Movie Marketing Madness: Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

The Mission: Impossible franchise has probably at this point gone on longer than anyone originally involved could possible. What started out as a high-concept TV series has now become a film series that’s already spawned three movies that have achieved success of varying levels under the directorship of a variety of helmers. 1996’s debut film came from director Brian DePalma and was more of a drama than a straight action flick. The second entry went in the other direction with action icon John Woo behind the camera. Number 3 in 2006 had J.J. Abrams, then mostly known for his TV work at the helm. But all three starred Tom Cruise (in what’s oddly the only franchise of his career) in the role of Ethan Hunt, the top field operative in the Impossible Mission force.

Now Cruise is back with another director calling the shots, Pixar veteran Brad Bird. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol takes Cruise as Hunt back to the role of rogue agent. After a mission in Moscow goes pear-shaped as, oddly, the Kremlin explodes in his wake. Disavowed (again) by the U.S. government he’s intent on clearing his reputation and that of his team. So he takes tech guru Benji (Simon Pegg) along with Jane (Paula Patton) and the enigmatic Brandt (Jeremy Renner) on a mission to find out who’s behind the conspiracy he finds himself and the others caught up in.

The Posters

The first teaser poster for the movie was actually a repurposing of a previously-released publicity shot, with Cruise staring at the camera with a hood drawn over his head. Random numbers appear like some sort of code around him and the familiar M:I fuse that’s burning down appears at the bottom.

The second one-sheet was one designed specifically to sell IMAX presentations. It also reused an earlier-released publicity shot, though this one was significantly more spectacular, showing Cruise in the middle of the tower-climbing sequence that was highlighted in the first trailer. It certainly sells the big scale of the movie – at least parts of it – and that makes sense for this IMAX-specific pitch.

A third poster finally got the rest of the cast some recognition as they flanked Cruise – who was still wearing his Zartan hoodie – in walking toward the camera as sparks flew around them and the whole area was apparently in the middle of sandstorm.

Next up was a series of character banners for each of the four main characters, with a different phrase for each one.

A fourth poster was specifically meant to promote the IMAX release of the film and nicely worked the image of the Dubai tower into the lit fuse that’s so associated with the M:I franchise.

The Trailers

The first trailer opens with dire intonations about the Kremlin being bombed and warnings that the incident is going to be blamed on the members of the IMF team, who will be made into scapegoats. So their mission is to find the people who are really behind the attack and clear their own names. That’s about all the exposition we get as the trailer then transitions into shot after quick shot of very beautiful people infiltrating parties, kicking other not-quite as beautiful people and, of course, a glimpse of the movie’s key action sequence with Cruise scaling a glass tower. It’s not bad but it looks pretty generic at this point.

The next trailer, which on Yahoo started with an introduction from Bird, throws us into the middle of a mission by our crack team that goes very wrong when the Kremlin blows up and the team gets disavowed. But then the team is really on their own when their boss gets killed, meaning this mission is very personal to the remaining team members. There’s some humor, there’s lots of action and more as we see how everything plays out, including the possibility that one of the members might not be playing straight with everyone else. It ends with more of the building-scaling sequence that we’ve seen elsewhere and which is obviously the focal point of the campaign.

Online

There’s a lot thrown at you when you first hit the movie’s official website. The main element is a recreation of the final poster key art but over on the right there are a bunch of small video windows that rotate through scenes from the trailer. Then just to the side of that there’s a series of prompts to play a game on Facebook, see it in IMAX and more. There’s also a Partners box that opens up, when you click on it, some invitations to find out more about the companies that were promotional partners on the film.

Over on the right is the main content menu, where the first option is “Videos.” There you’ll find both trailers, a couple of Featurettes, some TV spots and a handful of extended clips from the movie.

By my count there are about 16 stills in the “Gallery.” “About the Film” has a decent synopsis of the movie’s story.

“Cast and Crew” has career information on the stars of the movie and those who made it happen behind the camera. Finally “Downloads” has collections of Wallpapers and Buddy Icons for you to grab if you like.

The movie’s Facebook page has videos and photos along with publicity and marketing updates, many of which can also be found on the Twitter profile that’s specific to the film.

That Twitter handle was one of the first ones to get access to new tools on Twitter that allowed brand managers to keep an update at the top of the stream, in this case an update containing the movie’s trailer.

The studio also ran an effort on Twitter and Facebook that promised fans that with people using the #mission hashtag at a sufficient volume they could unlock an exciting new clip from the film.

Advertising and Cross-Promotions

TV spots like this one started running that promised the audience a rip-roaring good time. There’s lots of action sequences and lots of humor. We get the basic outline of the story – that a mission has gone so sideways that the entire IMF team has been disavowed and must now seek out the truth behind what happened – conveyed mostly through big explosions and more.

BMW signed on as a cross-promotional partner with co-branded ads running to play up the carmaker’s inclusion in the movie. Toshiba and Coke Zero were also promotional partners though their programs didn’t get quite as much press as BMW’s and less information was available on what exactly they were doing.

30- and 60-second spots were run with the NHL, another promotional partner, where it was also the leading sponsor of some special events by the league.

Media and Publicity

After all the news of casting and who would direct the movie had died down and production begun the first real bit of press came when the movie’s full title, a departure from the numeric structure of the previous sequels, was announced (Los Angeles Times, 10/28/10) though not everyone was a fan. At the press conference where that news broke Cruise said no numbers was always his goal but I’m guessing it had more to do with the overall trend of subtitled sequels that feel more like chapter installments than anything else.

It would be a little while before more press activity picked up, with marketing filling in the gap. But when it did it was in the form of interviews with Bird (LAT, 11/4/11) on how he wanted to go back to some of the spirit that the first movie had with this new entry and get some more inspired performances out of the cast.

Some decent press was generated around activities on Facebook, specifically the launch of a game there (THR, 11/21/11) that was meant to appeal to those who were no longer tied to video game consoles and the studio’s decision to make the previous three films available to rent on Facebook to appeal to those who were looking to no longer be tied to traditional rental outlets.

Brad Bird’s involvement as director generated a lot of news stories as they focused on this being a departure for the guy (NYT, 12/11/11) who usually helmed Pixar-created family friendly fare. Other stories, though, drew the line between those movies and this one in terms of Bird’s flair for visual storytelling (Wired, Dec. 2012)

When the movie opened in IMAX a week before it did in regular theaters audiences were treated to a “prologue” of footage from 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises, a promise that had some wondering of the film’s opening weekend would have a “Batman bump” (LAT, 12/19/11) from people who bought a ticket for the movie for the sole reason of seeing the Batman preview, something that would be noticable in the second week.

I’m sure the cast and crew also made sufficient rounds to the talk show circuit in the weeks before release as well.

Overall

It’s a pretty good campaign that, like the push for the last movie and even (if my memory is accurate) the one before that has zero interest in making sure the audience remembers the first one. There’s no winking at the previous installments or anything like that in the marketing that requires people to know what happened before, which is the case wiht the movies themselves in addition to the campaigns.

Everything works pretty well here. It’s nice to see Simon Pegg back in the same role from the third movie since he’s always welcome on screen. The trailers certainly make it out to be a big action movie and I like the way there’s a consistant touchpoint in the form of the sequence around the big tower break-in. That lets everyone know exactly what the movie has to offer in a clear way, marking this film as some holiday-season escapism.

Movie Marketing Madness: Sherlock Holmes – A Game of Shadows

2009’s reimagination of Sherlock Holmes via a big-screen adaptation starring Robert Downey Jr. in the title role was something of a mixed bag for me. While I enjoyed the performance and the chemistry and banter between him and Jude Law as Dr. Watson this was certainly something far different than the Basil Rathbone classics I’d grown up with. That’s not a bad thing in and of itself but I think it took a little while for me to acclimate to this far different portrayal of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective and accept it for what it was: Something that required little of the audience but sought to entertain by any means necessary for two hours or so.

Now Downey Jr. and Law – as well as director Guy Ritchie – are back in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Picking up shortly after the first movie left off this entry pits Holmes against his most formidable adversary, Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris). Holmes is on Moriarty’s trail, believing him to be at the center of a vast web of conspiracy and criminal activity but to find him he enlists the aid of a young woman (Noomi Rapace) who has secrets of her own.

The PostersThe first bit of official marketing for the movie came in the form of two teaser posters, one with an up-close picture of Downey Jr. with Harris as Moriarty in the background and the other with Law being the focus and Rapace off to the side. They effectively showed that there would be a consistency in the look and feel of both movies as well as in the marketing efforts.

