TV Guide's Matt Roush suggests Fringe could become a cult phenomena, if given a chance:

Question: I know you're not really into spoilers, but I was just wondering whether you have viewed J.J. Abrams' Fringe yet. I watched the pilot today, and I just wanted to hear your thoughts on it. Being an Alias lover, I adored it. That being said, it was slightly predictable in certain parts (the "for example" omitted for spoiler reasons). Despite that fact, I think this show has a great future, especially with the commercial-lite gimmick. What do you think? — Amanda

Matt Roush: Your analogy to Alias is a good one. That's the show I most thought about while recently screening the Fringe pilot in a visit to Fox's offices — a very cloak and dagger process, because the network has yet to send screeners to critics in fear of more incidents of it leaking onto the Internet, which is where I gather you saw it. Anyway, I won't go into a detailed review here — too early, and I'd like to see a final cut when it gets closer to the September launch date — but my initial reaction was quite positive, and had me thinking and hoping that if Fringe is lucky and given the opportunity, it could grow into a cult phenom like Alias or even The X-Files, a show it resembles even more. The premise is a little too murky and the trappings a bit too sci-fi for me to predict that it will explode out of the gates the way Lost did. But wouldn't it be nice?

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TVWeek's Josef Adalian has a detailed piece outlining Fox's "more elaborate second phase" Fringe marketing campaign that started this week.

In addition to noting the 'Find The Pattern' fringe radio ads, sponsored search engine links and those 'Imagine The Impossibilities' bleeding banner ads, Adalian learns that FOX isn't alone in marketing Fringe and that "Bad Robot is doing its own marketing on behalf of the show, as well.":

While [Laurel Bernard, senior vice president of marketing for Fox Broadcasting] couldn't confirm the details of Bad Robots efforts, the blogosphere has been buzzing about a YouTube video featuring a 12-fingered man. Fox’s official Web site for "Fringe" features a hidden link to the video, something that appears to confirm a connection between the YouTube video and the show’s producers.

We wondered the same thing when the link to the YouTube video of the 12-fingered man first appeared. In response to our inquiry, Stuart, the video's owner, claimed no knowledge of, nor connection to Fringe.

It seems there may be more read-world appearances or events as well:

Fox’s promo push for “Fringe” will get more specific—e.g., “Watch ‘Fringe’”—as the show’s September premiere date draws closer. Over the next few weeks, however, the network is planning to have some fun with the show’s mysterious science theme.

“We’re planning outbreaks of ‘Fringe’ in all sorts of interesting places,” Ms. Bernard said.

Will there be more cow sightings?

"I cant confirm or deny anything," she said. "But we love the cows."