Lost finished it’s first season 7 days ago and already ABC has a clever viral website promoting the second season. Go to the official Oceanic Airlines site (oceanic-air.com) and you’ll see what I mean. Most of the links on the site are dead ends, but there is a clever, hidden feature:

1) Type Hurley’s lottery numbers (4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42) into the “Travellers” section on the bottom of the home page and hit “Find”

2) Once your on the Seating Chart page, click on the bottom-most seat in the lottery rows, in sequential order (4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42)

This is an incredibly clever viral site. Not much information to go on and very spooky/moody just like the show.

It looks like the viral is successful too: Technorati; Blogpulse; Icerocket; Blogdigger.

It must be great fun working on such a cool show like Lost. I’d really like to do something as viral and innovative as the Oceanic Air site for a TBS show.

UPDATE: A fellow named Bridge left me a note in the comments asking me to check out the commented code of the “seating chart” page. The commented code is below.

If you are reading this note PLEASE get word to my wife, Christina Smith that her husband, Jake survived the crash of Oceanic Flight #815 along with 47 others. Darling, I miss you so much and dream of the day I can see your face again. The very thought of that day is all that keeps me going here. Please don’t forget me!

Jake Smith

UPDATE II: More goodies in the source code.

If anyone should find this message, please get word to Sandra Rafflethorpe of Palm Avenue in Lewiston, Idaho that her sister, Sally is alive and stranded on an island somewhere in the South Pacific. Please send help soon. Things are bad. And they’re getting worse…

Sally

I survived a horrific plane crash and am stranded on an island somewhere Northeast of Australia and Southwest of Hawaii. In the event that I am never found, please forward word of my fate to my parents.

Robert D. West, of Santa Barbara, California, USA survived a horrific plane crash and is stranded on an island somewhere Northeast of Australia and Southwest of Hawaii. In the event that I am never found, please forward word of my fate to parents, Mr. and Mrs. John West, of Tucson Arizona. Thank you.

Robert West

This is Bob Jones, of Tulsa Oklahoma and I would like to inform the First National Bank of Enid that I will be late making my September mortgage payment as I am STRANDED ON A FRIGGIN’ ISLAND IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE! Please have the government send a search team immediately or don’t all the taxes I pay cover an expense like that?

BJ

UPDATE III: Clicking on the actual numbers on the Seating Chart page, in Hurley’s lottery order, gives you a cool teaser video trailer. Still trying to find Rob’s easter egg from the comments.

UPDATE IV: HUGE SPOILER!!! Copy all and paste into Outlook or another application from the homepage. You’ll get an image that’s a page from a yet-to-be-shot script. Here’s a link to the image.

UPDATE V: Here’s a link to the map of the island that appears when you click on Shannon’s seat.

UPDATE VI: All new updates, and I have one, are at this new post: Oceanic Airlines Update.