“Elysium” Viral Campaign Reboots at Comic-Con Dan Koelsch, July 12, 2012April 25, 2013 It looks like the viral marketing for Elysium is sticking strictly to Comic-Cons. The futuristic interplanetary border patrol from Columbia Pictures had a small presence at last year’s convention, and they are back again, but this time they have definitely gone bigger. Get the details after the break. Last year at the convention, all we saw from Elysium was a sign that directed us to the Armadyne website that had a recruitment video. Armadyne is the company that runs Elysium, the space station where wealthy people now live (the poor live on the overpopulated, ruined Earth). There was nothing new to the website or campaign until this year, when Sony dedicated a large section of their booth to the film. It included a portal to Elysium itself, as well as a humanoid robot concierge in a Border Checkpoint booth, who asks you questions about your qualifications to live on Elysium. You can check out my photos below. The important piece of the booth, however, was a poster that directs you to a new viral website, titled “Elysium Citizenship Initiative – Border Agent Prescreening”. Here, the same robot asks you to ‘Like’ the page, then gives you a wait time that ends on December 11, 2012. Hopefully, this will be when the viral campaign really kicks off, so register your email to get the latest.We’ll keep an eye out for more from Elysium at Comic-Con, such as the spaceship across the street from the convention center (shown above as well). Elysium is written and directed by Neill Blomkamp (District 9), and stars Matt Damon and Jodie Foster. The film opens in theaters on March 1st, 2013. ARGs & Campaigns Comic-Con Conventions Events Viral Marketing Comic-ConElysium
Hollywood Second-Guessing Comic-Con, Could Viral Marketing Be Next? June 13, 2011June 13, 2011The New York Times ran a piece yesterday about how movie studios are taking a more cautious approach to this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. After propelling the comic book convention into the mainstream in recent years, why are they turning away now? Also, what could this shift in priorities mean… Read More
New ‘Office’ Webisodes to Premiere October 21st October 4, 2010Many fans of The Office will argue that one of the highlights of last season had nothing to do with the show’s televised episodes, but rather The Office webisode titled “Subtle Sexuality.” The hilarious music video and subsequent viral campaign promoting it featured some of the show’s minor characters that… Read More
Super 8: Rocket Poppeteers Website Updates, Accepting Applications July 28, 2010October 18, 2010Following a brief stint at Comic-Con, the Rocket Poppeteers are at it again, this time updating their website and accepting new applications. The website also hints at game (I assume) they’ll release soon, with the home page reading “FLY THE ROCKET SSF1 – COMING SOON“. See some screenshots and more… Read More
It will be really interesting to see if such a minimalist effort at generating viral traffic will work. I don;t doubt they will get into full swing closer to the release date but perhaps we are beginning to see the larger companies realise that social media is not always the easiest route.