Later this month, Momentum Pictures will launch Chalet Girls, a UK romcom which is tipped to do well at the box office. While it may not quite live up to its billing as “the next Bridget Jones” it has certainly built strong pre-launch awareness and can expect a strong opening on the weekend of March 18/19/20. 

One of the companies involved in this pre-launch activity is Blue Barracuda, which launched an online advertising campaign integrated with Facebook. One of the most interesting aspects of the campaign was the decision to  link the Facebook ‘Like’ button to the film’s online trailer, thus enabling viewers to get further information on the cast, snowboarding locations and lifestyle brands featured in the film. It’s the first time a trailer has been integrated with social media in this way and the hope is that it will create buzz and awareness in advance of release. 

Social sharing

The trailer is hosted on the UK Film Council’s search site FindAnyFilm.com and uses social sharing to leverage metadata collected by the film’s director and producers to enable a participative experience.  Clicking on the ‘like’ button pauses the trailer and opens a panel providing more information.  If users click the ‘Like’ button within the panel, it is added to their likes on their Facebook wall and other similar items are recommended with a ‘You may also like’ feature. 

For example, if a user ‘likes’ a ski jacket by Roxy, Goggles and salopettes may be recommended.  Viewers can also become a fan, share the trailer with friends, click through to the film’s website and send to a friend.  Partners, such as LOVEFiLM, are accessed via a ‘Find out more’ button.  In return, brands featured in and associated with the film can link to the trailer from their own sites.  

Commenting on this approach, Jamie Schwartz, VP Theatrical Marketing at Momentum Pictures says “it is the first time the ‘Like’ button functionality has ever been integrated with a movie.  We don’t want people to just watch the film’s trailer; we want them to get involved, to share it with their mates, and to identify themselves with the cool brands it features.“ 

Participation and sharing

It’s not the first time Momentum and Blue Barracuda have worked together. Previously, they created a social media game for The Girl Who Played With Fire which was played 38,000 times, had half a million social shares and 10,000 Facebook friends. According to Martin Talks, CEO ofBlue Barracuda: “When people watch a film, they are often inspired by the lifestyle it portrays and want to buy into it.  Our (Chalet Girls) campaign takes that to the next level by enabling viewers to identify themselves with the cool brands in the film and use cool social sharing functionality.

It’s about technology facilitating what people are doing already: enthusing about the film and investigating the latest gear, games, key actors and locations.  Participation and sharing, such as this, and the convergence of media, like films and the internet, is the future of film making.”

The hosted site on FindAnyFilm.com reflects the look and feel of the rest of the film’s marketing including the blue and white of the sky and snow in the film, and Facebook’s colour palette. Katy Cox, General Manager of FindAnyFilm.com, added, “Momentum Pictures is building a reputation for distributing award-winning films, backed by highly innovative marketing campaigns.  This is undoubtedly an area that will grow, as it increases the engagement with audiences before and after they have watched the film, and enables sharing with other like-minded people, without alienating secondary audiences.”