Best Film Marketing Campaign Oscar According To A Toronto Marketing Company

While The Marketing Garage specializes in Digital Marketing and Branding, we are also big movie fans. While filling out our annual Oscar ballots we decided to create our own category. Here are the nominees for Best Film Marketing Campaign as decided by a Toronto marketing company.

This category is not simply “which film made most money” though that is a factor. We will examine how far a movie was able to stretch a budget, the uniqueness of the marketing campaign, and overall quality of the marketing and ROI.

The media’s story was that Black Panther was the first African Super hero. But that was really an over simplification. With a nearly entirely African cast and focus on African culture, Black Panther became a cultural phenomenon. The signature X that symbolizes “Wakanda Forever” became so prevalent in pop culture that Chadwick Boseman himself seemed to be sick of performing it. By serving an under represented group on such a massive platform, Black Panther went from an unknown comic book b-level character to a box office smash and even nominated for a real Oscar (not to lessen it’s nomination for ours).

How do you market a film that’s about being as quiet as possible in order to survive? By using sound extremely effectively! A Quiet Place’s marketing was able to keep the integrity of the film itself by using minimal sound and maximum tension. The suspense helped spread mystery among the theatre going audience that lead this $17 million dollar movie to a $341 million gross. Not bad for a horror movie directed by and starring that goofy guy from The Office.

Avengers Infinity War isn’t just a sequel or the next movie in a series, it’s the penultimate episode of a 10 year long Marvel Season. It’s the Marvel equivalent of The Red Wedding.

By promising that things will never be the same, the fear of spoilers ensured that the audience that has been built for 10+ years would flock to this movie on opening weekend. Making good on that promise ensures that the same audience will need to find out what happens when the follow up hit’s theatres 1 year later.

Deadpool 2’s entire marketing campaign was focused on the X-Force. Deadpool’s version of a team of X-Men or Avengers. A collection super powered beings that could grow the mythology of the franchise, have spin-offs, the opportunities are limitless. What’s so special about that marketing strategy? It’s ALL a setup for a joke.

Spoilers ahead: The X-Force all die immediately into their very first mission. It’s a joke that works by itself but is exaggerated and improved by following the film’s marketing for months leading up to release.

What’s the top grossing movie that’s not a sequel or pre-existing property? Game Night, a quiet R-Rated hit that was the 19th highest grossing film in the US box office. Game Night managed to do something so many films are afraid to do these days… Release an original comedy without giving out all of it’s jokes in the trailers. And for that, it deserves a nomination.

Deadpool 2 is estimated to have spent $35 million on marketing alone. Mostly focused on building anticipation for the on screen debut of the X-Force, that’s an expensive and risky joke! The joke paid off since the R-Rated movie went on to make $785 million dollars, the highest of the year.

The Marketing Garage is an award-winning Toronto digital marketing company that has extensive experience in cultivating effective digital marketing strategies. We help businesses in many different sectors across North America fix their online marketing and branding. Our data-driven mix of SEO and digital marketing process is like no other.