The next two posters had Downey Jr. on one and Law on the other, both of them clutching weapons and in profile to the camera with France and London, respectively, in the backgrounds. They continued the brand consistent blueish gray look from all the rest of the marketing and certainly showed some expanded settings but that’s about it.

Then a series of six action-shot type of character posters were released, with one each for Downey and Law and two each for Rapace and Harris, with everyone brandishing a gun or other weapon or in some other kind of action shot.

The final theatrical poster has Holmes and Watson in a dark Paris alley, fog behind them and the imposing shadow of what we can presume to be Moriarty against the wall to the side. It continues to sell the atmosphere of the movie and what’s hoped to be the wide appeal of the two lead actors.

The Trailers

The first trailer promises those who enjoyed the first movie more of the same here. We open with Holmes getting a tarot card reading, which of course becomes more complicated. From there we see what appears to be Holmes and Watson reuniting after some time apart, with Holmes intoning that he’s on the most important case of his career as he investigates Moriarty. From there on out we’ve done away with most exposition or plot setup as we move to straight action. There are train shoot-outs, huge cannons firing and chases through the woods. We get glimpses of the same slow-motion special effects that were used in the first movie as well as lots of inventions and tools that give the movies a distinct steampunk vibe.

The second was more of the same, though with a good amount of different footage. There’s lots of explosions and gun play and lots of time devoted to the run through the forest the main characters engage in that has lots of exploding trees and bullets whizzing by. Not much more than the barest of plot outlines is given here, though, other than some menacing glances and a bit of exposition about Moriarty being Holmes’ biggest case and the most dangerous criminal mind of their time. It’s all about selling some gothic action here and not about anything resembling a plot.

The next trailer starts off with two people playing chess, which serves as a metaphor for the struggle between Holmes and Moriarty. We see a bit of the same footage we’ve seen in other trailers but with occasional short interview snippets with Ritchie, Law and Downey talking about the conflict of the characters and the story and why people will be interested in seeing it.

Online

The official website opens by playing a nearly full-screen version of the second trailer.

Once that’s done playing the first section of content is “About” which has a short but mostly decent Synopsis, Cast and Filmmaker bios and Production Notes to download.

The “Photos” section has over three dozen (at which point it became difficult to count” stills from the movie. “Videos” has both Trailers, a couple of TV spots and two behind the scenes looks at the recording of the film’s soundtrack score.

“Downloads” has Wallpapers, IM Icons, Posters and specialized wallpapers for iPhones and iPads. You can listen to samples from the score in the “Soundtrack section.

The companies that helped to promote the film are listed under “Partners” while “Sweepstakes” has information on a contest run by the Carl’s Jr. fast-food chain.

“Special Features” has a couple games for you to play as well as a Facebook app that lets you find out who from among your friends there is a your nemesis.

Advertising and Cross-Promotions

A number of TV spots were run that continued to sell the movie to the general public as a known quantity, with lots of action and humor. It’s clear this is in the same style and tone as the first movie, which was popular so the hope is this one will be likewise. Interestingly some of these spots are where we get our first look that Rachel McAdams is back but to what extent isn’t as clear.

Plenty of online and outdoor advertising was also done, mostly using the film’s key poster art and images of Downey and Law and usually also involving a picture of the train that figures into one of the movie’s key action set pieces.

Among the film’s promotional partner companies were French Connection (which displayed fashion “inspired by” the movie in store windows), Shuttle Computers, English Tea Store, Delta Airlines (which offered a contest to win tickets to the movie’s premiere), Hershey’s (which promoted theater snacks as being perfect while enjoying the film) and Hardee’s, whose Carl’s Jr. franchises have already been mentioned.

Media and Publicity

The one constant theme of the early press about the movie was “confusion.” While casting details were leaked out and reported no one involved in the production was spilling any information about the film’s story or plot (Los Angeles Times, 1/13/11), which apparently was part of the plan to keep people guessing and ramp up expectations in the audience that way. One detail that later got released was the movie’s subtitle.

Outside of that there wasn’t a whole lot that happened in the press as release day grew closer. The cast, Downey in particular, made the talk-show rounds and gave plenty of other interviews so it’s not as if there wasn’t a lot of activity happening. But there weren’t many, if any, sort of big industry stories that pegged it as an “important” picture in any regard. Or if there were they never got on my radar, which is also completely plausible.

Overall

This is one of the most clear cut cases of “If you liked the first one here’s more of the same” sequel marketing that I’ve seen. It might even beat efforts for the second Transformers movie and a couple other blatant offenders. Everything here (except the odd way Rachel McAdams barely makes an appearance…does something untoward happen to her character in this one?) is designed to make sure that the audience is completely sold on the notion that very little original will happen here. Instead it’s made clear that this is, while not recycled, certainly very familiar material that covers well-worn ground.

So if you liked the first one – and I did overall while at the same time recongnizing it was completely disposable entertainment that I barely remembered a half-hour after watching it – you should be sold on this one and will make your way to the theater. Which is fine.

Movie Marketing Madness: The Muppets

If you ask me it doesn’t get much better than good old fashioned Vaudeville. Marx Brothers, Hope and Crosby, Burns and Allen…even one of my favorite Billy Crystal movies is Mr. Saturday Night, an homage to that era of comedy. It’s all about the writing and the timing with this sort of comedy and that’s what works for me. Talented performers delivering superbly crafted word-play is just about as good as it gets. It’s why I always preferred Looney Tunes to just about every other sort of animated short – it was just a cartoon version of a Vaudeville routing, with the funniest bits coming from Bugs and Daffy’s verbal sparring as opposed to any sort of elaborately setup situation.One of the clear spiritual descendants of the Vaudeville tradition, at least in their original incarnations, was Jim Henson’s Muppets. Especially on “The Muppet Show” but also in what are considered the three canonical films – The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper and The Muppets Take Manhattan – these characters were always at their best when it was simply about a zinger of a joke or a bit of deft word-play.

Now these characters are back after decades of secondary status in a new movie The Muppets. Written by and starring Jason Segal, best known from his role on “How I Met Your Mother” and an avowed fan of the characters, the movie seeks to revitalize the franchise for a new generation. To do that Segal and his collaborators have created a story that has Kermit, Fozzy, Gonzo, Piggy and the others having gone their separate ways years ago after some rough times. But now Walter (a new Muppet character created for the film), the roommate of Segal’s character and the world’s biggest fan of the Muppets is trying to get the group back together to save the historic theater where they first became famous. In the best tradition of those classic films this new one features lots of star cameos and more and, quite frankly, looks awesome. Let’s see how this reintroduction of some beloved characters is being sold to the families of 2011.
The Posters

The first teaser poster wasn’t all that revealing, with the image being just that of Kermit, Piggy and a few others walking (their entire bodies are shown, not just their torsos and heads) toward the camera in a very determined fashion with the copy “They’re closer than you think” at the top reading just a tad ominously.

After that a couple fun posters that were along the same lines as some of the early trailers appeared, with Kermit decked out like Green Lantern just before that movie came out, Sam the Eagle dressed as Captain America just before that movie was released.

The next poster was a more theatrical-esque version that showed Segal and Adams in front of the mob of Muppets like they’re trying to hold the crowd back. Again it’s not all that much but it does show to the audience that the entire cast of characters will be featured, something that should have lots of appeal to those who enjoyed the earlier movies as kids and have been looking for a quality newer movie to use as an introduction for their own children. It’s quite good on that front and makes the movie look like a lot of fun.

Four more posters were later released, three of which showed extreme close-ups of the eyeballs of Kermit, Animal and Piggy with the fourth pulling the camera out a bit and showing those three along with Beaker and Gonzo.

The parody aspect of the campaign that had primarily been confined to trailers (see below) spilled over into the posters toward the end with a series of one-sheets featuring Kermit, Piggy and Rolf as characters from the Twilight movies.

The Trailers

The first teaser trailer debuted in front of Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean earlier this year but both the real-life and online versions of it took a very fun approach.

The trailer starts out like it’s selling a romantic comedy starring Segal and Adams. The two are very much in love but he messes up and has to try and make it up to her and so on. It’s only when the voice over guy starts introducing the cast and gets to Kermit and Piggy that we realize this is a Muppet movie. The studio went all in with the conceit, initially releasing the trailer under the name “Green With Envy,” which is how it appeared on Apple’s trailer’s page – complete with poster – and was used for the YouTube channel and Facebook page as well.

Outside of that bit of good natured bait-and-switch, the trailer doesn’t show very much. We get that there is a romantic story in here and that there will be lots of singing and big production numbers, which should be fun, but not much else. That’s alright since this is just about announcing the movie and not much else. So it works very well.

