2. Introduction for Suicide Squad
• Genre: Action
• Synopsis: “A secret government agency recruits some of the most dangerous incarcerated super-villains to
form a defensive task force. Their first mission: save the world from the apocalypse” – david rush
• Cast + Director: Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Viola Davis, Scott Eastwood, Cara Delavigne
• Insinuations: warner bros. entertainment/ DC entertainment
• Budget: $175 million/£135 million pounds (325$ in marketing and promotion)
• Box Office Sales: 746.8 million USD
• Age rating: pg-13 U.S/15 U.K
• Release date: August 5th
• Message being delivered by the campaign: chaotic, bright, fun, action-packed
• Target audience: 15-40 typically men and women because the squad features female antagonists Harley Quinn, the
enchantress and Katana, people who typically go to see superhero films are of franchise of the marvel/dc franchise
3. Purpose of a marketing campaign
the purpose of a marketing campaign is to raise awareness and create buzz around the product by
creating certain types of media outlets for the target audience e.g. posters, ARG’s, etc. A campaign is
strategically planned to appeal to the target audience and successful campaigns do this by creating a
unique and engaging experience that follows a theme to intrigue people and their target audiences in
their films, campaigns such as Blair Witch Project which created a viral market campaign that had never
been done before at the time being one of the first campaigns to implement the internet into its
campaign and they used a website to create the groundwork for the story and week by week they kept
adding in new information such as interviews with “family members” and journal entries from the
antagonists of the film which garnered 20 million website visitors before the films release which were
phenomenal numbers for 1999. They also sold the horror film as a “true story” which was the true selling
point for the film and gained the film a lot of attention because most horror films were seen as the same
old story and the found footage style of horror that Blaire Witch Project was doing capitalised on the the
real aspect of the film and used the “true story” to create appeal and to ensure the found footage style
would sell because it had never been done before and to make it more believable they created missing
person posters of the antagonists of the film who supposed went “missing” and by doing this the film
gained huge success and media attention with a very little budget of $60,000, the film grossed $250
million USD globally and this proves that marketing can help make a film profit massively and that’s why
now most films put a good portion of their budget Into marketing because wether a film good or bad it
can differ wether the film is successful or not.
4. Unofficial Trailer
The first trailer for suicide squad was shown at comic-con
2015 which showed the film in a very gritty tone and was
slow paced which focused more on the narrative, the trailer
only meant to be showed to the comic-con audience however
was leaked to the general public however DC later released it
unofficially to stop any mislead information surrounding the
film, the trailer garnered about 70 million views and was well
received from fans and the public alike with 450k likes and
created a lot of hype around the film
The trailer stretched across 3 minutes long and focused on
the main character and high acclaimed cast of actors such as
will smith, Margot Robbie, Cara Delivigne and Viola Davis.
This was strategic to show wider audiences of the popular
cast to bring in people who may not be a fan of the franchise,
but also gives fans a look at the characters and is able to set
the story the story in a clear way
July 13th 2015
5. Posters
The posters for suicide squad are all featured as
bright with neon and metallic tones with a graffiti
style of art. The purpose of the style of art is to
show the audience that the film is a bright and
chaotic film and the graffiti is to represent the
focus on villainy because graffiti itself is an art
form that normally is associated with crime and
defacing which is illegal. In the poster as well they
created a their own icon which is featured in the Q
of the suicide squad title to create recognition
with the audience so they instantly know that it is
associated with suicide squad
This is smart marketing because it’s creating a sort
of introduction to the Audience about the overall
aesthetic of the film and is bright and friendly for
all ranges of the audiences and not specifically
targeted for one specific audience.
