ABC's 'Lost' is easy to find, and not just on a TV screen

Billboards and TV commercial spots? Passe. Taking cues from high-profile promotional campaigns for big movies, ABC mounted an Internet assault last year, which paid off and taught its competitors a thing or two about marketing in this new age. (Fox and NBC followed suit this year with highly successful launches of "Prison Break" and "My Name Is Earl"). Instead of sucking life out of "Lost" by playing clips on the air ad nauseam, ABC went to town creating even more intrigue about the airliner that crashed than co-creators J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof managed to pack into their $11-million, two-hour pilot.

"You have to be judicious about not letting the technology wag the dog of content, if you will," said Stephen McPherson, president of ABC prime-time entertainment. "There are so many different aspects that go into all of these multiple platforms that you just can't say it's a successful show, so let's put it on 20 platforms. But the idea that great content can be used in a multitude of different ways is a wonderful challenge and a wonderful opportunity."

The new platforms provide myriad ways for the networks to sell their shows. "I actually look at marketing more like developing content for the show," said Mike Benson, ABC's senior vice president of marketing. "We're really setting out in our marketing to prove what these shows are. And while we can hype and sell, I'd rather tell a story than sell a story."

ABC is developing an interactive website to delve into aspects of the show's mythology that will never be explored on air. Content for the site is being created by a "Lost" staff writer.

"We obviously come up with these ideas based on the storytelling, what's cool to us," Lindelof said. "But then our masters will provide us with resources to do this stuff if there's a potential revenue stream down the line. So we're scratching each other's backs."

Fans such as Rob Eichenlaub, a Web designer who clicks on the fan website lost-tv.comas soon as "Lost" goes off the air, can't wait to log on to get more clues.

"There's something about this big puzzle that everybody wants to be the first to solve," said Eichenlaub, 29, of Hudson, Fla. "If I was alone in it, it wouldn't be so fun. But it sort of sprung up, this whole subculture of fans who really see it like a video game."