Another one followed shortly thereafter that played kind of like a parody of The Hangover, with scenes of chaos and fake quotes from fake publication about how funny these movies occasionally are.

The next one would use the just-about-to-come-out Green Lantern as its source material, with Kermit reciting a variation on that character’s iconic oath, before there were actually a couple of plot points revealed, the first such indicators in the campaign to date. There was also a winking at the audience about how long the creators are going to milk this parody hook before they get to the real marketing. As with the others this is kind of great.

Finally the trailer marketing began in earnest with a spot that outlines what the plot of the movie is, at least in general. Kermit is working to get the whole gang back together again after some hard times have fallen on the franchise. While we see plenty of Walter, the new character that’s introduced in the movie, we don’t get a proper introduction to him here. There are challenges put in the groups way that lead to hijinks and all in all it looks very clever, funny and charming. While it does indeed play more straight than the previous trailers in that it’s not an outright parody of something else that doesn’t mean it’s any less meta, with lots of inside jokes and winks to the audience, but that’s all good since it comes off as being very funny. The only fear here is that all those jokes are in the trailer here so when they’re put into the context of the movie as a whole they could land more flatly than they really should.

After that there was another parody trailer created that, in my opinion, was the best one yet. This one took on the trailer for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, featured an awesome song and lots of winking at the audience via on-screen text.

Then there was a “Fan-a-Thon” trailer released that had Piggy making a personal appeal for people to Like the movie’s Facebook page in order to get an early advanced look at the movie. Fozzy, Kermit and Gonzo would also appear in similar videos.

The next trailer – not a parody or spoof – gets even more into the story by introducing Segal, Adams and their little friend – as the troop’s biggest fans. We see that they’re not exactly welcome in Hollywood anymore and that their name recognition isn’t what it used to be. So they have to pull themselves up by the bootstraps and prove themselves all over again. We get lots of scenes from the show they eventually put on and everything else and it continues to look like it’s just a lot of fun all around.

The meta circle was complete with one that started out by having a little bit of fun by creating a parody of their own trailers while also working in some nods to Paranormal Activity, Happy Feet, Twilight and more. It was more or less exactly what was needed to put a bow on this effort, especially since this one included a “Thank you, internet” note as well as one at the end saying this completed that part of the campaign. Good stuff.

Online

The official website for the movie opens by playing one of the later, non-parody trailers.

After that finishes or you choose to skip it the first thing you can do either by clicking the “Characters” menu item or just by selecting one of the images that’s presented on screen is dive into the characters of the movie. Each one of those sections has information about the character as well as Wallpapers, Buddy Icons, games and film clips that are specific to them.

The next section, “About the Movie” has a Story synopsis that goes into the adversity the Muppets have to overcome to regain success as well as a Cast section that’s still more about the characters and a Crew section that is still labeled as “Coming Soon.”

“Video Clips” has most of the trailers, both parody and non-parody as well as other videos, some of which are the great Muppet song covers from the last couple years, some of which are Disney channel coverage and then a bunch of other stuff.

There are about 14 stills in the “Gallery.” “Products” has information on the stuff you can buy, from the soundtrack to a mobile game to various toys and more.

There’s then a link to the “Fan-A-Thon” that’s been mentioned before. “Games has some fun casual games featuring different characters.

There are plenty of Wallpapers, Buddy Icons and a Screensaver in the “Downloads” section. “Activities” stuff to make that ranges from a theater playset to instructions on making candy with the faces of Kermit and the others.

Finally there’s a link to the “never-ending  manna manna phenomena” that asks you to make your own video with those famous lyrics, which will then be inserted in a never-ending stream of clips, which is kind of a fun idea.

That last feature is the first thing you see when you hit the movie’s Facebook page, though there are of course lots of tabs with links to the various trailers and more along with plenty of updates on the Wall that track the movie’s publicity activity.

The @muppetstudio has been been taken over by Statler and Waldorf, who use it to sling their usual barbs at the the other Muppets and discourage people from seeing the movie. The Muppet Studio YouTube page, which has been the hub of Muppet activity for the last couple years, has all the trailers and clips and other video snippets.

The Muppets were also one of the first brands to get a Google+ Page, which has been used to share videos and other updates.

Advertising and Cross-Promotions

A new Marvel-published comic was announced that would act as a reintroduction to the characters who, in the story, trying to revitalize their careers.

The return to the big screen also came with some promotional partners, including Wonderful Pistachios, which produced a commercial with Kermit promoting the naturally green snack.

The Muppets would also appear in a promotional video that also served as a message to not talk or text while at the theater. The spot was produced specifically for AMC Theaters and presumably ran during their pre-show entertainment blocks.

In addition to that there was a campaign that partnered the characters with Underwriters Labortories for a household safety based effort. There was also a cool partnership with Threadless that offered some nice custom designed t-shirts featuring the characters.

Media and Publicity

The film certainly got a dramatic launch. After rumors and reports had been circulating for a few months that Segal and others, avowed fans of the Muppets and such (see the inclusion of the puppet vampire musical in Forgetting Sarah Marshall) were circling a Muppets project and may have even been signed to create a new movie. Then at Disney’s D23 fan conference in September of 2009 the movie was officially announced and a title revealed, officially kicking off the buzz campaign for it.

It then continued to solidify its hipster credentials with the announcement the film would be directed by James Bobin, one of the co-creators of “Flight of the Conchords,” which also served the purpose of giving the film some musical bonafides to fall back on. That was followed by news that not only was Segal helping to write the script but that he would star in the film as well.

A steady amount of buzz around the Muppets in general was created through the release of a steady stream of videos featuring the characters singing songs such as “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Dust in the Wind” and plenty of others. The idea behind these – all of which were fun and many of which bordered on brilliant – was to get the Muppets back at the top of people’s minds well in advance of the movie’s release so that when that time came the audience was large, multi-generational and comfortable with the idea of once again spending time with these characters.

Much like the Tron sequel, the movie benefited from some insights from the Pixar crew, with reports the script was taken to Pixar HQ for a table read (Hollywood Reporter, 7/21/10) that was intended to solicit feedback from the Pixar “Brain Trust” and get their thoughts before filming started.

After a period of silence, a new round of publicity started with an Entertainment Weekly spread that featured Segal surrounded by the characters, including Walter, the new Muppet that is the audience’s main point of entry into the story. This contained not only a good look at the characters but also the clearest and most official synopsis of the plot to date.

Later on there was news that Disney was putting a Toy Story short, the second or third that’s been produced, in front of the movie, something that got everyone talking once again about the Muppets and also made going to see the film even more attractive.

The movie was one of several that Disney brought to the CinemaCon exhibition trade show, where footage from the film was shown to attendees and Segal and Adams appeared (THR, 3/29/11) and talked about the film, including the challenges Segal faced in writing the movie(Los Angeles Times, 3/29/11) as he tried to stay true to the spirit of the franchise, the financial restraints he was operating in and just the logistics of shooting, all of which forced him to come up with inventive solutions to various problems.

There were also feature stories (New York Times, 4/11/11) about how this was the franchise’s big bet on a revival and how previous efforts in the last 10 years or so have all hit some sort of roadbump that’s killed them. So Disney is betting on a big, star-studded motion picture to finally kick things off in a manner befitting the characters and finally see some value to owning the characters.

Two years after its first appearance there the movie returned to Disney’s D23 fan convention (LAT, 8/17/11). There the studio put on a brief presentation with Segal and Kermit showing some clips from the movie that, much to her dismay, did not involve Miss Piggy.

Unfortunately the next bit of press would not be completely positive, as many of the “old hands” that were involved with the Muppets in years past and other “purists” started to question whether the movie was a worthy entry into the canon or something that distorted the characters they loved or were involved with (THR, 10/20/11). Odds are good, though that those fears are overblown and that while maybe not the movie *they* would have made it’s still respectful of the characters while also bringing them into a new generation that’s only been exposed to the lackluster straight-to-DVD entries of the last few years.

Closer to release things turned around with profiles of Segal (Wired, 11/1/11) and assurances from him that there would be lots of zany antics (LAT, 11/4/11) and how the mood on the set was generally upbeat (LAT, 11/6/11) with everyone having lots of fun. Further positive press stories would be scored that talked about how hands-off Disney was during the creative process (NYT, 11/20/11) despite the risks and potential rewards there were to be had by bringing the characters – and the franchise – to a new generation of moviegoers. There was also plenty of general stories about reviving the franchise (Fast Company, Nov 2011) and so on.

The Muppets also joined Segal in the opening of “Saturday Night Live” when he was hosting just before release.

Overall

Hey, what’s not to like here? This is a big campaign, that’s for certain but there’s something here for everyone, from those of us who grew up with “The Muppet Show” on TV every week and saw all the three original movies in theaters to those who are the kids of folks my age.

