The New Face of Movie Marketing

It's no big shocker to anyone that I love movies. I love that they can make you laugh, cry, dance around or even teach you something. I love the amount of thought and artwork that goes into each one. I especially love the millions of different combinations that, since the 1920s, have been used to tell great stories ... on camera. Most of all, I love the way(s) they're marketed — exciting trailers, gorgeous posters, press tours, premieres, etc.

Movie marketing is brilliant, glamorous and, at face level, seems so simple. Social media (another "love" of mine) is beginning to change the way this marketing is done. Films like Chronicle, The Muppets, The Vow, Paperboy (above right) and Five-Year Engagement are just a few examples of movie studios jumping on the bandwagon and getting social right. For those that have hit theaters, this has meant major Box Office pay-off.

I present to you a pre-release case study on Five-Year Engagement's social strategy, which I very much believe will result in significant success for the film (something I suppose we'll find the answer to come April 27):

Though not as intense as was the online promotion for actor Jason Segel's last film — The Muppets — the strategy behind Five-Year is impressive. While the movie does have the standard Facebook page and Twitter handle, it has still found a way to take social a major step further. Instead of adding to these "standards" by merely creating a site for the film, Five-Year has created a wedding blog for its engaged characters, Tom and Violet. Further, the film has opted to use its YouTube channel as a vlog for those same characters. Only time will tell what other shenanigans Segel and his crew will come up with so stay tuned (and check out the trailer for Five-Year Engagement below!) ...