“Who is Benjamin Stove?” was an immersive alternate reality game (ARG) produced by Campbell Ewald and GMD Studios to build grassroots awareness of GM’s renewable fuel initiatives, complementing the “Live Green, Go Yellow” campaign promoting GM’s flex-fuel vehicles capable of using E85 ethanol fuel. The game leveraged living online characters, puzzles, and interactive storytelling to engage players in a viral, underground marketing experience.
The campaign unfolded across four websites, 10 live events (including hidden notes in nine libraries across the U.S. and a live meeting in Manhattan), anonymous phone calls and text messages, and a series of unbranded blogs and classified ads.
Story Overview:
Tucker Darby, a 29-year-old collections agent in Tampa, discovers a mysterious painting of a crop circle shaped like the ethanol molecule, dated 1913, which exerts an almost supernatural hold over him. Inside the painting, a note hints that the event it depicts is real. Tucker enlists the public to help track down Benjamin Stove, the painting’s original owner, and uncover its meaning.
Over the course of the four-month campaign, 380,000+ participants followed clues, solved puzzles, completed live missions, collaborated as a team, created and published content, and posted 9,000+ messages on campaign forums—all centered around alternative fuels and ethanol awareness.
Highlights:
Awards:
The campaign unfolded across four websites, 10 live events (including hidden notes in nine libraries across the U.S. and a live meeting in Manhattan), anonymous phone calls and text messages, and a series of unbranded blogs and classified ads.
Story Overview:
Tucker Darby, a 29-year-old collections agent in Tampa, discovers a mysterious painting of a crop circle shaped like the ethanol molecule, dated 1913, which exerts an almost supernatural hold over him. Inside the painting, a note hints that the event it depicts is real. Tucker enlists the public to help track down Benjamin Stove, the painting’s original owner, and uncover its meaning.
Over the course of the four-month campaign, 380,000+ participants followed clues, solved puzzles, completed live missions, collaborated as a team, created and published content, and posted 9,000+ messages on campaign forums—all centered around alternative fuels and ethanol awareness.
Highlights:
- Heavy national and international earned media, including Wired, Advertising Age, Forbes, and the Alternate Reality Game Network (ARGN)
- Web metrics: 380,000+ visitors, 14 million hits, and an average time spent of 16+ minutes per visit
- Sustained engagement: WhoIsBenjaminStove.com continued to average 1,600 visitors/day eight months post-campaign, with an increased average time spent of over 20 minutes
Awards:
- 2007 The D Show (Adcraft Detroit) Awards — Best of Innovation
Campaign Overview
Vera Stove's Painting (circa 1913)
Painted by Brad Fairhurst.
Painted by Brad Fairhurst.
Campaign Websites
WhoIsBenjaminStove.com
 SymbolInTheCrop.com (Character Website)  Character Memorial Site |  Debunkette.com (Character Website)  WhoIsBenjaminStove.com Forums |
Live Events - Hidden Library Notes
When you connected the nine cities on a map, the ethanol molecule appeared.
When you connected the nine cities on a map, the ethanol molecule appeared.
General Motors Response & Press
Credits:
- Idea by Stefan Kogler, Chris Scinta and Michael Oxner
- Story concept by Kevin Omans and Rod Weston
- Sr. Producer: Iain Lanivich
- Character Writers: Rod Weston as Ben Stove, Jim Gunshanan as Tucker Darby, Brooke Thompson as Debunkette
- Production: GMD Studios and the late great Brian Clark
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