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
The 1701 Have Been Chosen in “Star Trek Into Darkness” Viral; New Trailer Debuting Tomorrow May 1, 2013May 1, 2013Last week, we reported that the long-dormant Star Trek Into Darkness viral site AreYouThe1701.com went live with a social media contest using Instagram and Vine. Paramount gave fans a week to enter the contest, where they had to take a picture or video inspired by Star Trek or “the future.”… Read More
The Event: Passenger Emails and Sean’s Photos Show Us What We Already Know September 26, 2010The mystery continues tomorrow night as the second episode of NBC’s new show The Event hopes to begin shining some light on just what “the event” is. Until then, the TruthSeeker Blog has been updated with emails from passengers on the ill-fated Avias Flight 514, as well as some photos… Read More
“Muppets Most Wanted” Posters Satirize “Skyfall” and “Face/Off”; New Adele Dazeem TV Spot March 8, 2014March 8, 2014Muppets have always had a brand of comedy that is self-aware and very relatible. They are never one to shy away from making fun of themselves or pop culture itself. And in these four new spy mashup posters that are promoting the upcoming Muppets Most Wanted, they are doing just… 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.