After finding early audience-tracking research weak for its shark thriller “The Meg,” Warner Bros. Pictures punched up the comedy messaging, especially in digital media, over the final weeks before premiere.
The 11th hour repositioning boosted “The Meg’s” three-day opening to $45.4 million, from an originally projected $20 million opening, per a Deadline.com article by Anthony D’Alessandro.
Originally presented to audiences as a straight-forward sci-fi thriller, late marketing pivoted to “embracing the movie’s fun and self-effacing tone, counterbalancing it with bold action and horror elements to position ‘Meg’ as a horror comedy — Warner Bros. marketing deep dived into various pockets of people who’d be interested in ‘Meg,’ not just guys, but whale lovers, and even dog lovers, evident in a social media stunt called #SavePippin in which the Yorkie in the film is seen a ‘Shark vs. Dog’ video. Who will win?”
That highlighted a movie passage presenting a confused puppy dog in danger, injected a pinch of dark humor in the marketing.
Another wrinkle: Warners didn’t release the customary second trailer, even though it research tested well with audiences, because the messaging was conventional sci-fi thriller and not as bouncy as the first trailer. The studio ramped up the digital media with the new horror-comedy thrust.
Besides the repositioning, Warners also mounted various other marketing gambits that seemed long planned, such as airplane banner pulls along crowded beaches, pitching the shark story to summering crowds. D’Alessandro’s Deadline.com story is a nice case study with other elements nicely tied together.
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