The main thing, at least the component that has garnered the most press attention, is the part of the campaign made up with the parody trailers. And while those were fun and all I’m more excited about the other stuff, the parts that sold the film more directly since they showed a movie that seems to be very much in line with the spirit of the original incarnations of this franchise. So the posters, trailers and website are what have me anticipating the film.

But it certainly isn’t a small effort. Disney is obviously hoping this is the kind of relaunch that it can capitalize on for several years on a number of fronts and has given it a campaign of suitable size. But again it’s the talent of those involved and the promise of a good-natured time at the theater that has most broadest appeal here and that comes through loud and clear.

Movie Marketing Madness: A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas

I have to admit that when I first saw the original Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle years ago I was extraordinarily underwhelmed. Sure there were some funny moments and it was enjoyable overall but by the time I’d gotten around to seeing it the expectations were built up so that I expected it to be an instant classic. I’m not sure what conventional wisdom currently holds as to how well it has or hasn’t held up over the intervening years but it’s obviously still seen as popular enough that it’s spawned not just one but now two sequels.

The newest installment sees the titular pair not in the pursuit of good eating but on a mission to save Christmas. A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas puts Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn) accidentally being brought back together after years of growing apart, the reunion a result of some misunderstandings and comedic irregularites. They, of course, encounter all sorts of wacky situations and people on that journey, including Neil Patrick Harris (Neil Patrick Harris) who isn’t letting the fact that he died in the second movie get in the way of appearing here. The movie, as the title suggests, is being released in 3D for, as far as I can tell, no discernible reason other than the fact that someone thought it would be funny to do so.

The Posters

A series of four posters were the first one-sheets released. The first showed Harold brandishing a rifle with Santa lying just off screen and only his boots visible. The second had Kumar with a bow on his crotch and mistletoe burning around him. The third showed NPH looking smugly at the camera as he shoved a giant candy cane toward the audience. The fourth brought all three together and showed a bunch of other random stuff that’s going to be in the film.

Another series of eight – eight! – character one-sheets was released after that. That included ones featuring NPH, Kumar and Harold as well as Jesus, Santa Claus and other supporting characters. Most of them feature copy that alluded to drug usage and in some cases it was far more than just an allusion.

The Trailers

The first trailer starts off like it’s selling a standard high-end Christmas movie, with lots of shots of New York City at that time of year. But then Harold shoots Santa Claus in the face and things turn weird. We get a girl telling Kumar why she won’t date him, the guys accidentally getting a toddler high and all sorts of other hijinks, including a very painful looking homage to A Christmas Story. Harris, of course, appears and we see what’s happened to him after he met what appeared to be his demise in the last movie as well as what he’s doing with the fact that he’s come back to life.

It’s completely random and pretty funny. It’s obvious that they’re poking fun at the whole 3D thing with lots of winks to the audience and such. There’s also an obvious attempt to make it clear to the audience that the main characters haven’t lost a raunchy step since the last outing but all in all it’s pretty good. It jettisons anything resembling plot reveals after the first 45 seconds in favor of random gags but that’s alright for this first trailer.

Close to release there was a red-band trailer released that opened with Santa Claus smoking a bong before getting shot by our two protagonists. There proceeds to be shot after shot from the movie show there are lots of naked woman, lots of jokes involving drug use and lots of foul language. It’s funny enough but it is definitely positioning the movie as being a lot more extreme in the humor department than I remember the first two movies being.

Online

There’s a lot of material here on the front page of the official website.

The first option on the top content menu is to watch the “Red Band Trailer” and then there’s a link to “Bong Along,” some sort of app that I couldn’t get to load in a browser window for whatever reason. After that is “Munchies,” which takes you to Facebook and the the “Poster Creator” is also a standalone site that is exactly what it sounds like. “Mistle-Toasted” is another Facebook game that, because I don’t connect things with my Facebook account, I can’t tell you more about though I presume it’s something vaguely drug-related. The “Ecard” tool also uses Facebook to, I presume, send one of your friends there a movie-themed electronic card of some sort.

We finally move beyond Facebook with the “Videos” section, which has the one all-ages Trailer as well as two TV Spots. “Photos” then contains 11 stills from the movie that show many of the same scenes we’ve seen in the trailers.

“About” has a Synopsis as well as Cast and Filmmaker sections that give you an idea of what everyone involved has been doing for their careers as well as Production Notes to download as a PDF if you want to do some reading.

There are Posters, Wallpapers and Buddy Icons to grab in the “Downloads” section.

Likely because of the age-sensitive material that’s there you have to be logged in to Facebook in order to access the movie’s page there. The page has information on the “Munchies Truck Tour” that will bring the movie’s attitude to colleges across the country as well as the usual assortment of videos and photos along with publicity updates on the Wall, including questions from fans that have been answered by the movie’s stars.

Advertising and Cross-Promotions

A variety of TV commercials were created and released that hit most of the comedic high points – Claymation, a toddler getting high, NPH’s womanizing return, lots of implied drug use – in various ways. They all served their purpose of making sure people were aware that, after a six-year hiatus, the characters were returning and that they were more offensive than ever, which is the point of the entire campaign so it’s not like anything here can be argued with in terms of effectiveness.

Media and Publicity

There wasn’t a ton of publicity. Some basic pieces about the return of the franchise and such but the only one of note was a story (Los Angeles Times, 10/24/11) about Penn and this being his big return to acting after taking a bit of time off to, of all things, work at the White House. Outside of that there were various interviews with the actors and all that and some shilling by them on the talk show circuit.

Overall

It’s not bad but it’s definitely intended to show today’s audience – which is quite a bit different from the one that existed just six years ago when the last installment was released – just how extreme the humor is. So the same gags showing the baby getting messed up on drugs, the claymation sequence that’s supposed to hit all sorts of nostalgic chords and the sexual antics of Neil Patrick Harris are repeated over and over again to make the comedy here as much of a known quantity as possible.

It’s presumed that by giving the audience what is meant to be just a sample of what’s in store that they’ll be interested enough to come and get the whole lot but I suspect that what we’ve seen here, especially in the red-band trailer, is a fair representation of the movie as a whole.

Movie Marketing Madness: Tower Heist

The last several years have left more than a few folks feeling like they’ve been willing participants in their own robberies. Money that we were assured would be available to us dried up and disappeared because of the greed and subsequent shady dealings of certain individuals who are in the financial system. Not that things need to be no more complex than the dimmest person can understand but some of the ways that money was moved around – and eventually lost – are confusing even to the most logical of laymen.

The new movie Tower Heist is about a group who decides to do what many of us have wanted to do: Get even with those who lost our money. The residents and employees of a high-end apartment building, including Josh (Ben Stiller), Fitzhugh (Matthew Broderick) and Charlie (Casey Affleck) among others all trusted a wealthy resident (Alan Alda) with substantial amounts of their money But one day they find he’s embezzled it and it’s all gone. So they enlist Slide (Eddie Murphy), a thief who once hit the building, to help them steal their money back. Wackiness, of course, ensues.

The Posters

The movie’s first poster is primarily concerned with selling the movie as an ensemble film. So Stiller, Murphy, Broderick and the rest of the crew are shown leaning against a building and looking very cocky. The copy “It’s not a robbery, it’s payback” does a decent job of setting up the story without actually telling the audience very much. But honestly the campaign is probably designed just to convince people that they should just sit back and not worry about plot holes because the cast is so charming. So the lack of any story points here beyond what are obvious is likely by design and not something that’s keeping anyone up at night.

The second one-sheet cut out everyone aside from Stiller and Murphy and, oddly, took out any and all copy aside from their names and the rest of the credits. The idea here, obviously, is that the audience should be attracted to the film by the presence of these two stars and little else. No plot description is necessary apparently and the fact that these two are in the film should in and of itself be enough to fill seats.

The Trailers

The first trailer is all about laying out the basic premise of the movie’s story. We meet the gang that works at a posh New York City high rise apartment and one of its residents, a high-profile Wall Street type. Everything is going fine until he’s arrested for fraud and the workers in the building find out the pensions he’s been managing for them are now completely gone. Stiller and a few others determine to get what they can back, though, and set out to steal whatever cash that might be laying around in order to exact some revenge and get their losses back. Being novices, though, the need and expert and so recruit Murphy’s character, a professional thief. But of course things don’t go very smoothly and lots of wackiness ensues as they run into all sorts of problems.

