The much awaited 15 minute trailer for James Cameron’s new movie, Avatar, was finally released last week at all 3D cinemas across the globe; and having turned the movie marketing model upside down by holding back much, if any, communication about the movie’s story line the Avatar ‘hype bubble’ had reached its maximum and was ready to burst. The Big Idea – to seduce their fans into believing this was the only film worth knowing without knowing anything about it.
Avatar has been referred to as the next film that will change the entire film industry (big statement to live up to) and its taken 10 years for anybody to see a snippet of the film or hear anything about the story line. It’s been a tense rollercoaster ride for film fanatics and at stages of the ride the rollercoaster pretty much stopped.
Due to the fact that the film was 3D using all the above the line marketing channels, such as television or standard theatres, just wasn’t good enough for the film makers as the channels didn’t show the true brilliance of the film. So instead they screened the film at select 3D theatres. Of course, this only involves a handful of the population and therefore you would think pushing the word of mouth online would be crucial and only fair.
The trailer was uploaded on to Apple’s trailer hosting site which was the only place you could view it so all online media portals linked straight to it. This then caused the site to crash many, many, many times to everyone’s frustration. But the big shock came when all the sites received letters accusing them of posting content that ‘infringes Fox’s intellectual property rights’ and straight away the links were removed.
So, having waited a ridiculous amount of time for just the trailer launch and then sat back to observed the films marketing tactics fans and reviewers have come away feeling confused, bemused and pretty much unwanted.
Being that the film has been dubbed as Cameron’s big masterpiece the film ‘will go on…’ (Titanic theme tune) and will be a huge success. But, as for their Big Idea tactics implemented, marketers should keep things traditional and simple. Why try and complicate something that was already a winner!
Related links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cameron
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/aug/21/avatar-3d-film-james-cameron
http://mrcontroversy.blogspot.com/2009/08/last-temptation-of-james-cameron-part-i.html
http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/308375/avatar_the_marketing_plan_thats_backfiring.html
http://www.scifiscoop.com/news/poor-marketing-bursts-the-avatar-hype-bubble/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cameron
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/aug/21/avatar-3d-film-james-cameron
http://mrcontroversy.blogspot.com/2009/08/last-temptation-of-james-cameron-part-i.html
http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/308375/avatar_the_marketing_plan_thats_backfiring.html
http://www.scifiscoop.com/news/poor-marketing-bursts-the-avatar-hype-bubble/
they shouldnt have released it online at all, the footage doesnt work on a 19" monitor in work with bad lighting and wrong settings, it was the main reason for negativity caused throughout the space.
ReplyDeleteWe're going to be working on PR & social media for the film and we've got a lot of thinking to do, mainly because severity of difference between cinema and monitor expirience is the biggest it's ever been for any movie ever.
Ensuring that people understand that what they will see in 3d at imax etc is going to be unparalleed with what they see whilst watching a streamed, jerky trailer online, is the possibly the biggest hurdle.