2. Viral marketing is a marketing
technique whereby information about
a company's goods or services is passed
electronically from one Internet user
to another. It can be delivered by word
of mouth or enhanced by the network
effects of the Internet and mobile
networks. Viral advertising is personal
and, while coming from an identified
sponsor, it does not mean businesses
pay for its distribution.
Most of the well-known viral ads
circulating online are ads paid by a
sponsor company, launched either on
their own platform (company webpage
or social media profile) or on social
media websites such as YouTube.
Consumers receive the page link from
a social media network or copy the
entire ad from a website and pass it
along through e-mail or posting it on a
blog, web page or social media profile.
3. The website, www.blairwitch.com, giving
the story behind the legend, went online
in June 1998. The film itself was first aired
at the Sundance Festival in January of the
following year. After an all-night
bargaining session, Artisan Entertainment
bought the rights for a reported $1million.
In a joint decision, Haxan and Artisan,
decided to use the website as the focus of
their publicity campaign. For the next six
months, they added to it, and used a
number of other low-budget tactics to
promote the film. Prior to the film’s
release in July 1999, they had spent
approximately $1million on promotion.
Opening weekend: $1.5 million (only on 27
screens)
The number of screens was increased
twice before its October release in the UK
and Ireland. In total, The Blair Witch
Project reeled in over $248million at the
Box Office, the second highest return on
investment of any film.
4. In addition to the website, which was expanded gradually to
reflect new information being discovered about the ‘story’, the
team joined various online forums and fanned the flames of the
story by adding mysterious nuggets of information, to keep people
talking.
They also shot a number of low-budget trailers. The publicity
campaign for The Blair Witch Project was simply the most
inventive, terrifying and successful campaign in film history.
Undoubtedly, part of the reason for its success was that it was the
first film to be widely marketed online.
The website provided a point of reference for people to refer to,
and it was something that could be shared easily, with the
potential to spread like wildfire. The pictures, video and
interviews that appeared online at various intervals added to the
uncertainty of whether this was actually a true story.
