Marketing And Movie Trailers

The Greatest Marketing Showman

I was a little surprised, and delighted to see a movie made recently about legendary showman and pioneering marketer P.T. Barnum. The Greatest Showman [DVD] [2017]

Now, Barnum is a somewhat misunderstood figure…probably best know for something he never actually said! In fact he was a very skilled promoter and entrepreneur and one of the early practitioners of what has come to be known as publicity and PR.

I confess I haven’t seen the film (yet) so here’s what Joe Vitale, probably the leading expert of our time on Barnum and his marketing methods, has to say about it… [Read more…]

Marketing And Movie Trailers – The Dark Knight Rises

The final movie in Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” Batman trilogy is almost here!

“The Dark Knight Rises” hits cinemas on July 20 and I’m certainly looking forward to it.

The previous instalment “the Dark Knight” was an absolute blockbuster.

So, I don’t think there’s any doubt that this movie will be a success…

…but will it match the previous episode?

“The Dark Knight” was released in 2008 at the peak of the first wave of the current economic downswing that we find ourselves in.

It matched the prevailing negative social mood and provided confirmation of the new economic reality.

(see “‘The Dark Knight, The Social Mood And Copywriting” for more thoughts.)

When you market a follow up movie like this, there are two groups that you’re looking to reach.

First are the established fans and they are an easier audience. Essentially they are going to want more of the same…

…but with a twist and a development of the story. The classic “What happens next?”

For those not familiar with the previous movies, the task is different. Of course with a franchise like “Batman” you have a foundation to build on and most people will be familiar with the character and have an idea of the general story.

But how to get their attention amid the many other movies clamouring for attention?

This is where the “social mood” question comes in. There’s no question this will be another “dark” movie…

…but how well will it connect with people?

Biggest movie to date this year is “The Avengers” which has its dark moments, but is a more conventional action movie.

We’ll see soon enough!

To the trailers…

Like every big movie these days “The Dark Knight Rises” has a fairly extensive pre-launch campaign…

…and there have been a number of trailers (first one being a “teaser” back last year).

The most recent (#4 – a “Nokia Exclusive”) has some flaws, in my view, so below is the Trailer #3…

Let’s take a closer look…

A – Attention

It’s a fairly low-key opening…but with a hint of menace.

“There’s a storm coming” says the Selina Kyle / Catwoman character…

…as we are introduced to the main characters, in particular the chief villain Bane…

…with clips of what looks like will be a SPECTACULAR aerial stunt.

(That alone will get people’s attention, I think!)

And the opening section concludes with Bruce Wayne face-to-face with Bane…

…”Gotham’s Reckoning”.

We get the picture, I think, of what this is going to be about.

I love this opening, it’s almost hypnotic as you watch with growing apprehension.

However, I’m a fan so I’m not so sure this will be as appealing to a broader audience.

Score – 2.0

I – Interest

The low-key mood continues…

…but we see scenes of increasing mayhem and devastation.

And Bane appears to be winning…

…as we get to the point in the story arc where our hero seems to be down for the count.

This I find interesting. It’s a familiar story template where the hero faces defeat and has to overcome the crisis (it’s what causes “drama” in the story…it would be pretty boring if all was plain sailing!). But there’s been nothing this serious in the previous episodes.

“Hope Is Lost”

…and things get even worse until we reach a turning point.

Again, I think this section does a great job of drawing the viewer in and making an emotional connection.

Score – 2.0

D – Desire

Into the final section. Note how the music picks up tempo so raising the mood.

This, of course, is the “Money Section”. If the trailer has drawn people in and kept attention…

…now it’s all about stimulating curiosity in some form.

In many cases it’s not so much “What’s going to happen” because in most case we “know” the hero is going to come out on top. So it’s more “How” does he do that and overcome what appears to be an “impossible” situation?

The trailer doesn’t completely spell this out, but we get the impression that Bane is a frighteningly powerful opponent.

BUT there’s something else here…

…”You don’t owe these people any more. You’ve given them everything”…

…says the enigmatic Catwoman.

“Not everything. Not yet.”

…comes the reply.

We have here the idea of the sacrificial hero being introduced, which to me takes this movie to a whole new level.

Interesting because this was one of the themes in “Prometheus” (see this excellent post “Prometheus Unbound: What The Movie Was Actually About”)…

…and it’s a story that is deeply embedded in our culture.

Ramping up the curiosity factor we get a VERY clear message that this is the conclusion of the saga…

…and we get the usual montage of action segments and “Gee Whiz” elements to round out the section…

…including the humourous element that we’ve come to expect in a Batman movie.

Overall, I think this final section does a great job, both for the fans and the general audience.

Score – 2.5

Bonus Mark – 0.5 based on the appeal to a general audience

Total – 7.0 (for a general audience), only because I’m not sure how well the low key open will work.

Personally, I LOVE this trailer and I expect most fans will as well. Certainly ramped up my anticipation to fever pitch (I said I was a fan).

I recently watched the first two “Dark Knight” movies again and I really can’t praise them highly enough. If Christopher Nolan has done what I think he has (as suggested in the trailer) then this will be a truly extraordinary movie.

Only a couple of weeks to go and let’s see how the box office goes and if we get any insights into the prevailing social mood.

Notwithstanding my enthusiasm for the trailer…

…I’ve noted some concerns about it’s appeal to a general audience and if it’s too “dark”.

Others seem to share those concerns and so the most recent “Nokia Special” trailer is somewhat more upbeat.

