PH Audio Blog

Viral marketing for success

Think of a few cheaply-made yet wildly successful films. The compelling Blair Witch Project springs to mind as an early example, followed more recently by Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later, and last month, the critically-acclaimed sci-fi actioner, District 9. But a compelling story is only half the battle – not least because exposure is everything in a saturated industry – and on the ground, it’s been clever marketing that’s driven ticket sales.

The film

Set in an alternate Johannesburg, South Africa, Neil Blomkamp’s District 9 deals with the tensions between humans and a race of aliens who arrive and stay for twenty years, leaving a massive spaceship hanging over the city like a bad cloud. As an allegory, it’s pretty clear it’s about segregation and the apartheid: the aliens are kept in a settlement, isolated, and are gradually resented and scape-goated by the locals for serious crimes in and around the city. But as an action film, it’s very solid too – well-paced and shot in a mockumentary style that captivates and adds a realistic edge to even the daftest alien weapons.

Using phone messaging innovatively

It’s this theme that inspired a great marketing campaign, complete with fake notices marking benches and phone boxes for ‘HUMANS ONLY’, and a phone line urging citizens to report alien sightings and ‘non-human activity’ across America and the UK. On calling this phone line (part of a wider marketing campaign conceived and set up by London-based digital agency, Spinnaker), people are prompted to leave messages – in the spirit of McCarthyism – to advise a fictional agency about suspicious ET activity. This brings the content and tone of the film into the real world, providing a real-life talking point that’s complemented with online viral adverts and interactive content shared across MySpace and Facebook.

Who were you going to call?

It’s not the first time a big film’s audio marketing campaign has breached the fourth wall. When Ghostbusters (1984) was first released, its director Ivan Reitman ran a mock TV advertisement as a trailer, complete with a 1-800 number for viewers to call. According to the Internet Movie Database, callers heard a recorded message by Peter Venkman (Bill Murray) and Ray Stantz (Dan Ackroyd) saying, ‘Hi, we’re out catching ghosts right now.’ Apparently, they got 1,000 calls per hour, round the clock, for six weeks.

The wider picture

The mock phone line is a great example of how innovative audio marketing can be used to enhance and cement a wider campaign. Its interactivity makes it a talking point, and fosters discussion around the themes the film explores. It also shows that continuity across different media makes for a much stronger message – that an integrated, consistent message is more powerful than a fragmented approach.

The bottom line

District 9 has so far taken $103,968,663 worldwide in less than a month – not bad for a film with a $30million budget.

You can have a listen to the District 9 phone message and auto attendant by MNU (the film’s dodgy human security firm) by clicking here.