Film Promotion

Case study

Cloverfield (2008)

• Monster movie• ‘Eye-witness’ presentation using hand-held

camera (representation of technological age)• Low production cost (£15m)• Made £22m in opening weekend• Made specifically for ‘YouTube generation’• Created it’s own audience through virla or

‘user-generated’ marketing campaign

The teaser trailer• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvNkGm8mxiM#action=sh

are

• No one knew about movie before teaser release• Shown before Transformers movie in 2007• Trailer didn’t name the film• Gave only a release date• Created memorable images (Statue of Liberty head crashing to

ground)• Created enigma-mystery – created audience curiosity to

generate interest in producthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvNkGm8mxiM#action=share

Target audience• Trailer placement indicates target

audience – teens and young adults• Hard to market

– Tend not to watch TV on a predictable, regular basis– Access to multi-channel cable TV fragmenting audience– Record programmes and watch later – fast-forward through

adverts– On-demand, downloads, YouTube – split audience– Wait for release of DVD rather than cinema

• Specialised online and computer savvy – interaction with marketing vital to generate interest

Building the campaign

• Teaser provided producer JJ Abrams• Created genre expectations – creator of Alias and

Lost• Searches led to website with address

www.1-18-08.com (date of release)• Slowly released pictures time and date stamped to

build chronological glimpses into film’s narrative• Encouraged discussion on blog, social media –

campaign ‘word of mouth’

Movie poster• Showing ruined New York• Coincided with second

more detailed trailer• Geographical markers ‘area

formerly known as Central Park’• First time film’s title was shown• Official movie website launched• Links to MySpace and Facebook pages created by characters from

film• Regularly updated creating real-time story – back story that

explains elements of the film’s exposition• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxqSIsxMlYQ

Widgets

• Available to download from official site• Piece of software attached to MySpace, blogs,

etc.• Contained first five minutes of film and

introduction by JJ Abrams• Registration of contact details – competition to

see who could pass on the widget to the most people

• Direct ‘word of mouth’ marketing

Traditional marketing

• Adverts sent to mobiles• Traditional posters• TV slots• Increased public and mainstream interest• A lot held back to encourage views at the

cinema

ARG marketing

• Alternative Reality Game – parallel campaign• Only a few direct connections were made to

Cloverfield plot• Homepages for fictional company’s Tagruato and

Slusho! put online• Competitions for audience to create ads for soft drink• Tagruato’s corporate site looks like a conventional

business site – even down to ‘hacking’ by eco-terrorists regarding dangerous practises by the company

And more…

• Jamie and Teddy – Manhatten couple – set up website to post video-blogs to stay in touch as Teddy moved to work for Tagruato in Japan

• Didn’t hear from him – he sent her a package containing a recorded message and a gooey product he advised her not to eat

• She assumed he’d got a new girlfriend and ate the product – she is seen in Cloverfield passed out on the sofa at Rob’s leaving do in opening scene of the movie

• http://jamieandteddy.com/

And more…

• Back stories encourages audience to build a story for themselves

• Supplements the highly restricted narration of movie itself

• Created a ‘universe’ bigger than the movie• Told from PoV of people who have limited access

to info (just like audience)• Heightens audience identification with characters