Summer and blockbuster films go together like America and apple pie. They are a national obsession. Forget checking the weather or your calendar. If studios start pumping out $100 million-plus pictures every Friday, rest assured, summer has arrived.
There are dozens of major motion pictures slated for release over the coming weeks and months. Studios and their agencies have been working on the ramp-up to each film's release date far in advance.
Unfortunately, though, the majority of the digital campaigns out there follow one common, tired, and played-out template.
The vast majority of movie websites have a generic navigation bar with the same general lineup: background on the movie and its characters, videos (which are mostly trailers from the film), downloads (mostly wallpapers and instant messaging icons), games, and a gallery of images and other basic content.
Some movies simply try to stand out in one or two of those categories. Others take things further, but even still, most stick to an almost industry-wide regimen. They'll hit the social media darlings of the day like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and maybe Digg or Delicious, and then they'll make a mobile play with either a game built to work well on most cellphones, or a simple short code that will lead fans to exclusive content and varying levels of engagement.
iMedia looked at 15 of the biggest films slated to hit the screen this summer. Sure, some of the films' sites really stood out with sensational graphics or well-thought out user experiences, but most left too much opportunity on the table, and more to be desired.
"The websites for 'X-Men Origins Wolverine,' 'Star Trek' and 'Terminator Salvation' have incredibly high production values. They're beautiful. But are they effective marketing tools? I'm not so sure," says Adam Kleinberg, CEO of Traction.
"So many of the summer blockbusters try to do so much, they wind up doing nothing," he adds. "Visit the website for every single one, and you'll see the same content over and over: galleries, trailers, screen savers, cast and crew, the game, the iPhone app, and the Facebook app."
Then, Kleinberg hits it on the head: "How many wallpapers does a fella need?"
There are some standout hits in terms of web design and user experience, but deeper engagement is hard to find. Too many film sites employ the traditional template, while social media efforts get hidden in the background.
Steve Wax, managing partner at Campfire, says many summer movie campaigns are lacking persistent engagement and patience.
"A successful movie campaign is a slow three- to six-month sly and engaging process, not just a two-week, $100-million TV campaign," he adds. "It's essential that any summer movie campaign -- particularly for a franchise -- finds its core fans and activates them. This core could be 100 influential vampire bloggers, 25 highly influential comic book stores and their owners, or Beverly Hills moms who are nuts about Chihuahuas."
Wax, who has been working with Campfire on the digital campaign for "Terminator Salvation," says studios need to think about how to engage their core audience and cause them to speculate about something along the lines of an online mystery, a celebrity acting out, or a highly emotional public debate.
"I'd like to see any tactic the Weinstein Brothers used when they owned Miramax -- gone digital," Wax says.
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