A trailer that shows little of the film it intends to promote, preferring instead to feature people who saw it first, might not grab budding Spielbergs as the way to go.
Yet, ensure the audience it features looks terrified; run it on YouTube as the starting gun to a major social media push, and your film might just top the box office charts.
Anyone in doubt need only look as far as Paranormal Activity – a low-budget, horror flick set in an apartment that has achieved exactly this in North America, and all within the last month.
The film, which only cost a reported $15,000 (£9,200) to make – including the trailer, has grossed over $65m (£39m) so far, including $22m in its first weekend on general release.
Not bad for a title that Paramount issued no red-carpet for, but instead ran in just 13 US college towns, with the option for others to "demand it" by visiting the film's microsite.
The e-marketing strategy didn’t stop there: residents of the 13 selected towns took to prepared pages on Facebook and Twitter, effectively spreading the buzz worldwide.
Paramount also gave regular updates about the film’s progress and early reviews, and used its corporate website to link to where fans and those yet to see it could connect and buy tickets.
Though as well as its hefty takings at the box office, Paranormal Activity is even more of a coup because it beat out one of the most lucrative horror film series of the decade.
Saw VI, which had a huge budget for special effects unlike Paranormal, had to settle for second in the chart, on a comparatively meagre $14.8 (£9.1m) - its lowest takings since the franchise began.
Oct 30, 2009
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