by Jonathan Haile

Allow me to get a bit nerdy today. One of the things film studios have done brilliantly in recent years is viral marketing. Viral marketing, of course, is about letting fans and customers share your idea over the internet and social media. While your product or company is always in mind, it can be a bit understated. Sharing the idea must also be a simple process.

Most famously, Warner Brothers used a viral marketing campaigns to build speed for their hit films, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight rises. I also remember as a kid, seeing a subtle commercial in the for the NS-5 robot at the movie theatre. It was a viral campaign for the 2004 film, I, Robot, but at the time I had no idea.

So viral marketing campaigning for films are nothing new, but they’re kind of different ways to let the audience spread the work about a film. Today, Fox Studios released this little bit. It makes the new film, X-Men: Days of Future Past, due to be released next summer, feel like it exists in the context of realism. It also functions as a commercial for the film’s antagonists.

An article on Web Marketing Today suggests there are six principles to viral marketing. In this case, four of the principles are being taken advantage of:

• Provides for effortless transfer to others
• Scales easily from small to very large
• Utilizes existing communication networks
• Takes advantage of others’ resources

Judging by the early reaction on Twitter, this video has found its way on to plenty of computer screens. It’s doing exactly what the marketers want; creating a discussion. Who knows how far this little “advertisement” will go? It’s going to be the reason X-Men: Days of Future Past is a box office hit, but it does get the discussion for the movie going early. It also helps that it’s creative.

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