Guerrilla Marketing for Film Renegades
With our eyes almost always glued to screens throughout the day, we are absorbing data rapidly. Our constant need for instant gratification makes it a bit more challenging for marketing teams to develop concepts that will hold our attention.
Basic park benches aren’t always going to cut it.
It’s time to think outside of the box — or in this case — outside of conventional marketing strategies (guerrilla marketing) — guerrilla as in the term popularized by Jay Conrad Levinson’s 1984 book Guerrilla Marketing.
This innovative publicity is a cost-efficient way for companies to achieve exposure for a project.
From red balloons popping up in the streets for the Stephen King book-to-movie adaptation, IT (2017) (even if it was a prank) and Marvel distributing ant-sized billboards for Ant-Man(2015), displays of guerrilla marketing are everywhere.
Most examples of guerrilla marketing include larger-than-life and nearly impossible feats, but guerrilla marketing should be just as inexpensive as it is unconventional.
Shooting a movie with your iPhone is “guerrilla filmmaking.” Guerrilla film marketing can be just as creative and budget-friendly. Here are some strategies to get your wheels turning:
Social Media is Free Interactive Marketing
Social media is free, and with the algorithm gods in our favor, an original post can be the difference between a small viewing to virality. As one of the best marketing tools to date, social media requires that we interact with our potential consumers.
A new trend on Twitter where movie studios mention users in personalized posts promoting their latest films makes users feel seen and important.
Netflix even regularly tweets for followers to share their current moods and interests so that the streaming service can individually recommend movies to watch on the platform. Only posting an ad is subpar. To be considered guerrilla, shout out followers, post a call to action, and create a space where they can interact with you.
Marketing in Unexpected Places
Street marketing is one of the most popular types of guerrilla marketing. However, bus stop ads may be a bit costly. Guerrilla marketing is all about thinking outside of the parameters and confines of essential marketing. Therefore, take a familiar, successful concept and flip it on its head.
For example, instead of posting flyers and posters to walls, stick them to public benches or on the ground. Paint and chalk are most commonly used in these instances like the example of Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the Netflix original documentary, Knock Down the House, as shown below:
[Make sure you get permission first.]
Push Comes to Shove: AMBUSH!
The term “guerrilla” was initially used preceding the word “warfare” meaning ambushes, sabotage, raids, and petty warfare. So if we consider this, we can conclude that ambushing local events to promote an entirely unrelated project is justified as guerrilla marketing without being disruptive. Obtaining proper permits and reaching out to event coordinators ahead of time is always recommended. However, that doesn’t mean that patrons or consumers have to be aware of the so-called ambush.
Breaking out into a flash mob dance with matching t-shirts with the film’s poster on it or “hacking” a podcast, telecast, or video presentation with a clip or trailer from the movie are fun and harmless ways to ambush events and promote a project with little to no cost.
The Gift that Gets People Talking
Probably the priciest tactic on this list, sending gifts to local journalists and social media influencers may be worth every penny spent.
Take Jordan Peele’s creepy and unique gift distribution for his 2019 horror film US.
The auteur sent gold sheers in a red velvet box to journalists and peers ahead of the film’s debut. Marketing teams should budget for sending invitations to local journalists, movie critics, tourist bloggers, and social media influencers that go beyond the mundane e-vite.
Music that Transcends Basic Marketing
Notably, the cheapest and most popular strategy on this list is the aggregation of a music playlist for a film. Most music streaming services give users the ability to create playlists, name, and share them for public consumption of already licensed songs.
In time for Essence Festival 2019, Spotify released “Slim’s Playlist” based on title character’s, Slim (Daniel Kaluuya), playlist for his first date with Queen (Jodie Tuner-Smith) in Melina Matsoukas’ upcoming feature Queen & Slim.
Producing soundtracks and albums for a movie usually isn’t calculated in the budget for emerging filmmakers and smaller distributors. Sharing a playlist of songs by favorite artists that tonally match the genre, theme, or plot of a film is credited as a smart way to market to a universal audience.
How do you spot the difference between smart advertising and guerrilla marketing? Guerrilla marketing is usually interactive, unexpected, in your face, and doesn’t always require words.
Whether you’re screening a movie for public release or trying to discover ways to market your project, use these strategies as a starting point. Go forth and produce movie marketing magic!