Jan 17th 2016
6. Viral Marketing campaign
For suicide squads campaign it featured a viral marketing website that led to a usable desktop that featured the
A.R.G.U.S. insignia as the background image which is the fictional company who were responsible for forming
the squad in the film. A window titled “ARGUS_SECURE” was in the top left and a many files open on the
screen in which only one you can open titled “TASKFORCE_X” which contained portraits of the members of the
squad. This was all that was allowed except a file titled “JOKER” which contained a criminal file with lots of
redacted information. This was strategically smart because it helps engage eager fans of the films and DC
franchise who would want to see the main characters in a closer look apart from the trailer. This would’ve been
created for the core-more older target audience as the target audience features a wide range of ages
March 10th 2016
7. Soundtrack
The soundtrack was composed and created Steven price and was released June 2016 and
released the same day as the film (5th August 2016). The albums first single, “Heathens”
by twenty one pilots was released the 20th June 2016 and a music video set in a prison
featuring unseen footage from the film was released the next day, this was a good selling
point to help the music video gain views and create even more buzz around the film
never the less the song made by twenty one pilots who had released a critically
acclaimed album the year prior would already garner a lot of attention surrounding the
song and album, the song itself received an enormous amount of attention spending 30
weeks at no.1 in the rock charts and gaining 1.3B views and 9.2M likes on YouTube
The next single was “sucker for pain” a collaborative project including Wiz Khalifs, Lil
Wayne, Ty dolla $ign, logic, X ambassadors and Imagine Dragons released on June 24th
then a music video June 25th which was also very well received gaining 650M views and
4.6M likes on YouTube and then “purple Lamborghini” by skrillex and Rick Ross was
released on July 22nd which also was well received and a music video was released the
same day as the film which featured Jared Leto as the joker starring and the main focus in
the video, the song and video served as his character track, which garnered 420M views
and 3.6M likes on YouTube
This is smart marketing releasing the videos along side the singles, this helps create more
attention from media outlets apart film and television and reaching into music helps
bring more audience from music fans alike because they will be more intrigued into the
film and also creates more of a presence in the media so people are constantly aware of
the suicide squad brand
June 21st 2016
June 25th 2016
August 5th 2016
8. After releasing the singles, the days leading up to the release
the songs “gangsta” by kehlani, “standing in the rain” by Mark
Ronson, “medieval warfare” by grimes and then a cover of
“bohemian rhapsody” by Panic! At the disco were released as
promotional singles August 2nd 3rd and 4th with only “gangsta”
receiving a music video which focused on Harley Quinn and
used as her character track. It gained 290M views and 2.5M
likes.
The album then released august 5th with the full track listing
of 14 songs such as you don’t own me by grace and overall
gained critical success becoming no.1 in many charts across
the globe and becoming the best selling album for a period of
time selling 200,000 copies in its first week. The album art also
stayed in theme with the promotional poster for the film.
The strategic part surrounding the album is that the diverse
music genres and artists they incorporate into the album, it
features elements of rap, rock, r&b, alternative and some
electronic this diversity is what sells it, it reflects the diverse
cast of villains in the squad itself and that in turn helps sell it
to the diverse world because everyone has different music
tastes so it is very versatile in it’s attempt to satisfy the target
audience
Soundtrack continued
August 5th 2016
9. Interviews
The week before the release of the film, the
majority of the cast all did interviews together
in a particularly large group in which they
shared funny stories about being on set with
each other, their personal character
development and how they got into the role
especially jarod Leto who took a methodical
approach to getting into the joker character by
sending pigs heads and rats to Margot Robbie
(Harley Quinn), this is smart marketing
because it’s helping build buzz around the film
through a primarily televised audience, so
therefore bringing in more of an audience for
the film a week prior to its release.
The TV interviews had their own special sets
behind them which reflected the promotional
posters of the film, this was smart marketing
because it helps build a brand and creates a
more recognisable brand
1st august 2016
2nd August 2016
3rd August 2016
10. Merchandise
For the merchandise surrounding the film most things were sold on the
DC entertainment shop online and they sold various things for different
ranges of fans, e.g. costumes, clothing articles, phone cases,
collectibles(statues,replicas and plushes) ranging from hugely different
price points.
They did a collaboration with the company funko! An American
company that produces little action figures that have the same
characteristics (a small body and a big rectangle head) and these
figures are widely popular and don’t have a particular age range so
adults and younger person.
Another smart campaign strategy is with them selling costumes
intended for Halloween, the film being released shortly before
Halloween in August is convenient because people will want to dress
up as the characters just in time for Halloween. This would also apply
for it being released shortly before Christmas as well in time for gift
buying
11. How the marketing linksOne constant theme that runs through the marketing of suicide squad is it’s overall theme through multi-media platforms, visually the marketing
manages to keep a consistent theme through a lot of its multi-media products
The three things I would like to focus on is the posters of suicide squad, the mini-promotional trailers for each individual character and the TV
interviews. What suicide squad’s marketing did smartly was they played into the films core strength, the main diverse cast, what they did with the cast
is instead of selling it as a group (or squad) they sold and promoted each main character individually and they do this subliminally by giving the
characters their own unique piece of art however they all have the same bright art graffiti/pop art/comic book style mash up, by creating this mash-up
of styles however they are creating their own signature brand of styling for the film therefore making it recognisable to an audience but also tells a
story by using what style of art, the comic book elements show it’s a superhero film or some form of one and the graffiti style shows that it’s related to
crime them 2 mixed together already gives an introduction into what type of film suicide squad will be without revealing any details into the narrative.
