Taking the Information Superhighway to the Box Office: The Tricky Dynamics of Online Viral Marketing

With greater vitality, the film industry is exploring the power and possibilities of internet viral marketing to promote movies and hopefully, the next box-office hits. Studio executives are wisely acknowledging the potential of the internet, a media-ready format that arguably surpasses the marketing capabilities of radio and television. The success of a film's online marketing is often held against the popularity garnered by the website for the indie-hit The Blair Witch Project (1999). The unprecedented mock-investigative website is credited for the film's notable revenue. Audiences flocked to theaters eager to discover whether the film was a documentary or fiction, an ambiguity generated by the website. Earlier this year, the viral marketing and online "buzz" for the film Snakes on a Plane (2006) surpassed Blair Witch, leading many to believe the film was a guaranteed profit winner. When Snakes disappointed, film industry members questioned the effectiveness of the internet in movie marketing. Considering the marketing concepts of "virality" and "monetization," I commented on two blog posts discussing internet-involved film marketing: one presenting the errors of Snakes' viral marketing and the other promoting the internet campaign for the new film Borat (2006) which I argue will garner success.