Oscars 2022: what we can learn from movie marketing?

Last night brought the Oscars, second only to the Super Bowl on the yearly calendar for big TV spots. But turning away from the spots during the show, what can the industry learn from the ways movies themselves are marketed – an area of the industry that sees some of its most creative cut-through work? The Drum spoke to Amplify's ECD Alex Wilson.

Alex Wilson, executive creative director at Amplify: invest in a little worldbuilding

2016’s Deadpool used OOH to market a violent, R-rated, superhero movie as a rom-com for Valentine's Day: an example of using movie marketing’s core ingredients (posters, billboards and star power) to subvert expectations.

Despite unconventional approaches like Carrie’s (2013) Telekinesis Coffee Prank and Cloverfield’s (2008) mystery driven campaign, classic strategies tend to win, certainly for bigger studio films whose MO tends to be ‘go big’. Out of category, Squarespace’s Super Bowl spot implemented classic movie marketing techniques by creating a Zendaya-fronted movie trailer-style ad, complete with film posters.

Movie marketing’s long-game approach of dropping teaser trailers a year before release allows audiences to feel they’re buying into a larger story, driving anticipation for far longer periods in comparison to other categories. This enables real-time analytics to help marketers reshape future output and even change the final product. Worldbuilding around IP for an extended period gets audiences more emotionally connected for the eventual drop.

To read the original article, visit The Drum.