Wham Bam! (“Kapow!” even)…much more direct and upbeat. No mention of the “sacrificial hero” idea and a lighter humourous note at the end (that grates on me a little, I have to say).

Different approach and probably more aimed at the mainstream audience. I imagine the marketing guys are wanting to cover all the bases.

I’d love to hear your thoughts so leave a comment…

…and if you liked this post why not share it on Facebook or Twitter? Just press the relevant “Like” button…

Marketing And Movie Trailers – Prometheus

The movie Prometheus from Ridley Scott (Director of “Alien” and “Bladerunner”, amongst many others) is about to be released in the US and Australia (I believe it’s already showing in Europe).

I confess that I have been eagerly looking forward to this ever since I heard about the project. “Alien” and “Bladerunner” are among my favourite movies. In those movies Scott conjured up astonishing “alternate” worlds as a backdrop to the stories and in “Prometheus” we get to revisit the “Alien” universe.

Now, to recap for newer readers, my objective in the “Marketing and Movie Trailers” posts is to take a look at what Hollywood’s finest have to offer and see what tips we can glean in scripting our own marketing videos.

The trailers for Scott’s movies should be helpful because Scott himself has a lot of experience in making advertisements (for example, he directed the Apple “1984” commercial). Given Scott’s obsessive attention to detail it’s hard to imagine that he isn’t involved in the trailers.

What’s also of interest for marketers is the build up to the release. It’s not uncommon for studios to build up a movie release by making it an “event”. In most cases, this is little more than advance notices and the trailers. But with “Prometheus” there has been much more a buildup.

Not only is there the main movie site with news, clips and other content…

“Prometheus Movie”

…but there’s a separate site about Weyland Industries, the corporation at the heart of the “Alien” stories.

“Project Prometheus”

What’s remarkable to me is how far they’ve gone in fleshing out the back story to the movie and the detail of the alternate world that’s been created. Check out, for example, the “Peter Weyland TED Talk”…

…and this somewhat creepy ad for the “David 8” android (have to say, I really like Michael Fassbender as an actor).

In effect, what’s going on here is a kind of product launch. It’s building up anticipation and engaging the audience with content. Worth looking closely and seeing what ideas might come up that you can use in your own product launches.

Of course, all of this content can be reused! No doubt much of it will appear in “Special Edition” versions of the movie.

So to the trailer itself…but which one? There are a number of different versions. For the purposes of this review, I’ve picked the “Prometheus – Official Full Trailer”.

Now, with a movie like “Prometheus” which is a follow on from another movie (“Alien” in this case) there are two groups in the potential audience – those who are fans of the earlier movie and those who don’t necessarily know about it.

For the “fans”, the selling task is easier. What will drive them is the promise that more will be revealed about the unanswered questions in the first movie (for example, where did the “Space Jockey” come from and how did he meet his grisly fate?) along with more of what they loved before.

For the second group, it’s more challenging. Sure, they might be aware of the buildup and all the hooplah about the original, but the task is to convince them from scratch to see the new movie.

Although I’m firmly in the first group, in this assessment I’ll aim to see how well the trailer performs in convincing the second group.

Let’s go…

A – Attention

We start off with some spooky atmospherics that pretty quickly gets into the attention grabbing “Big spaceships” spectacle. The visuals are gorgeous as you might expect. The centrepiece of this open, however, is the somewhat enigmatic “Every King…” statement, that flags something bad is going to happen…but it’s not obvious what it’s got to do with the movie.

Arguably, a statement like that which is a little confusing and provokes curiosity (“Huh? What’s that all about?!?”) will be effective at drawing people in. For a mass-market movie trailer, I’m not so sure. It’s too subtle, which is probably why they have produced some alternative trailers.

I like the “Prometheus has landed” touch that concludes the opening section.

On balance, OK but not great.

Score – 1.5

I – Interest

OK, here’s where the story gets filled in and we find out more about what this is all about. It’s a similar theme to Erich von Daniken’s “Chariots Of The Gods” idea that extraterrestrials visited the Earth and influenced early human civilisations. The mystery is where did they come from? The Prometheus project is, in essence, a “Quest” story (of the “There and back” variety, although in some of the trailers there’s a suggestion of an alternate agenda in play).

The idea of extraterrestrial life might be controversial, but there’s no doubt the idea fascinates people. So, it’s a pretty good plot for a movie.

Score – 2.0

D – Desire

OK, this is where the pace picks up and the “big guns” come out. Cue the scary music building to a crescendo and a whole collection of dramatic shots! We are very definitely back to the “Haunted House” scenario of the original “Alien” movie.

This is a fairly typical “Big Picture” sequence, but well done, and does a pretty good job. Sure, they’ve set out their stall and there’s not too much curiosity involved (we kind of know what’s going to happen, it’s more a question of who is going to escape, how exactly is the world saved and does that creepy android meet a richly deserved, grisly end?). BUT we know there’s a demand for this kind of movie and I think this will get people’s interest.

Score – 2.5

Bonus Mark – For the production and gorgeous visuals, 1.0

Total – 7.0

Only an average ranking, saved by the bonus mark. I’ve no doubt this movie will do well, simply based on the “buzz” that’s been built and that thousands of “fan boys” like me are salivating over the release and will probably see it several times. But, the trailer only does an adequate job, methinks.

Here’s an alternative trailer, the “NEW Prometheus International Trailer”.

This is much more direct and goes straight for the “Alien Space Horror” jugular. Ridley Scott probably hates it but I suspect they decided to go with a standard “blockbuster” formula. Any way, see what you think…