Movie marketing was a multimedia marketing experience long before the web. Marketers work with what they have, a concept creators who trade in fantasy realms have long understood. Superman and Batman went from comics to movies, TV, cartoons, video games, trading cards, Happy Meals, mechandise...call it inundation marketing.
Each new film is challenged to find bigger and better ways to engage audiences and build momentum. They face the same issues as businesses (on a bigger scale), and have the same options at their disposal.
The web offers a wealth of new opportunities to connect, and the Deadpool marketing team used every means at their disposal to be everywhere - from Tinder to old-school billboards.
And it worked gloriously. 20th Century Fox pulled off the nearly impossible. They went viral on purpose with meticulously-planned, quirky content.
Ultimate Influencer Marketing - The Ryan Reynolds Effect
Deadpool isn't your traditional superhero. Even in a decade where we're resurrecting childhood favorites like Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man, a movie about a new player on the scene should never have succeeded. Deadpool is an R-rated superhero; profane, irreverent, obscene, and entirely unsuitable for kids.
To succeed while staying true to the character, the movie had to bypass the comic sphere's core audience and appeal to adults with no connection to childhood nostalgia to hook them in. Not only did they manage to do so, they broke box-office records...and direct engagement on social media may be why.
How they did it offers lessons no marketer can afford to ignore. Embracing every possible social media channel they were creative, funny, and everywhere.
The most powerful weapon in their marketing arsenal was its star, Ryan Reynolds. He was an enthusiastic promoter, making appearances on talk shows, making fun videos unrelated to the movie, and using his personal social media accounts to build audience for nearly a year before the movie hit the box office. His participation was influencer marketing at its finest.
Some of his finest efforts brought humor to serious subjects. Check out this PSA on testicular cancer entitled "Gentlemen, Touch Yourself Tonight."
Marketing doesn't get better than that.
With the Deadpool sequel on the horizon, can we expect another year of crazy hijinks from the luscious and lascivious star? Let's hope so, because we will never get tired of this: