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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 | Movie
Marketing Madness
Post Published: 16 November 2010Author: ChrisFound in section: Advertising, Contests, Facebook, Games, Movie Marketing,
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Movie Marketing Madness: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1
Earlier this year I covered the campaign for Shrek Goes Fourth, the
fourth and reportedly final chapter in that saga. The extent to which you
may have bought that story depended on a number of things, I would
suppose, including the extent to which you’ve felt the recent resurgence
in “reboots” of classic franchises were more about artistic expression and
not just shameless money grabs. The original Shrek was based (loosely
from what I understand) on a children’s book but the movie franchise
extended from there since everyone was making money and there
weren’t really an limitations on the stories that could be told.
See the number of stories that can be told when we’re talking about
adaptations is, in many cases, directly limited by the amount source
material that’s available. In the case of something like Shrek it was
possible to transcend and escape those limitations because the original
source book wasn’t something that was generally considered to be
hallowed or untouchable so the filmmakers could go off in a number of
different directions.
Try to do that with a beloved – and current – series of books and you’ll
find yourself facing a world of backlash you wouldn’t believe. That’s why
those behind The Lord of the Rings movies are so eager to make The
Hobbit, because it’s the one thing they can still do. They can’t very well continue the saga into realms
Tolkien didn’t explore or they run the very real risk of being slain by people who take the whole “dressing up
as an orc” think a bit to seriously.
Which brings us to the latest entry in another wildly successful science fiction series, Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows. The last book in the series by author and creator J.K. Rowling, the story is actually being
split into two parts for its theatrical release because of the scope of the story being told, with Part 1 being
released now and Part 2 early next year. And while I’m sure there are legitimate artistic reasons for the split
– it is a big book – it’s also an opportunity for Warner Bros. to delay the inevitable a short while and get two
event releases out of its last grasp at the franchise since any extension that doesn’t begin with a Rowling
book is almost entirely out of the question.
The movies have gotten progressively darker with each installment just as the books did and that’s coming
to its culmination in this movie as everyone realizes the ultimate stakes are on the line. Being the
(pen)ultimate book in the series the story also features the coming together of the plots, both laid out and
hinted at, advanced in the previous six books/movies. Without going into too much detail, the characters
Harry, Ron, Hermoine and all their family and friends all now realize they are engaged in a full scale war.
So the time for learning at Hogwarts is done and it’s time to confront Voldemort’s forces of evil for once and
for all and for Harry in particular to accept his destiny, even if he’s not sure what that destiny is. Add on top
of the very real physical danger that is in front of them the fact that they’re all getting older and are more…
romantically inclined and the story is veritably boiling over with everyone’s emotions, which makes for high
drama combined with lots of action.
The Posters
The first teaser poster features a most disturbing site – the dual release
dates for the two parts of the movie.
No, I kid. The main feature here aside from the note that Part 1 is

2. coming this year and Part 2 in 2011 is the site of Hogwarts in flames
against a dusk sky. That, accompanied by the “It all ends here” copy at
the top makes it clear there are bad times afoot for Harry and the gang.
I like the fact that the campaign starts off with a clear intonation of the
stakes that are on the table here and that Hogwarts, which has been the
one symbol of stability in Harry’s – and therefore the audience’s – life in
these stories is seen suffering a massive violation at the hands of his
enemies.
After that a series of three posters, one each with Harry, Hermoine and
Ron, were released that put each character in a different setting and
showed them looking very much on-alert and on the ready for whatever
dangers they were about to face. Each one featured the copy “Nowhere
is safe,” making it clear these characters are on the run, with enemies all
around them. A companion series featuring three of the villains also
came out at this time but on their images the copy intones that “The hunt
begins.”
Right after that another one-sheet was released that had all three of the main characters
on it. This one featured the three of them running through the woods, either from or to the
danger, with embers or some sort of magical sparks falling down around them. This one
has the same dark and dreary look as those three character-specific ones and so
continues that branding feel nicely.
In short order after that eight more character-centric posters were released featuring not
only the standard trio of heroes but also some of the movie’s villains, including Snape,
Voldemort, Bellatrix and Greyback. These were extreme close-up shots and designed,
apparently, to make the viewer vaguely uncomfortable, especially if you suddenly find
yourself counting the pores on Emma Watson’s face.
Even more shortly after that four more arrived, this time pairing the characters up in a
series of four one-sheets, two for the heroes (though Hermoine gets put with both Harry
and Ron) and two for the villains. All four in this set feature “The hunt begins” copy, again
making it clear this is just the opening chapter of a larger story.
The Trailers
The first teaser trailer aired during the 2010 MTV Movie Awards and certainly laid out the
setup of the (almost) final chapter. While there’s little in the way of direct plot given, we do
see bad guys lurking around in spooky forests, friends standing against unseen dangers,
nerves being rattled that some friends are fighting with each other, a dragon chasing
someone and even a brief kiss between Ginny Weasely and Harry. So the movie
promises, based on this, the same thing the source book did, which is lots of culminations
and passion.
The first full trailer, released shortly after that, certainly presents dark tidings for our hero
and his friends. Starting off with a showdown between Potter and Voldemort we then get a
series of scenes from the movie, some of which show the power of the dark forces
massing or attacking and some of which show the good guys defending what they can.
There’s lots of running around, lots of standing awe-struck by something fantastical
happening around them and so on. We see many of the characters from the franchise, if
only briefly.
But what the trailer shows isn’t half as important as the event atmosphere that’s being
created in between the scenes. “The finale of the worldwide phenomenon,” “The motion
picture event of a generation” and more are thrown on screen to make sure everyone
knows just what a big deal these movies are. This trailer does act as a promotion for both
parts and shows the release date of both Parts I and II as well as the obligatory notice that
this will be in IMAX.
The second trailer continued the themes of darkness and despair that have already been
communicated.
We start out with Bill Nighy intoning that dark times are here and then are shown a ton of

3. scenes of battle commencing between the forces of light and those of darkness. There
are a few shots of the efforts Harry’s friends and protectors are taking to keep him safe –
including casting a spell to make a bunch of his friends look like him – but mostly it’s
various people flying around in combat or otherwise chasing each other around.
There’s a ton of new footage here but very little in the way of story aside from the broad
point of “Keep Harry safe while Voldemort tries to kill him.” It’s effective in that it sells the
massive scope that this movie takes place on but in terms of details all that’s really added
is Snipe’s comments about infiltrating the Ministry of Magic.
Online
The official website opens by playing the most recent and final trailer.
Once you get past that and into the site itself the first section under the Menu that’s at the
top is “About the Movie. There you’ll see a Story synopsis that covers what parts of the
plot are going to be included in this installment as well as Cast and Filmmakers sections
with backgrounds and information on those folks and Production Notes you can download
if you choose to do so.
THere are about 20 stills you can view in the “Gallery” and expand as you see fit. “Videos”
just has the two trailers but not any of the TV spots or anything else that’s been produced,
which is unfortunate.
“Downloads” has 19 Posters (which I think is most all of them), seven Wallpapers and
some Buddy Icons and a Screensaver you can use to display your fandom to your friends
and co-workers.
The “Soundtrack” section opens up a new site’s that’s devoted to the album of the movie’s
music and showcases the different formats you can buy it in if you want to. “Promotions”
has links to some of the sites that have run promotions around the movie.
A bit of commerce is up next as “Previous Years” shows you the DVDs for the previous
movies with links to buy and “Shop” takes you to the WBShop.com site with a ton of Harry
Potter items to purchase. “Videogame” is dedicated, obviously, to the tie-in game for this
movie.
A couple of social sections are found in “Join the Final Battle,” which is a Facebook App
that pits you against your friends and “iPhone App,” which takes you to iTunes where you
can buy the app, which has all sorts of spells and such, including the ability to duel with
your fellow iPhone users.
Also online was the latest variation on the “upload your photo” concept in the form of
Undesirable No. 1, where you can put yourself or your friend into one of the movie’s
Wanted posters.
“Muggle Hub” is kind of a stand-alone multimedia site for the movie, with all the same
downloads, photos and more that are on the main site as well as a countdown clock,
Firefox of Google themes, Twitter Skins and a couple other additional goodies.
