Free Viral Marketing for an indie film

clive

clive

Guys ... I've talked a lot about viral advertising for a while now and I'm planning to do a serious campaign for my next movie ... which I'm currently planning ... both the film and the campaign.

Now it's time to put the theory into practice.

So, I'd like to practice on someone else's film.

I'm offering to work with someone who has a feature that is ready to go and who wants to try viral advertising to promote it. I'm prepared to do this for free for the right project. It maybe that the collaboration goes no futher than me offering my services as a consultant, but if required I may get involved in the actual viral production.

All I want in return is a copy of the final viral, if I don't produce it, and some feedback on how it worked.

Just so you know what I'm offering - before I got into film-making I won fourteen London International Advertising Awards for my work as a writer and producer.

PM me if you're interested.
 
Last edited:
Sort by date Sort by votes
If you're cutting I'm ready to talk. I'm just not looking at anything that's still in development, becasue chances are that by the time it's ready to start looking at the virals my own project will be in post.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
do you have skype or ichat/aim running...or would you like to schedule a time in the chat here? I'm not sure what our post schedule is yet...I am a hobbyist after all. ;)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
.I am a hobbyist after all.
Click to expand...

That's not an issue. This is more about me moving from an academic to a pratical understanding of viral advertising.

Advertising I understand ... virals are masively demanding creatively. So, really I'm just looking for the right project where I can apply my skills to the problem of marketing a film this way.

It's the marketing equivalent of doing a test shoot on a new format. I want to get the technique down pat and test it before using it on my film.

I'll pm you about the other stuff.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Interested in learning/helping

I read this thread with interest. I'm in post-production for my first short film, and I also have years of experience in advertising and theatre. I'd like to learn a bit more about viral advertising - don't know much right now - but if you're looking for/needing help with any aspect of this adventure and need help, contact me. Though I don't have a great deal of technical computer-type skills, my background in advertising (copy) and other creative endeavors may be of service in someway.

Send me a pm if you like, or best of luck if you're moving ahead on your own.

Maggie Patton
shootersfilm.net
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I'd like to learn a bit more about viral advertising - don't know much right now - but if you're looking for/needing help with any aspect of this adventure and need help, contact me. Though I don't have a great deal of technical computer-type skills, my background in advertising (copy) and other creative endeavors may be of service in someway.
Click to expand...

OK. That's good. The more people there are playing with this the better chance we have of cracking the techniques.

This is what I know, and because you're familiar with advertising the easiest way to explain virals is to talk about how they differ from normal advertising. The best parallels would be tv or radio spots.

When you're writing a conventional campaign you want to create something that's memorable, but you pay for the spots to drive the message home. Virals are sent out in an e-mail and only gain an audience if people then send them on to friends because they're entertaining.

When you're writing a viral you have to forget all about creating an advert and put entertainment at the top of the list. But, and here's the tricky part ... the entertainment needs to carry a message within it about the product that you're creating the viral for. (I know all the best commercials have always done this, but actually those kind of commercials are rare.

Here's one of the most famous example.

Just after the London bombing a viral comapny created an advert where a suicide bomber drives a VW and parks it outside a London railway station. The bomb goes off, but everyone is safe because the VW is sucha strong car. (This wasn't commissioned by VW, the viral company was using it to demonstrate what they were capable of)

Another sucessful viral campaign was the original Blair Witch Project marketing where they convinced hundreds of thousands of people on the net that three film-makers really had disappeared and that the footage from their trip had just been discovered.

The basic method of distribution is by mailing out a very small, short movie file attached to an email, and then backing that up by hosting the viral on google video and any other place where people browes for entertaining video clips. There are also some newsgroups who pull together the best stuff every week and e-mail out sheets to over 120,000 people. The best know of these is beta. A listing in beta's newssheet is almost guaranteed mass viewing, but they are smart guys and don't push commercials.

Anyhow ... what this means is that the art of writing a viral is the art of writing a commercial that is entertaining, doesn't appear to be a commercial and is so good that people want to distribute it.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
The idea is king

Well I know how much work it takes to come up with a great idea. But it can be a lot of fun.

So, once you pick a film to use as a test, you plan to come up with a creative viral marketing plan. Then do you plan to implement the whole thing? Wow. If so, there's one lucky filmmaker who gets aboard that train. Lucky still if you simply pass the creative on, no strings. Nice. I'm in if you need brain power. Sounds like fun.

Maggie
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Thanks

I've already pitched one campaign to one film-maker and we're waiting to see whether they can pull it together. It's time sensitive, so it's touch and go. But I'm also talking to someone else, so I might bounce some ideas your way.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I wonder if my show "dark crimes" would interest you?
Click to expand...

Rik, email me about it.

Clive, when you have something ready to viral out... I'd love to help out.
Click to expand...

No probs. Once I've got something ready to go I'll be looking for people who would like to e-mail it out to their mates.

Are you thinking bulk e-mails or targeted e-mails? BTW clive...I'm GMT + 5
Click to expand...

Depends on on the viral. That's the part of the process that I'm trying get my head around with this practice campaign.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Clive, I am on board with any of the help you need emailing. I am very interested in how something like this turns out and would like to know the process.
Click to expand...

Cool, I will take you up on that.

I just got confirmation that a major London PR company will also send anything that I'm happy with out on their mailing list as well. With the connections that I've set up so far we're looking at several thousand people on the first pass.

If I get the creative and execution right, that could fairly rapidly get up to hundreds of thousands.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Pretty cool. Keep me posted when/if I can help. Is there any where I can go - a website that you recommend - to learn more about executing viral? Case studies? Any info on the topic is good. Love to research...
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Pretty cool. Keep me posted when/if I can help. Is there any where I can go - a website that you recommend - to learn more about executing viral? Case studies? Any info on the topic is good. Love to research...
Click to expand...

I haven't found anything yet. There are a lot of people out there claiming to be viral experts, but all they're doing is turning out TV commercials and spamming them out. That isn't viral marketing.

I've been getting all my information from friends in the industry. They run London based PR companies which specialise in organising large scale public stunts, and they are looking to get into virals. They've been consulting with me about the creative and production side.

The truth is that there are very, very few good virals. You're in the business, so you'll understand that virals for a advertising creative are the equivalent of extreme sports - if you're into pushing yourself as a creative director there is no greater challenge. I've always been that kind of copywriter - and as I stepped out of the industry six years ago, I've missed the rush.

There is a site called the viral chart (google it) but that's just a company that inserts a sprite into a viral for price for tracking purposes.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I'd like to put it through the IndieFlics podcast too!
Click to expand...

Nice offer, plus it serves to promote indieflicks at the same time. A plan with no drawbacks.

Let's just hope that this first film-maker can pull the production together ... if not the whole thing will go on hold until I get another candidate that offers an obvious solution.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top