Last Call, a dark and interactive horror film created by German horror channel 13th Street, just scored a top prize at the Cannes Lions. Owned by NBC Universal, 13th Street’s take on branding goes above and beyond anything we’ve seen lately.

Interactivity

The movie-turned-commercial is interactively groundbreaking; it uses new technology to allow the audience to participate in the film. Using voice recognition software, a select audience member is chosen to give instructions via cell phone to the protagonist in the story. Because each audience member provides different answers, each creates a unique film.

The great thing about this (or any) interactive campaign is that it allows the consumer to participate. It gives them something to latch onto that reinforces what the German Horror Channel is all about. It creates an active experience out of what would ordinarily be a passive one, allowing the consumer to have in depth interaction with the movie and brand.

Branding & Identity Strength

Zombies might not be your thing, but this stuff has some strength. In addition to the interactive movie-turned-commercial, a series of stationary was created. It seems that every aspect was thought out, taking normal stationary to interactive and creative pieces of advertising. It took 13th Street branding to an entirely new level, continuing along the path of interactivity (as you rip the envelope open, you also “rip off” some dead guy’s eyeballs).

Although it might be gory and gross, the movie and stationary have some mental staying power. They are brilliantly unique and again, reinforce what the German horror channel is all about: gore, guts, and scary stuff.

While the creativity is strong, there lacks a certain carryover. The 13th Street website lacks any resemblence of the strong brand identity that the movie, stationary, and overall brand have. If NBC had carried this over, the overall impact could have been staggering.

What do you think about the horror filled movie and stationary?

Images compliments of Behance.

Continuing from the last post….

What impresses me about these upcoming movies is that they’re marketing directly to comic book fans in a way that hasn’t been done before.  For the big blockbuster comic book movies like Spiderman, Superman, and Batman, it was easy to market to the general public.  Everyone knows who those superheroes are.  For the lesser known comic book movies like Aeonflux, 300, Ghost Rider, The Punisher, V for Vendetta, etc the comic book basis for the movie wasn’t necessarily touted to the public.  Most of those movies were promoted rather traditionally.

But with these new comic book movies, studios and marketers seem to be embracing the fact that only hardcore comic book fans know and appreciate the real basis for the movies.  They’re essentially speaking directly to comic book fans openly declaring “this is a comic book movie that we know you’ll appreciate in a way most movie goers won’t.” 

Watchmen in particular seems to be feeding into the exclusivity of the comic book culture, creating a buzz for the film that’s already finished shooting but doesn’t come out until March of 2009.  The web site for the film features, the trailer, pictures of characters, downloadable wall paper and icons, a timer counting down the release of the film, even a production diary to give fans tid bits of what’s to come.  The production blog is one place that video blogs are posted, showing an insiders look at the making of Watchmen.  12 video blogs were created in total, to be released one each month for the entire year leading up to the release on March 6, 2009.  

Even the design of the site seems to have been created specifically for those familiar with the original graphic novel by Alan Moore.  The loading page mimics the cover of the graphic novel, using a smiley face with blood on it – a symbolic representation of the main character’s distinct vigilante attitude. 

Check out one of the original covers for the graphic novel. 

And here’s the landing page for the site. 

Warner Bros. was also smart to have a strong presence at Comic Con – the annual comic book Mecca, just held July 24-27^th at the San Diego Convention Center .  The event gave those in attendance access to new posters, exclusive footage, as well as the opportunity to engage with cast members.  The creators even showed up for a surprise signing one of the days, apparently creating the longest line on the sales floor. 

It’ll be very interesting to see how ticket sales for this movie do, considering the new marketing strategy being used, and the success it’s had in creating a buzz in the industry this far out from the release date.

When I went to see The Dark Knight along with the masses a couple weeks ago I noticed something interesting in the previews.  Two in particular caught my attention: Watchmen and The Spirit.  Both of them referenced people and literature well known in the comic book world, and rarely common knowledge to the general public. 

The preview for The Spirit touts the film “From Frank Miller the creator of 300 and Sin City,” and “Based on the comic book series created by Will Eisner.”  According to my comic book sources, these are both names commonly known to any real comic book fan.

Watchmen is a little less specific, noting the film is “From the visionary director of 300” and based on “the most celebrated graphic novel of all time.” 

These previews got me thinking.  Who are the studios talking to here?  The general public, if they know who Frank Miller or Will Eisner are (the Spielberg and Tarantino of the comic book industry), certainly don’t appreciate them on the level that the comic book fans do.  And to make such a deliberate statement about being associated with a graphic novel is pretty bold considering it’s a very specific type of person that reads graphic novels.

All this leads me to what many have long understood based on the increased production of comic book movies in recent years.  Studios and marketers are honing in on the comic book world to take a piece of the consumer spending.  It’s a stellar strategy considering this consumer set is extremely passionate and loyal.  Not to mention they have no problem spending money on everything from actual comic books and graphic novels, to the toys and figures that go with them, to the movies made about them. 

This isn’t a completely new revelation, the dozens of movies based on comic books probably clued most people in to the trend by the second or third Spiderman movie.  There is however something different about the promotion of these particular films.  More to come on this….stay tuned.