Disney Makes Theater Stop Unofficial Viral Marketing For Tron Legacy Dan Koelsch, August 30, 2010 Well, you have to give them credit for trying. Yesterday we reported that a movie theater in Ohio (and possibly others) seemed to be part of Disney’s viral marketing campaign for Tron Legacy. However, it turns out that Marcus Crosswoods Cinema had taken it upon themselves to set up their Encom-branded website and the QR Code display that lead people to it. Since it is unofficial, Disney has asked them to take it down. Read the statement on the now defunct site after the break. At the request of Disney, we have had to halt our online marketing for the Tron Legacy motion picture. We will continue to promote the feature in-house in exciting and unique ways. For more information about the Marcus Crosswoods Cinema, please visit www.marcustheatres.com. Although misguided and not even accurate to the ARG, I’m impressed that the theater did this themselves. Management is obviously excited about the film and looking for new ways to draw customers. At a time in which ticket prices are sky high and theaters are getting hit hard by the recovering economy, these drastic measures are almost necessary. What do you think? Thanks to CalebH2010 at Unfiction for the heads up. Viral Marketing DisneyTheaterTron Legacy
Comic-Con QR Code Reveals Behind the Scenes Footage and Special Message From I Am Number Four July 26, 2010QR barcodes are all the rage now, as they are simple and easy ways to distributed coded information, especially since smart phones can usually download reading apps. ARG designers used these for several purposes during Comic-Con this year, including for the 2nd Mass viral. One of the things given away… Read More
Watch the Live “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” WETA Chat Right Here! (Updated with Footage) April 13, 2011April 13, 2011Livestream will be hosting an interview with the WETA visual effects team for the upcoming film Rise of the Planet of the Apes called “Weta Live: ‘Apes’ Revealed”, and it goes down at 2:30PM PT/5:30PM ET today. You can watch it right here by clicking through. Read More
Marvel Offers Free First Issue of “Avengers” Prelude Comic February 8, 2012February 8, 2012Marvel Comics is aiming to bridge the gap between Captain America: The First Avenger and The Avengers with a tie-in mini-series. On Sunday, they released the first issue of Marvel’s The Avengers Prelude: Fury’s Big Week. After the break, find out more about this series as well as get a… Read More
kudos to the theater for being that excited by the movie to start their own mini ARG. I thought/wished it was the start of the next phase of the ARG that would lead to sneak previews around the country.
I agree, they deserve a little credit for being innovative. It’s too bad it is not part of the ARG to be honest.
They should have, however, realized that they were using someone else’s property… did they they’d completely get away with that? … *shrug*
They just didn’t think it through. I don’t think they realized it’d hit the web and people like us would pick up on it.
They were excited to market something with the trendy idea of a transmedia/viral/ARG type promotion. Too excited, and thus made some huge mistakes – used someone else’s IP, failed to understand and follow the canon of a franchise, and stepped all over another promotion’s territory.
Couldn’t Disney have been a little forward-thinking & maybe picked up the promo & run with it? Stupid Big Media, always afraid to jump onto something new until it’s too late.