The trailer shows that the movie hits all the notes you’d expect such a story to but the most surprising thing about is that Eddie Murphy actually looks like he’s legitimately funny. That’s something that hasn’t happened in 10+ years and, honestly, his interplay with Stiller looks like it might be worth checking out in and of itself. It reminds me of some of Murphy’s best work in the 80’s and hopefully marks a return to form for him.

Unfortunately not everyone was thrilled with the trailer, as actor Greg Grunberg reacted very badly to the line about Stiller’s character being a “seizure boy.” That outrage was the result of Grunberg having an epileptic son, something that’s sure to change your perspective on things.

A second trailer hit many of the same notes though slightly rearranged. We still get the setup that Alda’s banker has lost money from all of the employees of the building he lives in and that a select few are determined to rob form him to get it back. We get a few different scenes, particularly of Murphy teaching the group how to be criminals but that’s about it that separates it from the first one.

Online

The official website loads and the first thing I notice (aside from the recreation of the poster key art that makes up the primary image) is how devoted to social sharing the top of the site is. There’s a scroll of updates from people on Twitter who have used the hashtag #towerheist or who have otherwise mentioned the movie. It’s a curated feed, of course.

Outside of that the front page allows you to get some ringtones, download a song from iTunes from the movie’s soundtrack and play the “Heist it Back” game that is mentioned more below. There’s also prompts to check in on GetGlue to unlock character stickers and more and an invitation to play an 8-bit game version of the movie.

Moving beyond all that end Entering the Site the first thing there are images of the main characters that, when you mouse over them, give you a one-sentence description of the character and their motivations.

Accessing the Menu, which is arranged like the schematics of a building, the first section is “Video” and there you’ll find just the two Trailers. “Downloads” has some Wallpapers, Buddy Icons and Ringtones.

Hitting “The Film” section you’ll be able to read a halfway decent Story synopsis but the Cast and Crew information along with the Production Notes are all only available as PDF downloads. That’s odd for Cast/Crew.

The “Gallery” has just five stills from the movie, though the way they’re arranged in a nice endless scroll gives the initial impression that there are many more.

Finally the “Features” just has links to play the same games that are listed on the front page.

The movie’s Facebook page ports over or links to a lot of the games and other features from the official site and, of course, hosts the games that use Facebook as part of their mechanisms. There are also lots of videos – including tons of 30-second TV commercials – and photos along with the regular updates on press and marketing activities. There was also a Twitter profile that contained many of those updates.

There was a kind of cool online scavenger hunt run, with clues hidden across Facebook that, when found, gave people Facebook Credits that could be used for playing the “Heist it Back” game that brought them into the movie’s story and allowed them to interact with characters.

Advertising and Cross-Promotions

TV spots began running in late September that certainly sold the movie as an ensemble comedy, setting up the basic plot of a group of people working together to exact a pound of flesh from the corrupt finance guy who stole from all of them and lost their money. A whole bunch of spots were eventually produced though they all, for the most part, hit the same three or four notes though in different ways and in different orders.

Outdoor advertising was done as well, with posters that sold the movie primarily as a Stiller/Murphy partnership, which is hardly surprising.

Media and Publicity

There was a lot of publicity for the film when Ratner, the director here, announced that he had chosen Murphy to host the 2012 Academy Awards ceremony (Hollywood Reporter, 9/6/11), which he was also directing.

Other than that the biggest news around the movie came when it was announced Universal would make it available for video on demand just three weeks after its initial theatrical release (Los Angeles Times, 10/5/11) for $60, though only in a couple markets and only through Comcast. That led to as much outrage from theater owners as it did interest from the press and industry pundits, who will then be watching closely whether its promised availability has an impact in those markets on box-office receipts.

Cinemark and other theater chains later announced they would refuse to book the movie (LAT, 10/10/11), saying they wouldn’t support the studio’s plan to go VOD so soon, something that ultimately led Universal to back down and cancel the experiment (THR, 10/12/11).

Overall

There’s a lot I like about this campaign. As I said before it’s single biggest accomplishment may be that I’m somewhat interested in a new movie starring Eddie Murphy, something that hasn’t happened for upwards of 15 years or so. Aside from that this is selling a movie that appears to be entertaining and light weight for the most part, something that’s professionally put together and, unlike many of Brett Ratner’s movies, may not make me actively want to jam a pointed stick into my thorax. Which is a win, really.

More than that the movie is arriving at the time of the Occupy Wall Street movement that’s gripping the nation. I’m sure the studio has at least flirted with the idea of tying this in with that more overtly through the press but the fact that hasn’t happened tells me the idea was rejected. But the coincidental timing may still wind up benefiting the film as people look to it as a fictionalization of the rage they feel and enjoy seeing a group of people act out the kind of personal revenge they’d like to see exacted themselves.

Movie Marketing Madness: Real Steel

Setting a story “in the not too-distant future” is kind of a great narrative get out of jail free card. You can still do whatever you want, really, but also don’t have to create a whole new world in order to tell the story. Cars are likely still cars and houses are still houses. And it’s possible to take something that’s widely accepted now and push it out a few years (whether or not you disclose how many is up to you and your tolerance for news stories when that year is reached about how wrong you got it) to where it’s not or some such and you’re pretty much golden.

One such movie that’s set just a few years out from our own is this week’s Real Steel. The movie stars Hugh Jackman as Charlie Kenton, a down-on-his-luck former fighter who’s barely been making ends meet since they outlawed human boxing and the sport shifted to giant brawling robots. Yeah, you read that right. One day at the very bottom of his fortunes he reunites with his estranged son Max (Dakota Goya) and the two work to piece together a hard-scrabbled fighting robot that just might be Charlie’s ticket back to the big time.

The Posters

The first teaser poster sets up the movie’s premise to a pretty decent extent, showing just a robotic hand coming up and grasping the heavy metal ropes of a boxing ring. You don’t see the entire robot but you do get some copy that promises “Champions aren’t born. They’re made.” It’s pretty good and looks kind of cool.

The next poster at least showed the primary human star of the movie. Jackman appears in the foreground in a boxer’s pose with a large robot behind him mimicking his movements. The copy at the bottom “Courage is stronger than steel” gives us the hint that the story will cover an emotional arc of Jackman’s character that ties in to the part of the story involving the huge machines. It’s not bad but just looks kind of odd because of the manipulation of Jackman’s photo. Other than that it’s alright.

Four posters hit next that featured four of the robots from the movie, including Atom – the one that Jackman and his friends build – and three of the bots that it will presumably go up against.

The Trailers

The first trailer introduces us to the idea behind the movie’s world, which is that the sport of boxing has evolved to no longer feature human beings but instead has people using massive robot surrogates to fight in the ring instead.

That’s about all the information you’re going to get from this spot, though. Jackman’s character is obviously known in the professional robot boxing world but why that is doesn’t get explained. And while there are lots of shots of robots doing the fighting it’s difficult to tell if Jackman is actually controlling any of them and why he’s doing so. Still, it’s a decent first teaser that gives a look at the robots and is probably effective at generating some excitement among some audiences.

The next trailer is much more informative. It opens with Jackman’s character ducking the phone call of someone he owes money to. We then meet a woman and her kid as she tells him about the great fighter Charlie used to be, though now he’s obviously fallen on harder times. The boy convinces Charlie to help him find a robot and teach him to box and he does so, but with a robot that’s not designed for all out fighting. Eventually, though, the two of them turn out a winner despite the robot not being a traditional fighter.After a series of losses things turn around and we see this is, ultimately, a redemption story for Charlie and everyone else involved.

Online

The movie’s official website starts by playing the trailer in full-screen video. After that finishes or after you click to skip it you’re taken to the main site, featuring the poster key art.

The first section in the left-hand navigation menu is the “Gallery,” which kind of tells you right off the bat the emphasis is on the visuals of the film. After that is “Downloads” which has several Wallpapers, a Screensaver and some IM Icons to save if you’re so inclined.

“Story” has a pretty decent overview of the movie’s plot. “Video” has the Teaser and Theatrical Trailers as well as a Featurette on the making of the movie. “Cast and Crew” has career biographies of the major players involved in the film’s making.

You can listen to snippets of songs featured in the movie in the “Soundtrack” section as well as buy it on iTunes.

After that is a link to “Join the WRB,” which there’s more information on below. Then there’s “Video Game” that takes you to the site for the official tie-in game. “Paper Models” is just what it sounds like – instructions on making your own paper version of the movie’s robots.

The Facebook page for the film brings over a lot of the official site’s features but adds some additional extended clips and more video as well as updates on the publicity and marketing.

An online-based ARG kicked off at the PAX East gaming convention, where attendees were given a paper version of the controller that’s used in the movie for the boxing matches. Each of those had a code on it that could be entered on the soon-to-be-launched site for the fictional World Robot Boxing organization. When the code was entered an achievement was unlocked and the user was prompted to register on the site to save that achievement, something that hinted at further tasks to come down the road.

