The company P » The Truth About Marika

The Truth About Marika is an Emmy award winning participatory drama series from 2007, that included a television drama series, a television studio debate series, an online alternate reality game, installations and events throughout Sweden, several video blogs, chats and forums, an online virtual world game, a mobile augmented reality game and hundreds of home pages, blogs and street interventions. The Truth About Marika was awarded an International Interactive Emmy, for best Interactive TV Service, by The International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Between early May and late November 2007 thousands of people joined a young woman in the search for her best friend Marika and the thousands of other Swedish citizens that have disappeared since the 1960’s. Triggered by a TV thriller series marketed as “based on a true story” this open community overcame a series of complex trials both online and in physical reality to face the mind-blowing truth.

“Our vision with Marika was to help a national broadcaster establish a new, intimate relationship with its viewers, reaching audiences that have left the sofa for the keyboard, audiences that demand much more than passive entertainment,” says Christopher Sandberg, managing director of The company P.

In 2006 The company P was engaged to design and produce a new breed of participatory TV-drama with Swedish Television. By creating a living mystery with powerful philosophical themes, The company P challenged an entire nation to find the truth about why hundreds of ordinary people disappear every year. Using actors, mobile services and a vibrant online community the concept erased the borders between art and life. The Truth About Marika created both controversy and a fanatical following that changed its viewers from passive audience to active co-creators.

Immerse yourself in “The Truth About Marika”
Access Conspirare, the hub for a massive maze of clues, discussions, poetry, art, video and audio produced in collaboration between participants, The company P and SVT. The entire site is frozen in time at the moment the mystery was solved and preserved for posterity. The majority of the site is in Swedish.

The Truth About Marika won the International Interactive Emmy Award for Best Interactive TV-Service 2008, the 2008 AIB International Media Exellence Award for Most Creative Specialist, the SIME08 for Best Online Entertainment and was nominated for two Prix Europa 2008 in best TV Fiction and best Emerging Media.

The Truth about ARGs: Tales from the Masters – NewTeeVee article about The Truth About Marika

Podcast from SPAA 2009 – Listen to a podcast with executive Producer Christopher Sandberg’s speech at SPAA 2009 about The Truth About Marika.