July 21st, 2009

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Movies
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Clever Movie Marketing for District 9

District 9 is a star-free, rather original looking science fiction movie being released (ominously) in August, 2009. While watching Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince yesterday, I visited the washroom. Here’s what I saw on the door:

Great Marketing for District 9

I haven’t gotten around to calling the number listed at the bottom of the sign, but I’ll do so and report back on what I hear.

What’s ingenious is the poster’s location. It’s the rare bit of unused real estate at the cinema. The only downside is that if you’re like me, and going to the bathroom during a film, you’re unlikely to stop and read the poster.

Wikipedia shows a similar billboard version of this poster in Toronto. The associated article has a write-up on other aspects of the film’s marketing campaign.

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Comments: 12 Responses so far

gilliebean
July 21st, 2009
9:02 am

I’ve seen them on park benches and near water fountains as well. The website is interesting as well!

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Gar
July 21st, 2009
11:27 am

I’ve seen a similar thing on buses. It definitely got my attention.

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Raul
July 21st, 2009
5:52 pm

“Non Humans have escaped from District 9. Press 1″

To speak with an NNU representative please press 0″

Cute

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Joe Clark
July 22nd, 2009
3:00 am

Clever?

That’s a bar sinister, not a bar dexter. The Toronto ads call everything a “bus stop” even when it’s a streetcar stop or the interior of a subway station. And really, isn’t that the kind of illustration you could produce with the drawing tools in MS Word 97?

We would then discuss the typography.

You too can improve your design discrimination, Darren! Today is a good day to start.

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darren Reply:
July 22nd, 2009 at 6:49 am

Actually, I’d defend the design. It feels very like a the sort of poster a government might hastily create.

However, the design matters much less than the concept, which is clever. Much like the movie’s trailer, it turns old racist notions on its head.

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VancityAllie
July 23rd, 2009
12:03 pm

That’s a great marketing idea!

I’m with Darren on this one, I think it is pretty clever. And I like the design on it.

Agreed: It’s a great idea to put it in movie theatre bathrooms.

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sweets
July 24th, 2009
8:41 pm

This is great idea and good day for district 9

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Ronald Lee
July 24th, 2009
11:15 pm

I can’t wait to see the movie. It looks kinda cool and not as cheesy as (cross my fingers) it could have been.

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Todd Sieling
July 25th, 2009
5:34 am

I love campaigns like this, it reminds me of the Forgetting Sarah Marshall posters. I do have to mention something though:

> if you’re like me, and going to the bathroom during a film, you’re unlikely to stop and read the poster.

Sir, you not only stopped to read, but also to photograph and then blog it. It’s working nicely!

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DaveO
August 6th, 2009
1:21 pm

In addition to the posters, the marketing for this film was quite inventive in general.

At my day-job, we followed the advance campaigns closely which including a site which asks you to enter as human (allowing unrestricted browsing) or as alien (with many blocked out areas).

The studio also created websites for the fictional business who operate the apartheid camps as well as sites to protest against said fictional business and sites for “alien rights” orgs.

At the recent Comic-Con, Peter Jackson and director Neill Blomkamp talked about the low -budget (by studio standards) and how they had no choice but to be creative with both production and marketing tactics.

Incidentally, the film’s director Neill Blomkamp was born in South Africa but based here in Vancouver. He’d be great to invite to Northern Voice ;-).

Here’s an article (insert symbol for disclosure) to video of Blomkamp and Jackson at Comic Con: http://ow.ly/jj14

And another about Blomkamp’s original short film “Alive in Joburg”: http://ow.ly/jj1b

Enjoy!

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Blair Witch Meets Alien Prawns
August 17th, 2009
5:33 am

[...] the weekend I watched District 9. In terms of pre-release buzz, creative marketing and a smallish budget ($30 million), it’s this summer’s “Blair Witch [...]

Andrea Coutu > Vancouver Marketing Consultant Blog
August 19th, 2009
8:15 am

Interesting move. They’ve got ads in the washrooms and outside the washrooms, but putting ads on the outer door is a new move, as far as I know. (I believe I’ve seen ads on the inside before.)

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