Leading up to the Oscars, what are advertisers’ favorite movie marketing campaigns of all time?

So what movie marketing magic has stayed longest in the minds of top marketers? We asked six of The Drum Network’s creative and strategic minds about their personal winners.

Alan Blair, Head of Strategy, VaynerMedia EMEA: The Blair Witch Project Immersive Campaign

“I loved horror movies since I was a kid. By my early 20s, I had seen them all. I had become desensitized to jumps and scares and horror. And in 1999 , I went to see The Blair Witch Project, a movie that blew my mind as a 22-year-old. It’s a found footage movie that was made into a movie. But to this day, it’s still one of the most unsettling experiences I’ve ever had. That’s almost entirely due to the company’s marketing campaign. The makers of this movie. found that the film’s limitations (a crude, handmade aesthetic and anonymous cast) were also its greatest assets; brilliant marketing featured a false narrative of the cast and the missing documentary makers. I was leaning towards this with realistic “missing” posters and flyers. This sent early internet users into a conspiracy theory frenzy (back when conspiracy theories were fun and not a right-wing disinformation tool). As the legend gained traction, the filmmakers released a “documentary” on the Sci-Fi Channel, bringing Internet chat to a wider mainstream audience.

From there, excitement and anticipation spread through word of mouth, internet rumors, and grainy “real” video snippets of the “missing” documentary maker. The final poster featured no cast, tagline, or even an image. It included his one line: “blairwitch.com: To date he has 21,222,589 hits.” This was his astonishing 11% of all Internet users in 1999. People lined up around the block for early screenings, with many believing this was real footage from a real documentary. I’ll never forget sitting in a pub with friends after a late night screening at the Odeon in Glasgow. I was still in shock and wasn’t sure if it was real or not. To this day, I’m not convinced otherwise. ”

Claire Ellsworth, Strategy Director, Impressions: #EverythingIsAwesome from The Lego Movie

“Everything’s great! Everything’s cool when you’re… No, I’m sorry I can’t get it out of your head right now. The Lego Movie will be exclusive to the Film Archive as another successful children’s film It could have been expensive branded content created to help sell toys. It ended up being one of the highest-grossing films of 2014, with a series of equally successful sequels. was also born. And obtained that song It becomes permanently embedded in our ears, in our cultural brains. All of this is due in no small part to advertising campaigns. The posters and trailers didn’t just tease us by showing us the best parts of (what we thought was) a toy movie. They showed us what it’s like to live in a Lego world. It takes over primetime advertising time, recreating recognizable advertising in Lego and forcing us to imagine our world as Lego.

“Thanks to #EverythingIsAwesome, we were able to weave the lyrics into our lives even before we heard the song. It blurred the lines between reality and the Lego world, going beyond traditional advertising and turning this series into a phenomenon. I did.”

Oh Chin Ying, Senior Creative Strategist, Tommy: the Paranormal activity jump scare

“Despite no existing IP like Marvel or Barbie, a completely unknown cast and crew, and a $15,000 budget, 2007’s Paranormal Activity grossed nearly $200 million. Bloom House’s first independent production megahit changed the face of film marketing with a simple rule: the audience is your biggest weapon. Audiences can vote for independent films to be released in their city. Mainly on the website, the film was promoted as “the first-ever movie release decided by you.” When I was 13 years old, I saw the trailer at the movie theater and was shocked. Instead of the traditional trailer treatment with supercuts of scenes, live reactions from audiences who were horrified at test screenings were played. Directed or not, it was a completely fresh take on the trailer, and one that made even a horror-phobic like me want to see it on day one. ”

Jamie Davies, Executive Creative Director, Momentum Worldwide, UK: Dune: Part 2 (excluding the popcorn bucket)

“Everything directed by Denis Villeneuve is a must-see. Sicario and Prisoners both had perfect, suspenseful, tension-building trailers. 2 may be the best two-parter ever made, with incredible acting, directing, cinematography, set design, costumes, sound, and posters (although Sandworm’s Less said about the popcorn bucket. Better.)

“Elsewhere, the poster for Ridley Scott’s Alien features the immortal tagline, ‘In space, no one can hear you scream,’ and the movie’s premise is perfect in just one line of copy. And I recently laughed out loud at the movie theater at the trailer for the new film Wicked Little Letters, a masterclass in editing that, without any foul language, is incredible. It hints at the mastery of name-calling.”

Kevin Windsor, PrettyGreen Creative Director: legendary ghostbusters logo

“The main reason I fell in love with ‘Ghostbusters’ when I was a kid was… that logo. This is one of the few instances where in-world branding became central to real-world marketing (Years later, Batman and Jurassic Park did something similar). In the movie, Ghostbusters was a paranormal pest control service. So, of course, their uniforms and ECTO-1 (the best movie car of all time) will have the logo on it. It is also only As seen on iconic movie posters from the 80s. It was very good. Conceived by Dan Ackroyd and designed by Michael Gross, the production told audiences everything they needed to know. I didn’t like the variations made in the sequels, as they broke their use within the world, purely for film marketing reasons. why, actual Will Ghostbusters change their logo to a ghost holding up two fingers? That makes no sense!

Lois Kettlewell, M&C Saatchi Sports & Entertainment Managing Partner: Men in Black, the original Barbie doll

“Last year, Barbie went culture pink. But does anyone else remember Men in Black, the originator of the Barbie movie marketing model?” had appealing iconography, a catchy soundtrack, and, importantly, over 30 licensees, including Head & Shoulders, Galoob Toys, and Hamilton Watches, to name a few. Suits, Sunglasses , with a plotline involving technology, cars, and aliens, the film is ripe for partnership, and the comic-book adaptation of Men in Black was able to reach such a wide audience. It was through these deals that the movie was (and still is) a massive cultural marketing platform when it comes to brand licensing. Plus, Will Smith’s debut single, “Men in Black,” is a bop. ”