Finally there are links to both the “Mobile Game” and the online “Motorbike Escape” game
you can play during your free time.
The movie’s Facebook page imports much of the official website’s content – or at least
links to it – but adds more video (which I’ll never really get) and of course the updates on
what’s going on with the film’s publicity and marketing, many of which can be found on the
Twitter profile as well.
Advertising and Cross-Promotions
The TV spots for the movie certainly ramped up the sense of danger that the movie is
meant to convey, with virtually every scene of the first commercial released being devoted
to how much imminent peril Harry in particular is in. Voldemort almost gets more screen
time in that spot than Harry and most of Harry’s seem to have him lying down in agony.
There were a ton more TV spots that all played up the danger and the high, high stakes

4. There were a ton more TV spots that all played up the danger and the high, high stakes
that all the character were put up against.
Plenty of online and other advertising was done as well, of course, most using the imagery
of the three main characters running through the forest.
Media and Publicity
Much of the initial publicity and buzz was centered around where, exactly the book would
be split. This followed, of course, the announcement that the planned adaptation would be
too long for just one reasonably-lengthed film and instead would be two. There was all
sorts of speculation and rumors and reports but not much in the way of official
announcements.
There was also movement on a front that began in advance of the previous film, HalfBlood Prince. Around September of 2009 more details were released about The
Wizarding World of Harry Potter, a new attraction at Universal Studios that would recreate
Hogsmeade and other locations from the books and movies and, of course, sell lots of
related items (Time, 9/15/09) to the flocking faithful. More press, of course, appeared
(New York Times, 6/7/10) just as the attraction was opening.
To help win the hearts and minds of geek webmasters and fans the movie made a brief
appearance at Comic-Con 2010 where there was a bit of new footage shown off but not
much else. This seems to have been a box to check off the list but with the knowledge by
the studio that the crowd at Comic-Con wasn’t going to make or break the movie.
Some surprising news came with Warner Bros. announced (New York Times, 10/8/10)
that Part 1 would not be distributed in 3D. The studio gave a pretty sound and laudable
explanation for that decision, that the timeline just wasn’t working out and it would not be
ready and at the level of quality they wanted it in time for release. The news was just
about universally praised since it showed them standing up to do something right instead
of just making a cheap move to make extra dollars.
The fact that this was the (next to) last installment in the franchise also prompted some
looking back at that franchise (Los Angeles Times, 11/5/10) and how it’s been managed
both as a series of films and as part of a larger brand that, not taking the books into
account, includes just a ton of tie-in products, all of which have depended on the success
of those movies.
Overall
There’s a good campaign here, but I’m left with kind of a mixed feeling overall. On the one
hand, it feels too big, especially when it comes to how many posters were thrown out
there and the regularity of the TV spots, if not their volume. On the other it feels like it’s all
build up with no release, largely the result of the fact that the campaign is advertising Part
One of a story we all know is being told in two parts. So it’s being sold as an epic, but
much of the epic-scale marketing is being held back as the studio keeps its powder dry for
the second film in a few months.
Trying as much as I can to judge the campaign on its own merits, though, it’s not bad.
Again, there’s plenty of material to work with here and most all of it strikes the same tone
of danger lurking around every plot turn. All the posters and both the trailers work to bring
this message home, which completes the pattern of all the movie’s campaigns that have
progressively sold darker and more dangerous movies.
A full recap isn’t really possible until the second part comes out. But the studio has done a
good job, to the extent it even needed to, to build up the audience’s expectations for this
next-to-last movie in the wildly popular series.
PICKING UP THE SPARE
11/16/10 – Andrew Wallenstein at PaidContent wonders aloud whether the leak of
the movie’s first 36 minutes to Torrent sites was actually accidental or in fact part of
a plan (though one the studio is denying) by WB to see if giving people an extended
taste translates to even bigger box office numbers. The same thought had fleetingly
occurred to me so it’s hard for me to argue with his thinking.

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Post Published: 16 November 2010
Author: Chris
Found in section: Advertising , Contests , Facebook , Games , Movie Marketing , Movie
Marketing Madness , Online , Out of Home , Posters , Print , Television , Trailers , Twitter
, Warner Bros. , Wireless