“Paranormal Activity”: Where did the traditional movie trailer go?

As Halloween approaches the typical slew of horror movies begin running their course in theaters and on T.V. Most notable, more and more commercials advertise the latest batch of scary movies. Since I hate scary movies, and almost always let them slip through my pop culture radar, I usually don’t pay attention to what gory flicks are released each October. However, one particular advertisement caught my eye. Last Tuesday, when I was watching MTV around 10 p.m. a quick 30-second spot for the movie “Paranormal Activity” really captured my attention. The brief movie plug didn’t have dramatic dialogue or any flashy action sequences. Instead the commercial panned an audience of insanely frightened movie goers. They were screaming, jumping in their seats and clutching each others arms. It was absolutely riveting. The commercial ended with writing that told viewers to visit the movie’s Web site to request a showing of the movie in their area.

An article on Adage.com titled “How ‘Paranormal Activity’ Hit it Big” explained why this low budget horror flick might become one of the most profitable movies of the year. Aside from its shockingly minimal production budget of $15,000, social media is the main reason. Paramount decided to take the film’s marketing efforts in a different direction by allowing fan’s to hit a demand button on the film’s Web site. This has allowed the movie to generate its own viral online buzz.

Josh Greenstein, co-president of marketing at Paramount, said that “the focus throughout has been to sell ‘Paranormal Activity’ as an experience rather than just a movie.” He goes on to say it was their goal to sell the movie as a terrifying film that is best experienced in a communal environment like the movie theater. Additionally the movie has a sponsored Twitter account and Facebook page. On the Facebook page, fans are able to upload videos of their own reactions to the film.

The article on Adage.com explained that four lessons can be drawn from the social media marketing used by Paramount. I believe that the most important and innovative lesson is to let consumers dictate distribution. I always think of social media marketing as a way for consumer to interact with a brand or product. “Paranormal Activity” shows that letting consumers dictate distribution is a major benefit of social media. By doing this, Paramount was able to know who and where their product was most desired. The result: a highly profitable campaign.