Firstly what I want to analyse is the mini-trailers, these trailers all released on July 16th 2016 on the Warner Bros. Pictures YouTube channel, all 11
trailers for each of the main cast including the suicide squad featuring at about 20 seconds long, gave each character their own moment of spotlight
and gives a quick introduction into the character through the use of the art style for example: El Diablo, a character who in the film has fire abilities, in
his 20 second Clip his art shows flames and skulls In the signature style of art then it shows some film footage of the character and his abilities and
then does a character profile with the same art style as before, however the character profile strays from a typical one and instead gives room for
comedic elements while revealing some information about the character e.g. it reads “Temperature: 6 6 6° F” and “True extent of powers: Unknown”
then the suicide squad logo and a # in front of it. The character profile is smart marketing because it gives the audience tiny little nibbles of
information to the audience but also still manages to tell what type of film it’s going to be and the # with the suicide squad logo and the cohesive art
theme manages to still keep its recognisable ability, the rest of the character trailers also follow the exact order each showcasing their art, film footage
and character profile and each reveals unique information into that character while maintaining the same style and imagery
Character Introduction Film footage Character profile
July 16th 2016
12. How the marketing links
Secondly, the posters, the posters feature the same art
style as the mini character trailers and uses the same
art as the character introduction within the trailer
however what the poster and trailers do similarly is all
give each character their own space to exist on their
own on the poster and their own art around them and
both use the same colour scheme and both tell the
same message of the fun chaotic film through the
colour scheme and art style, both however feature a
comedic element to each promotional, the trailers
with the character profile but I’m the posters the
comedic element is shown through the films colourful
tagline “worst heroes ever” which can be seen as
sarcasm because the antagonists are villains forced to
be heroes
This promotional item would be seen on billboards As
well both of the promotional pieces use the same
suicide squad logo and font with the same iconic Q
and both feature the release date to the film to help
promote it
13. How it all links together
Lastly, the interview links with both the poster and the trailers because in the sets of the interviews it features
the same artwork and colour theme and in the group interviews all the cast are placed behind their individual
character art the exact same picture as the character introduction in the mini-trailers and this repetition is the
same story they’re telling across to the various audience watching/viewing what type of film suicide squad
without explicitly telling the narrative and they do this by showing the the characters in the posters and videos,
that they’re criminals by the graffiti art surrounding and that it is a superhero film by the comic book style of
art, and the colourful logo and art style is to represent the chaotic-ness of the film itself, the font of the suicide
squad is messy and not the same size, this plays into the chaotic nature of the film. As well all the promotional
content all feature the signature Q from suicide squad logo this represents danger within the film.
14. Conclusion
In conclusion, this media campaign for suicide squad was very successful and managed to keep a
cohesive and interesting campaign for its wide target audience, it managed to fulfill its purpose and
create a lot of hype around the film and did very well for a superhero franchise film. The campaign
overall played to its strength with it’s very popular and large cast by creating a campaign that shown
off every individual actor and given them they’re own chance to shine especially for smaller rolls such
as Viola Davis as Amanda Walker. I think it managed to successfully show off each of the cast members
and that’s what brought people in as well as the first on screen performance of Harley Quinn a
infamous character within the DC universe and especially now that a lot of women are appealing to
the superhero genre of film, the feature of women as supervillains and main characters also drove its
success as a campaign as well as its unique and recognisable use of art and colour.
The film itself after its release however was not well received by critics gaining a 27% on rotten
tomatoes and 6/10 on IMDB, critics and fans alike felt as if the film did not live up well to its campaign
and pre release saying that the film went in an opposite direction to how it was advertised and didn’t
take itself as serious as a typical DC superhero film, however that didn’t stop the film from doing well,
the campaign generated a lot of buzz and in turn gained the film a lot of money in the box office
gaining 750M USD but just because the film didn’t do well review wise didn’t mean it that the
campaign failed in fact the campaign its sell was most likely the best part surrounding the film
