As part of what can only be a viral marketing campaign so elaborate they included 'Back To The Future' alumni Christopher Llyod, a 'marketing firm' taunts us with Hoverboards for all. The first video popped up yesterday – along with a small but convincing website – showing the likes of Tony Hawk, Terrell Owens, and Moby all testing out this new technology courtesy of HUVr Tech.
The video – called Belief – is hosted by the HUVr team. According to the website, they're a group of scientists who met during a summer project at MIT in 2010. The team consists of materials science, electricity, and magnetism experts who came together to solve one of the key mysteries of science: antigravity.
A second video – this time starring Billy Zane(!) – was released today. In it, the HUVr team spouts some technobabble jargon about how they brought the Hoverboard from fantasy to reality. LIARS.
So what the hell is going on? Other than someone playing with our hearts about the feasibility of zipping through the air like an ungainly hummingbird? One theory is this is a exorbitant campaign for Nike's new high-top sneakers with self-tying laces – a direct replica of the shoes 'Back To The Future' promised us we'd be wearing by 2015.
Another theory is it's exceptionally meta advertising for an announcement that 'Back To The Future IV' is finally out of development hell.
But whatever it is, it is apparently tied to Funny or Die thanks to some cursory snooping by Devin Faraci of Badass Digest. Of course, Funny or Die is no stranger to running ad campaigns so the truth is anyone's guess. But one thing is certain, when the countdown clock on the HUVr website strikes zero in December of 2014 if you can't buy an over-priced Hoverboard at Wal-Mart there will be blood in the streets.