What makes a horror film really effective is how it appeals to masses. Yes, you can put numerous trailers for people to watch but the thing is, impact is there when it’s felt. Promote it in a way people can be participatory or in a very unusual way perhaps.
Here are some catchy and unusual marketing strategies done by horror and thriller films:
THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT
The Blair Witch Project is known for its greatest marketing campaign. They started from giving away leaflets. They gave away missing persons’ leaflets, created stories in public to establish a mood, shared photos of the missing ones, and even went far by making fake news stories published in small local newspapers about missing people and their last whereabouts.
They also targeted the websites—inputting information about stuff that are very uncomfortable to read, because 1999 was the year when all people were hooked into using websites and internet was still a discovery phase, it all went very effective.
The strategy that they used is the word of mouth strategy in line with key messages to establish uncertainty and thrill to public.
HEREDITARY
The approach that Hereditary did was they gave away dolls to the doorsteps of the potential viewers.
Hereditary wasn’t the first one to do this strategy but this one is one of the most effective style that viewers took to social media, trended in time and this movie made Ari Aster’s best yet.
IT
IT is one of the highest grossing horror films of all time. They started the marketing campaign by launching a website with gallery, videos, and an 8-bit game. It created a very diverse type of marketing.
They put on very appealing posters, to the appeal of social media by posting snippets of scenes, scary hand-drawn art in social media sites, and of course the appeal to the streets. They put red balloons on sewer drains all around the city.
PSYCHO
This Alfred Hitchcock movie is an all-time classic and this became one of the very standards of promotions in horror films. During the trailer of this 1960 film, Alfred stood in front of the Bates Motel to make it look so real. The point of it is to make trailers as a realistic marketing approach which a lot of movies are currently applying in today’s cinema. The movie has a lot of secrets that audiences were left hanging, also the crew members and the staff—only Hitchcock knows.
One part of the marketing was to distribute a real manual to the audience with a warning about health conditions for the level of horror was indeed on top. Real nurses were also hired outside the cinema as standby in case people get hurt.
Up to this date, the mystery of Psycho is living rent-free in Alfred Hitchcock’s mind for he is the only one who knows what truly happened.
