Three Minds On Digital Marketing @ Organic

JJ Abrams, the creator and producer of the Lost series is back at the viral game again for his theatrical release of Cloverfield.
 
As with the Hanso Corporation for Lost, a fictional corporation, Tagruato has been created to start a buzz and a back-story for the film releasing in two weeks.
 
There really isn’t anything new here (except for the plot clues), but it’s important for us to note how studios and filmmakers are using digital platforms to communicate with fans and thereby creating a longer advertising cycle.  Giving the fans and bloggers content to consume well ahead of release.   Traditionally the advertising push for a theatrical release is 4 to 6 weeks ahead of the release date.   Clues for Cloverfield started about 6 months ago with the release of the teaser trailer.  Its cut very vaguely with little clues to the plot line, but when it was released, the bloggers and Abrams (Lost) fans were set abuzz.  We covered the Slusho microsite last month on ThreeMinds.
 
Cloverfield isn’t the only example of this strategy. WB, the studio for Batman – The Dark Knight has been using the same techniques for the past 6 months, well ahead of its Summer 08 release.  With Batman it seems even more overt with most of the movie being shot on locations with easy access for fans to record and post videos to YouTube and a plethora of thinly veiled teaser sites.   
 
It will be interesting to watch and see how the studios follow users to the web and start using it even more as a buzz generating machine.

Chris Chavkin