When Viral Marketing works like clockwork. Case Paranormal Activity 2

Give a scare when it is relatively easy, you just have to plan the situation, hide and surprise your prey. Do it twice in the same way is much more complicated. This is what we have achieved deParamount friends with "Paranormal Activity 2".

With the same goal posts, a house with "presence", recorded with a non-professional cameras (safety cameras this time) and found incidentally. The main and almost unique, the first difference is that this time instead of a young couple, the "paranormal" is a whole family, with dad, mom, teenage girl and the baby (who will star in the best scares, insurance).

"PA 2" has been No. 1 at the box office on its opening Friday with more than 20 million dollars. Competition has lagged far behind with 7.6 M $ blows idiots "Jackass 3D", with 4.5 M $ the action comedy "RED" with Bruce Willis, with 4.1 M $ the last of Clint Eastwood "Hereafter," $ 2.3 million and surprisingly remained at the top of the box office, "Social Network".

Suffice to say that "Paranormal Activity 2" has broken all records of its genre films, such as exorcisms, "The Ring" or "Blair Witch" and any of its sequels.

As in the film, unlike in the paranormal, things do not happen because, let's analyze how they achieved success like this:

First, for people between the movies have to have desire. In this case it seems more than obvious that the audience was hungry after the first film. Realizing this is a credit to Paramount executives, they saw that the possibilities of "Paranormal Activity" were greater than the director himself believed. Oren Peli, a former Israeli game designer, is the father of the first film and with a budget of $ 15,000 and an online marketing campaign got a very viral final box office of 107 M $, only in USA (must be the most profitable film in history). Thanks to this success has signed a deal with Paramount to direct his second film, "? Area 51" (for the title, it will not ghost this time) to be released next year for sure. According to the rumors have, Oren had not read the fine print of the agreement, apparently, could make him do the 2nd part of "Paranormal Activity", as it has been against their initial will. This time has been involved as a producer Oren, leaving the work of Tod Williams.Segundo direction, do not fix what is not. This rule seems common sense is to blame for the success of this franchise and the failure of many others.

"Paranormal Activity 2" has observed a series of rules that worked in the first. They keep the look amateur hidden camera, maintain a stranger and keep casting a primarily online and viral campaign (Paramount will not spend much $ 10M in marketing, about half of what you usually spend on a shot). The prime example of a failure by not meeting this standard is undoubtedly "The Blair Witch 2". Where the original film offered viewers a new experience, the second tried to keep the name and change the style to a more commercial film. Result: The second cost much more than the first and made 20% in viral taquilla.Lo works. It worked the first time and it worked the second. The campaign for "Paranormal Activity" was a milestone in film marketing, beyond the quality-or lack thereof-of the film, the online marketing of the first part is a true work of art worthy of study. Necessity is the mother of invention, says my grandmother, and it is true (like everything she says). The original film had all the ingredients to go completely unnoticed: a rookie manager, a budget of laughter ($ 15,000), an unknown cast and a theme threshing (haunted house), the certain failure Poker, we're going.

But the new tools used to make your marketing strength weakness, began showing his film at night passes by universities across America, expecting it to work by word of mouth among students across campus, as it was (do not you sounds like a Social Network?). Also set out to spread the Internet rumor that Steven Spielberg himself scary shit seeing it at home (surely you have heard, is like that of "Ricky Martin, the dog and the pate" but global) and finally created a website so that people could ask to take the film to theaters in his city, the famous DEMAND IT. Slowly but surely, they were running slowly all the pieces of the puzzle, and starting in 12 theaters for its release, ended up with over 2000 rooms and a No. 1 box office. Paranormal Activity 2 has delved into this style, a website that encourages participation in social networks, visual style promotional materials very similar to its predecessor (the poster is almost identical), and a series of highly successful viral actions: USB flash drives distributed with several clips of the film among attending the Fantastic Fest in Texas and are also sent to key bloggers horror movie with spectacular results.

This time, the DEMAND IT has changed a bit, you need not push people to exhibit the film in your town, go with 3000 copies, so now have to apply to be the first to see it. There have been a series of passes earlier on Wednesday in different cities of USA, so that on one hand build on the success of the campaign from the first film, and secondly get a group of people who can refer your friends to be see it on the weekend of its release.

I love when I can show examples of successes like this, precisely because they show that not only the quality of the film is the key that works well at the box office. The marketing campaign should be as well integrated and be as consistent with the film and its audience as on this occasion, not everything is about money.

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