What's The Buzz? 7 Movies That Used Great Film Promotion and Marketing

The rise of social media has made it easier for production companies to promote their films.

They make an Instagram post or Tiktok video, and tens of thousands of people can view it. With almost every company and marketer doing this, how do some films stand out more than the rest?

Production companies have to start getting creative with their film marketing campaigns. Below are 7 movies that broke the norm when it came to film promotion and marketing.

01. The Blair Witch Project

With only a $60,000 budget and three no-name actors, The Blair Witch Project seemed like it wouldn't do particularly well. That's why the producers had to come up with a marketing strategy that had never been seen before to gain audience interest, and they did just that.

The movie was made to seem like the footage was real, found footage of three missing filmmakers. The producers created fake missing person posters and would ask film festival attendees for information on their whereabouts.

They even took it as far as listing the cast members as "missing" or "deceased" when the film first premiered in 1999 at the Sundance Film Festival.

If you went to the film's website, you would even find fake newsreels and police reports.

Although this film premiered over 2 decades ago, people still talk about how they were able to truly revolutionize the way companies marketed their films.

02. Psycho

Alfred Hitchcock did something with his films that we don't see very often anymore: he let his films be mysterious instead of revealing the whole plot. He was able to do this through many different methods, including not letting the film's actors do publicity interviews and sharing only minimal cuts in the trailors. This particular film, though, took his secrecy to a whole other level.

Hitchcock wanted his audience to be completely in the dark about the film, which, in return, piqued the interest of many movie goers. He demanded that theatres not allow late-comers to enter the theatre, which created long lines outside theatres as they waited for the next showing.

Although Alfred Hitchcock did not intend for the secrecy to create such a buzz around the film, he unintentionally created a new kind of film production and marketing.

03. Black Panther

Black Panther is a great example of marketing to a particular group of people. Black Panther was the MCU's first African superhero with his own stand-alone movie, and they made sure to market that. They brought in people of color to every stage of development: screenwriters, director, actors. They also made sure to air the teasers during programs with high African American viewership.

With the rise of movements like "Black Lives Matter", Black Panther was able to give representation to a group that didn't have enough in the past. Film promotion and marketing can do more than just preview the show. It can highlight what filmmaking is all about, creating and using a voice that matters.

What was thought to be just another MCU movie, ended up breaking many records and grossing more than $1.3 billion worldwide.

04. The Dark Knight

One of the best things you can do for film advertising is create a universe where ordinary people can pretend to be a part of the world where their favorite characters live, and that's exactly what Warner Bros. did with this movie.

The Dark Knight takes place in an American city, overrun with crime, called Gotham City.

The alternate reality game company, 42 Entertainment, created Gotham City within their video game. They came up with a scavenger hunt around the web and also the physical United States. They gave away prizes and let fans feel like they were the true Batman while also giving glimpses into the upcoming film.

This marketing campaign led to a rise in audience engagement, which in return, helped the film to make over $1 billion at the box office.

05. Smile

The best part of film promotion and marketing is that there is no box that these companies have to fit in. The promotion can be commercials, or social media posts, or, in this film's case, real-world interactions.

Smile follows Dr. Rose Cotter, who starts to see visions and hallucinations, the main one being an eerie smile on people. The producers started planting "smilers" in sporting events to imitate this creepy smile in the months leading up to the film's release.

Instead of just watching a horror film, people felt like they were a little part of it, getting that thrill before the film was even released.

People on social media started spreading this viral marketing campaign, and the film ended up being a big success, bringing in more than $200 million globally.

06. Barbie

"Barbie" has been around for years, starting with its first ever doll being made in 1959. Since then, many movies, toys, and even video games have been made from this viral, career-heavy woman. So, when the 2023 adaptation came out, it wasn't hard to imagine it being a success.

With most of the world already familiar with "Barbie", the marketing team had to make sure that this movie really stood out from the ones before it. Collabs started coming together, probably the most notable one being AirBnB renting out a life-size Barbie Dreamhouse.

Producers also played into the viral "barbenheimer," which became a popular social media trend leading up to the release of both Barbie and Oppenheimer on the same day. The film ended up grossing more than $1 billion globally.

07. Avatar

Avatar was another movie that really leaned into the secrecy of the film. James Cameron waited until just months before the release to fully show the visuals, whereas most large films release them a year in advance.

The marketing for Avatar focused a lot on its groundbreaking use of 3D technology and less on the actual plot of the movie. This is another example of how film promotion and marketing can be modified to find the best way to pique the interest of its audience.

Watching for the Next Movie Promotion

Although these 7 films are all different in their own way, they all have something in common: they broke the norm with film promotion and marketing. With everyone having access to everything via the internet, marketers need to think outside the box and come up with good marketing campaigns that get people to actually watch their stuff.

Film marketing strategies are constantly evolving and changing. What will the future look like for film promotion and marketing?

🪽 Written by Carly Wohlers