Film marketing cops a lot of flack. And for good reason, so much of it is utter garbage. I was as excited as anyone for Anchorman 2 (2013), but that excitement was tempered by the marketing for the film. For starters it was uninspired, but more than that it was just absolutely everywhere. You could not turn anywhere without seeing the lame attempts from the Anchorman crew at something they were desperately hoping would go ‘viral’ and all manner of other buzzwords. Unfortunately most film marketing falls into this basket. There is very little original and engaging. Most film marketing seems obsessed with getting traction and clicks online rather than doing something original and exciting us filmgoers.
Every so often though, a film really nails the marketing mix. More than any other of recent memory, The Lego Movie (2014) has achieved this. I have already spoken about the batch of character posters and trailer. Both of these were really fun and conveyed the glee that I think we were meant to feel in anticipating the film. In addition to those, there were also a smaller batch of character posters released which I think tapped into some of the unique humour that the film is aiming to bring to life. Check out a couple of these below.
Something even cooler than all these posters was brought ot my attention by Ruth over at Flixchatter. This ‘Behind the Bricks’ featurette is a really inspired DVD extra style video. Check it out below if you haven’t seen it. Once again is that overwhelming sense of fun that all the marketing is giving off as well as a well pulled off bit of meta, self-reflexive humour which is pretty hard to do without coming off as pretentious. I really love this little video.
Are you guys a fan of the approach that The Lego Movie has taken in its marketing? Also, what are some of your other favourite film marketing exercises? Hit me with some thoughts in the comments and feel free to link to your favourite posters, trailers and videos.
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Agreed that this movie is very well marketed.
For sure. One of the rare marketing campaigns that actually makes you want to see the film more, rather than less.
Nicely done 😀
Thankyou sir.
A wildly different movie, but I love the campaign for Nymphomaniac.
Haha, that is wildly different. I think some of the stuff from the Nymphomaniac marketing has been from the any publicity is good publicity school of thought. It is one of my most anticipated of the year though, so they are obviously doing something right.
Exactly. I thought those orgasm posters were amazing and I love how they’ve followed that up with posters of movie critics, not to mention the clever logo and great trailer.
Okay, that making of was just awesome. Like everything is.
Right on!
I still haven’t seen the Lego movie yet, but I am DYING to see it. I just have to convince my lame-o boyfriend that it isn’t a silly kids movie. I think less is more when it comes to marketing. The less I know about the movie, aside from one or two really provocative details, the better. I hope that when it’s time for Dumb and Dumber To (this is the movie I am most excited for this year) to come out, that they just put up a few posters and don’t run a bunch of trailers that show the best parts.
Just go without him. That’s what I would be doing. Plus you owe it to schmucks like me who still have to wait weeks til it opens, to get out there and watch the crap out of it.