The site did indeed continue to evolve, with more information (that you could unlock with additional codes, which were shown on the site) on the history of the WRB and how it was founded, became the most popular sport in the world and more.

That ARG continued into the E3 gaming conference where robot fighter trading cards were handed out that prompted people to visit a new branch of the WRB site where they could design their own robots.

After a brief period of inactivity things ramped back up in early September as more mailings were sent out that included cool movie swag as well as instructions on how to create their own robot avatars on the WRB site.

Advertising and Cross-Promotions

TV spots started running in early September that of course focused on Jackman and his journey toward career redemption by building a plucky, less than sophisticated fighting robot that he would use to get back in the game. There’s nothing about the kid or any other relationships here, just lots of flashy visuals showing robots beating up on each other.

Outdoor advertising was done as well, with billboards that featured four of the robots from the movie with arms outstretched. And while other outdoor ads that were placed on the sides of buses were also run nothing matched the scale of having a Virgin America A320 plastered with an image of Atom.

There were a bunch of companies that were on board as promotional partners. HP, Virgin America and Bing were such companies, though the details on their partnerships are unclear. Partnerships with Del Taco and Royal Purple were more clear, the former running a sweepstakes giving away either restaurant or video game related prized and the latter running co-branded TV spots.

Media and Publicity

Some of the early press outside of marketing materials and such came in the form of a piece (Los Angeles Times, 1/28/11) that was meant to position the movie as a heartfelt and human drama and not just a sci-fi, robotic boxing movie that was more about the special effects than any sort of meditative story. Whether or not that positioning is accurate with the finished product remains to be seen but it’s an interesting early salvo in the press effort for the movie.

At the 2011 CinemaCon trade show for exhibitors Jackman and director Levy were in attendance to promote the film (Hollywood Reporter, 3/29/11) as part of Dreamworks’ overall presentation to attendees.

Stories began to circulate eventually that had the star and director talking about the tone of the film (Entertainment Weekly, 5/10/11) and how it’s not actually about the robots, who are just there to help the human characters along on their story.

Rumors began to swirl that Jackman would make a surprise, unscheduled appearance at Comic-Con 2011, something that did indeed happen (Los Angeles Times, 7/21/11) as he worked a crowd of folks that gathered in a parking lot to talk and answer questions.

The robots got some press in a piece (LAT, 9/1/11) that looked at the virtual fighting they engage in.

Overall

There’s a nugget of a great campaign here but I don’t feel like it’s fully realized. There’s some nice consistency between all the elements – it certainly feels like a nicely unified campaign from a branding perspective – but I just can’t shake the feeling that there’s no follow-through here, no final push to bring it home and put a bow on it.

But that’s not to say that there isn’t a lot of energy thrown into the marketing. Everything comes off as very high-powered, something that’s exemplified by Jackman and the way he, as is usual, goes full throttle on promoting anything he’s involved in. Even that, though, can’t overcome the feeling that this is a summer movie that’s being marketed in the early fall, something that may wind up coming back to bite the film with audiences.

Movie Marketing Madness: Moneyball

Growing up a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan I have a…skewed perspective on baseball. My formative years (read: up until the age of 34) were during the ownership of the club by Tribune Co., meaning if I had a nickel for every conversation that included the phrase “…well they’re making plenty of money even by losing so they don’t *have* to spend more to field a winning team…” I’d no longer need to work but would be sitting on a beach earning 20 percent. My reality is and has always been being a live or die fan of a club that has one of the top five payrolls in the major leagues and only avoids the basement most years only for the grace of, in this year’s case, the Houston Astros.

The size of a payroll, though, doesn’t always automatically correspond to a winning team. A half dozen years ago author Michael Lewis made that point when he wrote a book that’s now the subject of the new movie Moneyball. The book told the story of Billy Beane (portrayed here by Brad Pitt) and his efforts to field a winning team for the Oakland A’s with a budget that hovered somewhere below the bottom of the major leagues. To do that he shook up the organization by trying to move it away from the hunches and instincts that dominated player recruitment and instead focus on statistics and percentages. He’s aided by Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) and the two set off to turn coal into diamonds.

The Posters

The first poster certainly defines the movie’s setting and the central conflict of the story. Pitt stands all alone in the outfield of an empty baseball field, the grass nicely mowed and all that. So we get that it’s a story about baseball and that Bean is feeling all alone in what he’s trying to do. It’s simple, it’s slick and works pretty well.

The next poster also featured Pitt solo, this time sitting in the box seats of a baseball field and looking back over his shoulder towards – but not at – the camera. Again, we get the clear message that this is a baseball movie and that Pitt’s character is sort of out on his own in some way. I can’t say it’s exceptionally original or anything but it does continue to convey a slickness about the movie and is notable at least for the lack of Photoshop hackery that is unfortunately on too many one-sheets. So it works.

The Trailers

The first trailer for the movie was remarkably well put together. We meet Pitt’s Beane as he’s hitting brick walls with the Oakland A’s as he attempts to take almost no money and buy a contending team. He’s frustrated by scouts and intuition and all that until he meets Hill’s Brand, who convinces him that by looking at statistics and filling specific needs they can field a winning club. But the trailer shows things aren’t exactly a smooth ride as Beane’s efforts upset a lot of established apple carts and honk off a lot of people who have vested interests in maintaining the way things have always been done, at least until things start to turn around.

Let’s just be honest and admit that part of the reason (the other is the music that swells at all the right moments) is the charm of Pitt, who glides through his scenes with a cocky sureness and who spouts the snappy dialogue (a rewrite of the script was done by Aaron Sorkin) with ease. Again, this works extremely well and takes what was by all accounts a pretty dry, if very influential book and turns it into a compelling film drama.

A second trailer wasn’t all that much different from the first. A few different scenes here and there, particularly of the insiders whose apple carts Bean is upsetting, but other than that it was basically the same thing we saw before.

Online

The movie’s official website opens by presenting a wall full of pictures from the movie, some of which take you into various content areas and some of which just open up production stills. First, though, let’s work down the menu that’s off to the left of the screen.

First up is “Cast & Filmmakers”, which nicely carries over the design theme from the main page. Unfortunately all you get when you mouse over one of the cast’s photos is the name of the person they play, with no other information available.

“Videos” has just the Trailer and a TV Spot. There are about two dozen stills in the “Gallery” and “Downloads” has five Wallpapers and a Twitter Skin for you to grab. The “Soundtrack” site lets you preview the film’s score.

“Play the Game” pits your decision making abilities against those of Beane (hypothetically or not I’m not sure) by presenting you with a series of choices to make where you have to weigh a series of factors to make the best and most efficient decision.

The movie’s Facebook page opens with some video options to choose from, ranging from the trailer to various TV spots. There are also photos and such, including lots of updates to the Wall that point to and mention press coverage.

Advertising and Cross-Promotions

TV commercials started running surprisingly early and touched on the same points as the first trailer, with Pitt’s character being told that he can’t have more money and has to do with what he has, then turning to a stats wizard to help him turn things around. It works on the same level as the trailer as well and makes a good case for the movie as a populist drama more than a wonky discussion of statistics.

Spots that featured longer running times – up to two minutes in some cases – ran on MLB Network (Los Angeles Times, 7/28/11) in an effort to reach the older guys who watched that channel and present something almost on par with the theatrical trailer to help motivate them to actually make a trip to the movie theater.

Media and Publicity

After so much news about pre-production and who would or wouldn’t be directing, the first bit of publicity about the finished movie came when the first trailer was teased on “Entertainment Tonight” just before it was released.

The film was then announced (Los Angeles Times, 7/26/11) as one of those appearing at the Toronto Film Festival, where the story (for some unknown reason) was on how it managed to appeal to women without there being a major female role (LAT, 9/10/11). I’m not sure how the answer to that isn’t “It stars a charming Brad Pitt” but whatever.

Being a Pitt movie there was plenty of other coverage from publications as diverse as Entertainment Weekly to Sports Illustrated that let him talk about his love of baseball and other topics.

Overall

The campaign is slick and professionally done, the same impression that’s given of the movie that it’s trying to sell. Everything about it is slick and done very well and charming, something that is helped largely by Pitt, who appears to glide through his performance with a layer of Teflon. The trailer sells good chemistry between him and Hill, nice interactions with him and his daughter and more. It’s all packaged as an entertaining drama that has lighthearted moments and a hoo-rah uplifting ending. It’s good stuff.

