Movies have always managed to cleverly use both the online and offline media channels to generate interest amongst the moviegoers. When was the last time that you saw a banner or a poster that didn't show the website of the film? Can't remember? I can't too. Movies backed by major studios and multi-million dollar budgets have the luxury of reaching out to customers through all the media channels possible but what should movies with modest budgets do, how do they generate the buzz that is most essential to generate a decent opening for the movie?
The Blair Witch Project (1999) has to be pioneer in this regard as it effectively used internet and blogs which were still in their nascent stages then to suggest that the movie was a real event and made the people believe in the para normal nature of the subject. The result The Blair Witch Project collect revenues of over $248 million at the box office with a final budget ranging between $500,000 and $750,000 making it one of the most successful films ever (if ROI is considered). While viral marketing proved to be an effective way of generating buzz for low budget films the big budget films didn't stay far behind.
Tropic Thunder (2008) created buzz by treating the characters played by actors in the movie as "real actors" and created micro sites for each of the "actors". The micro sites in a very tongue in cheek manner featured the trailers of the other "films" the "actors" acted in. You all must have seen the trailer of the "Kirk Lazarus's" now legendary film "Satan's Alley". Here's Kirk staking is him claim for the Academy award:
Tropic Thunder's team didn't stop there they went ahead and produced a mockumentary called "Rain of Madness" which chronicles all the events in the script as real. Here's a link to another video where the lead actors Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. discuss about going viral.
Finally who can forget Tom Cruise's overweight Les Grossman character whose pics had all the internet circles buzzing with excitement.
The point is Tropic Thunder's initial buzz went a long way in saving the film by generating a bumper opening. While movie companies have used internet to generate buzz several non-movie companies have used movies and the internet to create user interest. Who can forget "The Hire" series of BMW films. If BMW could produce movies to reposition its product could Audi stay far behind. Audi's 'The Art of the Heist' spy movie which deals with the theft of Audi A3 fluctuates between the real and virtual world. The "spy movie" engaged enthusiastic internet audience for several months. The campaign revitalized the Audi brand and generated over 10,000 leads to dealers and more than 2 million unique visitors to Audi's website. Here's a detailed appraisal of the Audi case study:
Viral marketing isn't a sure shot for success but it might give your product a chance provided it is targeted towards the right audience. For every one of the examples above there have been several less than flattering failures such as Jim Carrey's Man on the moon which couldn't target the right audience to generate the required interest. Therefore there is no replacement for quality but clever targeting and positioning does help to give your product a chance (just an outside chance). So until next time, I hope you take the time to check out the movies I talked about. The Robe I heard is roughly about 4 hours so watch out.
Yours Cinematically,
J.J. Chaitanya
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