The Greatest Buzz Marketing Ploy Ever
In the blogosphere we think of successful buzz/viral marketing as a post that generates a lot of hits or Diggs. I’d like to turn the tables a bit and discuss what I consider the most successful buzz marketing ploy ever as measured by another criterium - how much money it made.
The buzz marketing ploy in question is, of course, the horror film called Blair Witch Project.
The Scheme:
There have been other films promoted with buzz marketing techiques (the upcoming Cloverfield comes to mind) but for BWP the ploy is the film itself.
Cheaply made films are, literally, a dime a dozen. It doesn’t take a lot of money to make a film that looks cheap, from production values through acting and direction. The trick is figuring out a way for your cheap film to make money.
BWP used a powerful technique well-described in the fine book Made To Stick - “tell a story.” The filmmakers decided the key to selling the film wouldn’t be the stars or the director or anything traditional - it would be the mythology surrounding the story.
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In October of 1994, three student filmmakers disappeared into the woods near Burkettsville, Maryland while shooting a documentary. A year later, their footage was found.
The film itself is documentary style, a combination of film and cheap video tape. It takes place mostly in the woods. No film crew (the actors shot all the footage themselves), no elaborate production staff. No special effects. No blood, no gore, no monster.
But the film terrifies nonetheless, especially during night scenes. It looks REAL.
Prior to the release of BWP, two other features were released on television. One, Curse of the Blair Witch, was syndicated to cable stations. The other, The Burkettsville Seven, was aired on Showtime.
Both were incredibly authentic-looking yet incredibly fake documentaries providing a mythological backstory for the events in BWP. The characters believed SOMETHING was going on in those hills - a fact not lost on the viewer.
The BWP story, bolstered by the two fake documentaries, spread like wildfire, not unlike the famous ‘kidney harvesting’ hoax. For a while, people believed the Blair Witch was an actual historical figure.
Oh - and people saw the movie in droves.
The Results:
- Rotten Tomatoes Results: 84 percent positive ratings (mostly due to originality of the concept)
- Production Cost: a mere $60,000 (and it looked even cheaper than that), about what a blockbuster production spends on catering alone
- Worldwide Gross in ‘99: a whopping $248,639,099 (source), not including DVD sales
If that isn’t the greatest return on investment from a simple buzz marketing ploy ever, I’d like to know what is.
To learn more about making ideas that stick, buy this book.
To learn more about buzz marketing techniques, visit this website.
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6 Responses to “The Greatest Buzz Marketing Ploy Ever”
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I agree. Talk about the right place at the right time. I am not even sure we will see anything else like this for a long time, especially until a new form of media to market a product is developed. Obviously, since the BWP was one of the first and the best to take this approach, there will be a need for a new marketing scheme to develop the same type of outcome or profit. In short, audiences will be ready for the same approach BWP used. Therefore, individuals who wish to experience the same success will have to find another way.
[...] was recently reading an article that claimed that the Blair With Project movie stunt was one of the most successful buzz and viral stunts ever! But would this stunt work today? Or [...]
Still never seen the movie…was too young to see it, parents didn’t allow me either. Now I can if I anted to.
Reminds me of Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds broadcast…same stunt, wasn’t it?
@Rich - agree, it was a very similar stunt. Although I don’t think it made $250 million! It did create what you would now call a viral buzz - it probably drew a lot of new listeners to the radio show.
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