Movie Marketing Madness: Contagion

Few things freak me out more than movies or stories about viruses. It’s not that I’m a germaphobe – though I do carry some sort of hand sanitizer bottle with me just about everywhere – it’s that the idea of an unstoppable pandemic that sweeps across borders in no time scares me on a fundamental level that even more straight-ahead horror flicks can’t even come close to.

So this week’s big release, Contagion, is likely going to have me reaching for the plastic and duct tape to seal up the windows. Telling a bunch of interconnected stories the movie is about how the world reacts when a virus that kills quickly starts sweeping through the population. While the CDC and government officials try to track down how it started and therefore how to cure it the camera also turns to how a single family deals with the death of a wife and mother. Directed by Steven Soderbergh – and therefore a safe bet to at the very least be well made – the film stars Matt Damon, Gwenyth Paltrow, Lawrence Fishburne, Jude Law and other high-name-recognition actors in what’s sure to be a terrifying story.

The Posters

The movie’s first poster is made to look like a biohazard sign and indeed a “Biohazard” piece of red tape is shown along the top of the design, holding up a sign that has the names of cities listed on it, presumably the ones that have been impacted. Spelled out vertically using random letters from those city names is the movie’s title, all of it adding up to a nice design that makes the movie seem very scary and very interesting.

After that came a series of six character-centric one-sheets, each of which featured an extreme close of the actor in some sort of action pose that was appropriate for their character.

So Damon looks like he’s freaking out, Paltrow looks like she’s dying, Fishburne looks like he’s having a stern phone conversation and so on. Not sure why Law looks like he’s been cast as Mr. Freeze, but what are you going to do.

All six of those images were later combined into one poster that continued to feature cracks, rips and fading that made it look like it had been hung out in the sun too long and in not a particularly good neighborhood. That, obviously, was done to convey the sense of danger that’s trying to be sold here. It doesn’t play up the fact that it comes from Soderbergh, which is either by design because he’s not a household name director yet or because he is but he’s too often associated with high-end experimental movies and his presence might be an impediment. Either way he’s just in the credits block and not called out within the design.

The Trailers

The first trailer for the movie was enough to freak just about anyone out. We see Paltrow’s character coming home from a trip a little under the weather. It’s nothing until she collapses in her kitchen and her husband has to rush her to the hospital, only to later be told she’s died. We also see officials of some sort (CDC?) discussing the spread of the disease she brought back with her, a disease that has no cure. We then back and forth between Damon and the events on the ground as cities are quarantined and emptied and Fishburne and his group of scientists and public health officials as they track the disease’s spread on multiple continents.

It’s enough to make you never want to go out of the house again.

Online

As the official website loads you see the rising counts of the dead displayed across a map of the world, which is disconcerting in and of itself. If you can get past the trailer that attempts to auto-play after that countdown (I had to bypass it since it was not playing and keeping the site from loading behind it) you can access the main site content.

First up there is “About” which has a Synopsis that goes into a fair amount of detail about the film’s story as well as Cast and Filmmaker biographies and film histories. There are also Production Notes you can download for a deeper look at the movie and its making.

I’m honestly not sure what’s in the “Videos” section other than the one trailer since it, like the front page, just hung up and went nowhere for me. But the “Photos” section is so robust I stopped counting after 30 or so. I’m sure there are over 50 stills from the movie here. “Downloads” meanwhile has the teaser and theatrical Posters to grab in addition to Wallpapers and Buddy Icons. “Soundtrack” lets you listen to samples of the movie’s score. “Promotions” lists the sites that have participated in giveaways and such

“Are You Patient X?” is a Facebook-based tool that simulates what role you would have in spreading a global pandemic, which is probably as much fun as you would imagine it to be. Similarly, the “Nothing Spreads Like Fear” site that’s listed next is some sort of Facebook game that I didn’t play so can’t speak to authoritatively. Finally there’s an “Interactive Trailer” that lets you click on spots in the trailer to learn more about how viruses spread and other fun stuff.

The movie’s Facebook page has lots of updates on the marketing and promotional activities around the movie, including lots of video and more information on how diseases spread.

Advertising and Cross-Promotions

The TV spots that began running in early August play like condensed versions of the first trailer, bouncing quickly between the individual story of Damon’s family and his journey and the broader story of what’s happening around the world as people work to fight the virus. There’s some new footage in some of them that hadn’t been seen previously that shows more of the same and, again, they’re very good and very frightening.

Media and Publicity

Some of the first publicity was in the form of a story (New York Times, 8/28/11) about how much the movie tried to create a realistic tone while at the same time attracting a high-profile cast that made a virus movie into more of an event.

The film was then scheduled to have its debut at the 2011 Venice Film Festival, something that some press (Los Angeles Times, 8/31/11) saw as a mimicking of the awards path taken last year by The Town.

Overall

One thing is for sure, at least in my opinion, and that’s that the campaign sells a slick, professionally made movie that’s sure to scare the bejeesus out of you and have you reaching for the Purell. Everything about the campaign is designed to emphasize the drama that can be wrenched (by a talented director working with a good script) from people either getting sick or trying to figure out why other people are getting sick.

Aside from that the audience is assured of seeing lots of big name stars working toward the top of their game, maybe not in material that’s award worthy but which has an interesting story to tell. The posters and trailers work nicely in tandem to sell it as a mainstream bit of scary entertainment and the website (overlooking the technical problems I kept having) is nicely consistent with those other two elements.

Movie Marketing Madness: 30 Minutes or Less

How we react and behave in high pressure situations defines us to a great extent. There are varying degrees of what can be considered “high pressure” that range from periods of great stress that last months or even years to just a few moments that carry high stakes for ourselves and those around us. It’s whether we have the steely resolve to get through those situations that can decide whether we come out the other side a better person or if we come out of them at all.

The new movie 30 Minutes or Less is about just such a situation. Nick (Jesse Eisenberg) is a slacker pizza delivery dude with an ordinary life that he is blissfully happy with because it entails almost no responsibility. One day he’s kidnapped by a couple of hicks (Danny McBride and Nick Swardson) and told he needs to rob a bank or the bomb they’ve strapped to his chest will go off. Panicking, Nick enlists his friend Chet (Aziz Ansari) to help him carry out the robbery.

The movie, while not based directly on these events, is loosely similar to the real story of a man who was blackmailed into robbing a bank for another party with a bomb strapped to his chest. But the real story has a much more tragic ending as the guy died when the blackmailers detonated the bomb.

The Posters

A pair of posters were the first ones released here, with one side showing Eisenberg and Aziz in their ski masks and the other side showing a couple of nameless and faceless guys wearing gorilla masks like they do in the first trailer. It’s alright but it’s going to come off as a little confusing, I think, for anyone who hasn’t already see that trailer since the two leads aren’t recognizable unless you know it’s them and there’s no context for the guys in gorilla masks.

The later theatrical poster wasn’t exactly what you’d call inspired. It simply shows Eisenberg and Aziz looking a little shell-shocked and nervous in front while McBride and Swardson are in the back clearly in control of the situation and looking quite cocky. It’s not the most artistic design in the world but it shows off who’s in the movie and that’s the major hook here so it’s hard to fault them based on pure practicality.

The Trailers

The first trailer, a red-band edition, starts out by introducing us to the two friends who are having a moment of falling out due to one’s actions with the other’s sister. When Nick goes later on to deliver the pizza he’s tasked with he finds himself set upon by two guys in gorilla masks who are intent not to let him go. When he is released it’s with a bomb strapped to his chest and the mandate to go rob a bank. So he goes to enlist Chet’s help and the two set about trying to execute on that plan. Of course hijinks and wackiness ensue since they’re not professional bank robbers and they’re not really getting along at the moment.

It’s a pretty funny trailer because the red-band freedoms are just used for language purposes and not to show off every crude or semi-crude moment that the movie contains. There’s still the bullet points of a story conveyed here. And as funny as Aziz is, Eisenberg actually might be funnier because he isn’t asked to do quite as much mugging to the camera.

Shortly thereafter a green-band version was released that was essentially the same trailer only with the language and other objectionable bits.

The next trailer went back to red-band land so all sorts of foul language was thrown back in. This time, though, the trailer focused much more on the overall plot and not just on selling the movie as some sort of slacker comedy. We see how the plot to have a pizza delivery driver rob the bank is hatched by the two redneck idiots and some of how they factor into the rest of the movie as well, a much larger perceived role than had been previously shown. There’s still plenty of antics from the two friends who are forced into the heist and, as I said, more of the story itself is shown so this is a good (for all intents and purposes) second entry into the trailer category.

