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Guerrilla, Ambient & Viral Movie Marketing Pt 1: Blair Witch Project

Movie Marketing: Part 1

I was intrigued to read recently that District 9 and Paranormal Activity were amongst the most profitable films of 2009. However, while last year broke box office records, mainly due to increased ticket prices it was also a bumper year for flops with ‘toxic buzz’, when word of mouth spreads bad reviews, being blamed for poor returns on high profile films such as The Box, State Of Play, Duplicity and even Bruno. 2009 was also a year that even the mighty Steven Spielberg and his Dreamworks studio had difficulty in securing financing. But amongst all this bad news a few films performed particularly well and, according to some the success of District 9 and Paranormal Activity was due to their clever use of marketing especially their use of viral, guerrilla and ambient techniques.

However such techniques to connect with audiences in unusual ways have been around since the 1990’s. The first, and argueable most successful to do so was The Blair Witch Project, a small inide flick from 1999 that went on to earn revenues 10,000 times greater than what the initial shoot cost.

In this first post I will look at the success of the Blair Witch Project and in subsequent posts show how it has influenced film marketing since.

The Blair Witch Project
I first saw this film in a dingy cinema in Rathmines. It was dark, old and had a strange odour. All of which perfectly suited the low budget film (and is now called 4D!). I had heard very little about the film, but friends I was with swore blind it was all true. They had heard stories, a myth, an urban legend and the film itself scared the crap out of me.

The Blair Witch Project was shot on a budget of $25,000. Subsequent costs accumulated before the film achieved a full cinema release pushed the eventual budget to somewhere between $500,000 and $750,000. A figure that is a pittance in Hollywood, when you consider Harrison Ford made $88.9 million for the last Indiana Jones film.

The marketing of the Blair Witch was so effective and unique at the time. Its low budget look, documentary feel and use of complete unknown actors added to the films mystique. The flick was the first to fully take advantage of the internet to create hype through the creation of an alternate Blair Witch world of websites, newsgroups and message boards, where the story left the world of fiction and became real.

The film was released during the summer of 1999 in the USA (October 1999 in the UK and Ireland. That same summer saw the release of several huge blockbusters including The Phantom Menace, The Mummy and The Sixth Sense. The marketing of The BW began in June 1998, before the film even had a distributor, with the launch of a website that played upon the movie’s urban legend. The site was re-launched in April 1999 and expanded on the myth of the Blair Witch, the filmmakers who disappeared and the aftermath.

The original intro to the 1999 website is available here. The website is still available here, although with a new intro to celebrate the 10th anniversary.

The site itself is basic, which would have been the norm for 1999. It’s full additional material that gives a background to the legend, with a timeline beginning in 1785 right up to 1997. The film makers section gives a back story to each of the characters. There’s a biography written by each of the characters that was found with their equipment. This is further complimented with a set of photos for each of the three that document various points in their life from childhood, right up to group photo’s of the trio in college and as they set out on their ill fated shoot.

The aftermath of their disappearance is substantiated through the use of photos and video. This section details the police search, and features brief interviews with private investigators, their parents, police and some TV footage of the media coverage at the time. The final section of the site features discovered footage, audio and even a diary belonging to Heather that gives her viewpoint of the shoot.

All in all, it’s a chilling time capsule that expands on every element of the film. It’s time in history is perfectly apt and sits in within the marketing of the film. In 1999 there was no ultra fast dissemination of information that the likes of Facebook or Twitter have given us. The film was based on supposed true events from 1994, their validity unquestioned as they preceded mainstream use of the internet and so no one expected a Youtube link, or traditional media coverage of the supposed ‘true’ events that would scupper any out of the ordinary large scale event that claimed to be true today.

By the time the site was re-launched it was getting over 3 million hits per day. Online and offline hype grew and slowly more information on the film was released including a trailer. In US colleges fake ‘missing persons’ leaflets for the trio were distributed. The film opened on only 27 screens all of which were sold out. The online campaign, low key marketing approach and sudden sell out of performances had the mainstream media sit up, take note, and declare the Blair Witch Project a phenomenon.

The films distributor, Artisan, went on to spend $25 million on the films marketing campaign. The film itself made just under $250 million, making it one the second most successful film of all time based on return on investment (ROI).

FYI: Here’s a handy link for number crunching. It’s the top twenty most profitable films of all time and if you scroll down to the figures based on ROI, you will see 11 of the top 20 were made before 1984.

In Part 2 I’ll take a look at Movie Marketing in the 2000’s.

“I am losing hope. Actually, I may have lost it. I didn’t think it was possible to be where I am at. Staring. Waiting. I have nothing left to say. Tape Tape Film Film Film. We are being stalked and whatever is stalking us will at least be documented. Please God, let someone find our tapes. Please. To all the people I love, and you know who you are I love you. Simply that. I love you with all my heart and more. If something bad happens to me I will always find you and look out for you and help in anyway I can as I sincerely tried to do in my life. To Josh & Mike’s parents – I am sorry. I am sorry for what happened to your sons and to my beautiful babycakes – I will love no matter where I am. I lack the strength to hold the pen. Hey, those last two lines rhyme. Why even [noe] that really, its obvious, but anything that brings humor is welcome especially now. I want to laugh. I want to laugh” – Final diary entry of Heather Donohue

Related posts:

1. Guerrilla, Ambient and Viral Movie Marketing (4): Cloverfield ‘V’ The Dark Knight
2. Guerrilla, Ambient & Viral Movie Marketing Pt 2: 2001 – 2006
3. Guerrilla, Ambient & Viral Movie Marketing Part 3: The Films of 2007
4. Best Guerrilla & Ambient Marketing 2010
5. 59 More Guerrilla Marketing & Ambient Advert’s

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