Chapter 692 Flash Mob Surprise
2002 is not an important year in the history of the development of the film industry. It is a little special because of the emergence of "Spider-Man", which is generally considered to be a super year. The hero movie officially entered the mainstream genre in its first year, but otherwise was lackluster.
Right now, film promotion methods are relatively monotonous. The crew often travels to different cities to meet and interact with audiences and hold screenings, and then launch bombings through different media such as TV, magazines, radio stations, etc. Basically all film crews are So, the difference is only in scale, it depends on who is willing to spend money and put out the trailer and posters.
Of course, twenty years later it will be the same.
Although film promotion channels and methods have indeed increased due to the Internet, the core activities have continued unchanged for twenty years. The difference is that there are more cities for promotion and it has begun to go overseas.
For a super blockbuster like "Avengers", a month or more before the movie is released, the crew goes to various parts of the world to promote and build momentum, screen it in advance in different cities, and interact with the audience, all of which occupy the hot topic rankings on the Internet. Set up the battle array.
The essence is still the same.
In this way, the promotion of the "cat and mouse game" does not seem to be special -
Changing the soup does not change the medicine.
However, this is not the case, small differences bring completely different effects.
In a traditional audience meeting venue, everything is communicated and arranged in advance:
At what time, place and show, the crew and creative staff will appear, everything is arranged, and the audience can just buy tickets and enter the venue.
However, the key point here is that the audience who bought the tickets themselves are the interested target group; otherwise, other shows may be chosen.
In other words, the target group of publicity is still its original target group.
Anson is different.
This is the first time that the concept of "flash mob" has been integrated into a movie promotion event.
There was no advance notice, no advance arrangement, no psychological preparation, everything happened suddenly, everything was unprepared, and then things happened like this——
Surprise .
A real surprise.
Imagine that you just go to the cinema to watch a movie, and the male protagonist breaks the fourth wall and appears in front of you. The dizzying magical effect can easily detonate adrenaline, even if there is no If you like it so much, you must admit that it is a special experience——
The effect came out immediately.
For those audiences who like Anson, they are more proactive in entering the cinema, and are full of expectations that miracles can happen.
For those viewers who are not the target audience, Anson's surprise appearance becomes an unexpected encounter, and the publicity effect also opens up the situation.
The concept of "flash mob" completely disrupts the rigid routine of movie promotion, making watching movies a potential place to witness miracles.
Things are completely different.
Moreover, it is Christmas, and surprises have more different meanings.
"Entertainment Weekly" even produced a picture of Anson wearing a Santa hat, half-jokingly comparing Anson to a newly born Santa Claus, which caused another controversy in Hollywood——
Obviously, not everyone liked the joke.
But!
No matter what, the topic has been born and has undoubtedly become the best hot topic this Christmas.
Moreover, the popularity continues to rise, and the out-of-circle index strongly breaks the table. Now, Hollywood finally understands DreamWorks' full plan to arrange for "Cat and Mouse" to be released in theaters on Christmas Day -
Soothing in one fell swoop.
Different from the strategy of "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" which was released early on Wednesday in an attempt to extend the front line and rely on word-of-mouth to drive the three-day box office during the opening weekend and then break records, "Cat and Mouse" also chose Wednesday to be released in full The public release has a more comprehensive strategy.
First of all, Christmas Eve and the plot of the movie form an internal and external echo.
Secondly, the movie itself is a typical Christmas style, so making full use of the holidays to drive box office is a reasonable choice.
Thirdly, Anson’s “pop-up surprise” extends from Wednesday and Thursday to three days on the weekend. The five-day special event guarantees that the movie will become the biggest hot topic at the end of the year; and after the weekend is over , followed by New Year’s Eve. If Anson is willing to continue surprise appearances on New Year’s Eve, young people will go crazy for it.
Wonderful, wonderful beyond words.
I have to say that DreamWorks’ publicity strategy is really eye-catching.
Slightly surprisingly, Steven Spielberg later said that this was not DreamWorks’ plan. The entire promotion strategy was inspired by Anson, and then they expanded on Anson’s ideas. .
No wonder!
Hollywood is suddenly enlightened.
For a long time, DreamWorks’ promotional strategies have been weak, and its long-term cooperative distribution company Universal Pictures has also stumbled in its marketing strategy. As a result, the box office performance of many excellent movies has been unsatisfactory, resulting in the failure of DreamWorks. The factory is in trouble with cash flow. This time, the "cat and mouse game" is ingenious and presents a good show. It turns out that the real source of inspiration is Anson.
In this way, things can be explained.
So, what else is there that Anson is not good at?
After this battle, Anson's reputation among Hollywood studio executives has increased, and Warner Bros.' Jeff Robinoff is no longer alone.
Then, something interesting happened:
As you can imagine, everyone is guessing where Anson’s next stop will be?
Everything is predictable. Taking into account the distance, route planning, publicity effect, urban population, etc., at least a range can be speculated.
Obviously, after Seattle, Anson's next stop will not be directly to New York or Philadelphia on the East Coast. This is unrealistic in terms of distance.
But the key is that Anson showed up in Portland.
Not to mention Portland, it is very, very rare for film crews to go to Oregon for promotion. It can almost be said to be a film industry desert.
Unexpectedly, Anson appeared.
Then, here comes the problem.
Going to Portland is a special move to give some small cities a chance to experience the movie promotion atmosphere and drive attendance in small markets. Or is it because Anson was filming "Elephant" in Portland and went there specifically? In the future, other cities will not choose small cities and small markets to waste time?
Suddenly, there were countless speculations——
This should be the noisiest, most cheerful and most gathering Christmas night in history. The bustling discussion in the online forum lasted the whole night, with netizens from all over the world. Let’s spend Christmas together.
So, where is Anson’s next stop?
Although this is not the era of smartphones, the Internet has penetrated into people's daily lives in all aspects. Countless eyes are all focused on Anson and on the flights in and out of the private airport, trying to crack Anson's itinerary code in advance. , this is also a rare sight, allowing the "cat and mouse game" to occupy the top spot in traffic in another way.
I’m afraid, this is something Anson himself didn’t expect.
(End of this chapter)