1to1 Magazine - November/December 2008 - (Page 12) CASE STUDIES: UNIVERSAL PICTURES | NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS | CLEAR CHANNEL Mobile Gets a Makeover Three companies integrate the mobile channel into their marketing efforts. Top Mobile Web Categories Portals Email Weather News/Politics Search City Guides/Maps Sports Entertainment Videos/Movies Music Universal Pictures Launches “Unforgettable” Campaign 35,700 26,100 16,800 13,000 11,800 9,900 9,700 9,600 8,600 6,800 The July Nielsen Mobile study “Critical Mass: The Worldwide State of the Mobile Web,” reveals that carrier portals lead in mobile Web categories. Source: Nielsen Mobile w ho is Sarah Marshall, and why are we trying to forget her? That was the challenge faced by Universal Pictures Senior Vice President of Digital Marketing Doug Neil when the time came to start promoting last spring’s hit comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall. The lack of household-name stars, and an unusual title predicated on an unknown person’s name, meant the film company had to be creative when it came to marketing the movie. “There was a unique opportunity for us here,” Neil says. “We started with an early awareness with significant outdoor elements”— billboards with such messages as “My Mom Always Hated You, Sarah Marshall” and “I Am So Over You, Sarah Marshall”—and directed audiences to the ihatesarahmarshall.com website. That site launched in January and was “written” in the voice of the film’s main character, Peter Bretter, who in the movie has been jilted by TV star Marshall. It included blog entries, video entries, and even original songs, many penned by the film’s star/screenwriter Jason Segel and director Nicholas Stoller. As the film’s April 18 release date neared, the posts became increasingly vitriolic. “It was a fun way to introduce people to these characters,” Neil says. A traditional marketing campaign based around movie posters was next, abetted by text message advertising, branded online mobile registration widgets, and mobile video trailers on the 4INFO ad network—all designed to engage users, increase awareness, and drive trailer views. The text message ads ran on the 4INFO network across multiple channels, including sports and entertainment interests. Ad copy asked such “For a film to have staying power like that, it needs to be good. Nothing you can do beats good word of mouth.” questions as “Been dumped?” or “Looking for romantic disaster?” with an option to reply for more information. Longer ads included movie information and a link to a mobile-ready video trailer. Sarah-branded mobile widgets, offered on Facebook and other social networking sites, allowed consumers to sign up for free sports content delivered to their cell phones, providing Universal optimum access to the desired target audience of men ages 18 to 34, and also included a link to the online movie trailer. Universal leveraged its partnership with NBC by producing video clips accessible on NBC’s website, as well as support material for the imaginary drama Crime Scene: Scene of the Crime, which the fictitious Marshall stars in, to further create a parallel universe designed to push patrons to movie theaters. The results, according to marketing agency Ignited, which worked with Universal on some aspects of the Sarah campaign, included an increase in brand awareness of 19.7 percent; a rise in recommendation intent of 21.6 percent; a jump in mobile trailer viewing of 14 percent; and an increase in “intent to see the movie” by 21 percent. Sarah recorded $17.7 million in its opening weekend, second only to Lionsgate’s Jet Li/Jackie Chan adventure The Forbidden Kingdom’s $20.8 million, on its way to a cumulative take of $62.9 million— exceeding expectations, Neil says. “For a film to have staying power like that, it needs to be good,” he adds. “Nothing you can do beats good word of mouth.” While Universal had no plans to ramp up a similar push behind Sarah’s September 23 DVD release, Neil says, “We will be utilizing these types of tactics again in the future, building extensions to drive awareness of certain titles. It seems to work best with comedies, because they lend themselves more readily to doing fun things like this.” > Kevin Zimmerman www.1to1media.com http://www.nielsenmobile.com/documents/CriticalMass.pdf http://www.ihatesarahmarshall.com http://www.1to1media.com/view.aspx?ItemID=29293 http://www.1to1media.com
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