Cloverfield Questions

1. ‘Cloverfield’ (2008) The Marketing Campaign
1. Summarise what sort of marketing
campaign was used advertise the film
‘Cloverfield’
A viral marketing (AKA user-generated marketing)
campaign was used to advertise the film Cloverfield.
This was done by putting the teaser trailer on You
Tube. As a result, the film was able to appeal to its
target audience better who are described as being
‘internet-literate young people’ by producers of the
film. This point is emphasized by the fact that the
director of the film, Matt Reeves, described the film
as being ‘a monster movie for the YouTube
generation’.
2. What does ‘Cloverfield’s marketing
strategy have to do with gaming?
When ‘Cloverfield’ was being campaigned, there
was a similar plot being made for an alternative
reality game. They created an online website called
‘Slusho’ which was a drink that played a role in the
film and allowed the audience to gather
background information on the drink.
3. What did you find out about the title
of the film?
The title of the film kept getting changed when
being advertised to keep the audience thinking and
to make them intrigued as to what the actual film
was about. For example it had names such as,
’Cheese’, ‘Clover’ and ‘Monstrous’.
4. What information was on the first
‘Cloverfield’ website?
The first website was named only as the date of the
film’s release (www.1-08-08.com). This site slowly
released photos which were time and date stamped
to allow the audience to build up chronological
glimpses into the narrative of the film.
5. How were widgets used in the
marketing of ‘Cloverfield’?
On the website, there was an available widget to
download that allowed the audience to put it on
their blogs including MySpace etc. This widget also
allowed the audience to view the opening five
minutes of the film. Once the widget had been
downloaded, people who shared it the most would
be automatically entered into a competition in an
attempt to encourage people to share it and
therefore create more ‘word of mouth’ marketing.
6. In what strategic way did the film use
Facebook to market the film?
Characters from the fil made facebook accounts
that were regularly updated to create a real-time
story which showed the characters moving towards
the eventful night and provided a back-story to the
film itself.

2. 7. What is ‘Slusho!’ and what is its
connection with the film?
Slusho is a Japanese soft drinks company. The
connection it has with the film is that the film’s
protagonist announced he was moving to Japan to
take a new job at Slusho which is why the film
begins with a going away party.
8. What does Manga have in connection
with ‘Cloverfield’?
A Prequel Manga film was created
Cloverfield/Kishin , which bears a resemblance to
the monster in the film
Summarise why you think that ‘Cloverfield’ was successful at the box office. Explain how the
marketing strategy appealed to its audience.
Question: Research a low budget film independent film and compare the marketing
strategies and advertising campaigns. What are the benefits of being part of a studio?