It should be noted that the trailer ends not by promoting the movie’s official website or Facebook page or anything but instead a Twitter hashtag – #dontblowit that people should presumably use when discussing the movie. That’s interesting and all and certainly makes it clear what level of audience is being targeted by the studio, though you have to remember that anyone who uses unnecessary hashtags is ultimately going to “the special hell” reserved for child molesters and people who talk at the theater.

Again, an all-ages version of this trailer was released shortly after the restricted one that showed many of the same scenes and jokes, only with the most offensive bits removed.

Online

The official website loads with a list of options to choose from right off the bat. You can watch one of the Trailers, play a game or check out a couple of the movie’s social networking profiles.

The site’s navigation is laid out as if it’s a neighborhood map and when you mouse-over each area you see a location from the film and are prompted to share your visit there with your Facebook friends, something that’s so granular it’s hard to really comprehend.

The first section is “About the Film” and has a Synopsis as well as Cast and Filmmakers sections, though those just have a picture of each actor in the Cast area and just a list of those who worked on making it in the Filmmakers area. So it’s not exactly overflowing with content.

There’s just the one Trailer in the “Trailers” section, not even links to the restricted ones or any mention of them. “Downloads” has Wallpapers, Twitter Skins and Buddy Icons that echo the first poster key art. Finally the “Photo Gallery” has just 10 stills from the film with a couple behind the scenes shots mixed in.

The movie’s Facebook page has lots of updates with clips and promotional videos from the movie as well as additions to the official site and more. There’s also photos and an emphasis on asking people to pick their favorite quotes from the trailers. The Twitter feed has similar updates as well as information about some out-of-home promotions that were run in the weeks leading up to release. There was also a Tumblr blog setup that contains some video clips and lots of GIFs of scenes from the trailers that either the studio has created or which have been reblogged from others.

Advertising and Cross-Promotions

There was an innovative promotion with check-in service Foursquare that awarded movie-themed badges when people checked in at places like pizza shops and banks among others. Once someone earned the badge they were open to getting promos from local movie theaters and were entered into sweepstakes awarding a $3,000 prize.

Some TV spots were created that obviously played down the raunch and language in the movie but which still conveyed the extreme circumstances that are in the story but which are played comically. The emphasis here is still on all four of the primary cast members, especially Eisenberg and McBride.

Media and Publicity

One of the first publicity plays for the movie would be during the hipster-teen targeting MTV Movie Awards this year. There a new clip from the movie was shown to the TV audience in an attempt to get the young audience for that show interested.

Then came news the movie would be screening at 2011 Comic-Con since apparently it was felt the geek crowd there would overlap significantly with the people likely to find this sort of slacker comedy funny.

The fact that there are similarities between the movie’s story and a similar real life incident resulted in stories (AP, 8/7/11) about how the family of the victim in that case weren’t interested at all in the movie and naturally found it distasteful.

Overall

The trailers are, in my opinion, the strongest component of this particular campaign. That’s because they most clearly show the kind of movie that’s being sold, with the other components coming up short in various areas. The posters aren’t really able to convey anything beyond the presence of the certain actors that the audience might find amusing to watch. And the website, very surprisingly, doesn’t include anything about the age-restricted material that’s part of the campaign. I’m really shocked by that since there’s not even a mention of it outside of one prompt on the very front page, which sends people over to Facebook.

It’s obviously selling the movie to the same crowd that came out for movies like Pineapple Express but I’m not sure there’s enough of an emphasis on certain components of the story to fully appeal to that audience. It’s a decent enough campaign but it kind of comes off as a middling effort that doesn’t quite commit to one extreme to the other and I wonder how that’s going to come off to various parts of the moviegoing public.

Movie Marketing Madness: The Change-Up

Lucky is the person who is completely satisfied with the life they’re leading. A lot of people, though, go through their lives wishing certain things were different or that their situation was changed. Even if they’re very happy there can be moments where someone wishes this, that or the other part of their lives were different. This problem can be exasperated if there’s a friend who, from the outside at least, appears to be living the dream.

That’s very much the setup of The Change-Up. Dave (Jason Bateman) is married to Jamie (Leslie Mann) and the two have a couple kids. They are happily married but have all the issues any married couple does and Dave occasionally wants to stop the world and get off. He’s friends with Mitch (Ryan Reynolds), who is on the absolute other end of the spectrum, living the single life and sleeping with an ever-changing array of women. One night while out together Mitch and Dave wind up switching bodies and Mitch has to navigate Dave’s life as a married lawyer and Dave Mitch’s as a swinging single.

The Posters

We’re clearly not on high intellectual ground here, with a simple design that shows Bateman struggling with a pair of fussy babies at the top and Reynolds enjoying the company of a pair of lovely ladies at the bottom. Bateman looks exasperated and is staring longingly at the idilic situation below while Reynolds could not have more ridiculously over-the-top smile on his face. It’s really kind of a lousy design, especially with the simplistic solid colors in the background.

The Trailers

The first trailer for the film was a red-band version and we start off by seeing just how different each guy’s night is going. Bateman is awoken by crying babies who then proceed to poop in his face while Reynolds is awoken by the doorbell announcing the arrival of another hook-up. The two then meet for the bar and compare their lives, with Bateman living vicariously through his friend’s sexual exploits. The two drink too much and then while defiling a fountain they wish they had each other’s lives. A flash of lightening later and their wish has been granted. When they start taking on each other’s responsibilities, though, they find things aren’t quite what they expected on a number of fronts. The trailer ends with a naked Bateman running into a room talking about the freckles he has in his nether regions.

Like the poster, the trailer shows we’re not dealing with weighty philosophical issues here. In addition to the taint joke we see Leslie Mann taking a loud, disgusting bowel movement, there’s an oral sex joke to a paralegal and lots of obnoxious complaints about the burdens of having children. I get that we’ll be on an emotional fulfillment journey in the movie but still I don’t think it was necessary to show both characters as quite such scumbags.

A later all-ages version was basically the same trailer, just with some of the more offensive language and other material pulled out.

Another red-band version was released that provided a little bit more story setup and some more ribald language about sex in a variety of ways. It still comes off as quite funny but it’s not clear whether there’s any humor in the movie that doesn’t come from discussions of masturbation, vibrators and regular casual sex buddies.

Online

The movie’s official website has a lot of stuff going on when you first load the front page. The top proclaims the film’s raunch credentials, showing it comes from the director of Wedding Crashers and the writers of The Hangover. Above that there’s a crawl of (presumably curated) Twitter updates where people have used the movie’s title as a hashtag.

Down in the middle of the page is a prompt to watch the latest red-band trailer and then there are things to do as you can find “Your Perfect Change-Up” by connecting the site with your Facebook account. You can also insert you and your friends’ photos into the trailer to create your own version.

Once you Enter the Site the first section of content is “Film,” which has a few paragraphs of a synopsis as well as Production Notes to download. “Cast & Crew” has biographies and career histories for the major players in front of and behind the camera.

There are about two dozen stills from the movie in the “Gallery” and “Videos” has all three trailers including the two restricted versions as well as one of the TV Spots that was released.

“Downloads” has Wallpapers, Buddy Icons and Twitter Skins to grab and then “Features” has the same couple of things that were on the front page.

The movie’s Facebook page has lots of updates on marketing and publicity activity, including TV spots and lots of photos as well as links to the features that are on the main site.

Advertising and Cross-Promotions

Early June would see the beginning of the TV advertising campaign with spots starting to run that played up the difference in the lives of the two guys in much the same way the trailers did, though the last half was all about how the reality of Bateman’s life was much different that how Reynolds’ bachelor presumed it was going to be. Which is to say it includes the scene of Mann on the toilet complaining about the Thai food. Further spots hit different aspects of the movie but all played up the raunchiness as much as they were able to.

Media and Publicity

Bateman and his ability to be an effective ensemble player and side-man were the focus of some press (New York Times, 7/3/11) that also mentioned his other recent movie, Horrible Bosses.

Overall

There are some funny elements to the campaign but, as I eluded to above, I’m concerned that either the movie has no humor that isn’t based around sex or poop or that the trailers are pulling out all of those elements in an attempt to sell the movie as being overly crass. The marketing is funny enough – all the actors appear to be gamely giving the material their all – but there’s so much crudeness going on that it may actually be too much. It might be so dominant a theme in the campaign that it turns people off.

The main element of the campaign seems to be the trailers and that’s where most of the crudeness comes from. The one poster is kind of awful and doesn’t really match with anything else in the marketing in terms of tone. So it all hangs on the trailers and TV spots, which will either get people exited for another in a long series of raunchy male-focused comedies or have them looking for other alternatives this weekend.

PICKING UP THE SPARE

• 08/04/11 – The fact that the actors seemed to have canned talking points for their press appearances is news to Mediaite.