    - Daltonwvr
      
      I may have gotten an inside scoop about what this is all about to lol
      - Xerxexx
        
        I know! You could have been FS.net's inside source!
Mail

I got my package in the mail today too! it was silver with a blue fly inside. I've been reading that some of the packages are black....
- Traveler
  
  Wait, you got what? I got a black package yesterday with one of those things they dropped...
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=5001586 Mandi Nulph

It was fantastic! Scared the crap out of everyone for a while, because nobody knew what they were or where they came from. It looked like glitter until all the little lights finally hit the ground and you could see what they were, and the jumpers that dropped them looked like birds. Very intriguing! I'm sure the lights they send people are the same ones they dropped. They stayed lit all weekend, and people were playing with them (throwing them up in the air and letting the flutter back down) all weekend. Whatever its for, its genius!
Jfc3po

I just saw a commercial for the brand of gum called 5. There was a person being swarmed by these "iceflies". It was a peppermint gum. I hope this isn't what all this hype is about.
- Angry Chief
  
  I am Number 5.
Tibor_ruis

All right guys, i signed up aswel. But i'm from holland, see if i get a package too.
- Silvius
  
  Heh, same here... found a vid about the event on nu.nl. Then checked the website. Within a few minutes I was suddenly part of the Human Preservation Project. Hopefully I receive a package.
  - Tibor_Ruis
    
    Yeah same here,, nu.nl. Dude i'm excited to see if we actually get one.
http://twitter.com/raddestnerd Ronald Suk

This is the first viral I'm getting to be a part of. Exciting. Woohoo! Received the icefly paper copter in the mail today after signing up at testsubjectsneeded.com
Jek091982

I got one too. Neat!
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_IK35AIZCKINKCW6TAQMFSXWUKE Mark

It is for 5 gum. Somewhat disappointing, but a great ad campaign. If I had just a fraction of what they paid just to mail those little things at $1.08 each, let alone the materials. I see mainstream approaching fast.
- Anonymous
  
  Are you sure? Where did you get your info? I got my icefly today as well in a black envelope. http://sid3show.tumblr.com/post/6735888456 I am as curious about what this is for as the next guy, and I will be very dissapoint if it is just for gum.
Hot_rod_chick

was there, was very cool, looked like blinking blue snow, filled the whole sky. Heard the guys started dropping them at 8,ooo feet, it was awesome! and a surprise to all there... have a whole handful and if you unscrew it enough for the contact to release, it will shut off.
http://www.facebook.com/iMiss Miranda Renée Higle

I got this in a white package. Wondering what will happen next..
Platitudinous

I got a silver package. Neat to be a part of this.
Yowzaaman

do you have to give personal info for a package?