It’s that time again! Team Smarthouse loves seeing all the innovative marketing that goes into films – both big blockbusters, and small indie features. While most of the 2023 may have been overshadowed by Summer’s “BARBIEHEIMER/BARBENHEIMER” double feature madness (a marketing campaign for two movies created entirely by movie fans!) — there was still a lot to admire. Let’s get into it!

Speaking of Barbie ….

BARBIE & AIRBNB OFFER UP KEN’S MOJO DOJO CASA HOUSE
There was a LOT of great marketing attached to BARBIE last year (a hot pink Xbox; a Burger King meal, a selfie generator, custom Crocs, fashion tie-ins and more!) – but the BIGGEST was having Barbie’s Malibu Dream House available on Airbnb, with a masculine twist: Ken has taken over, and revamped part of the house with everything he loves, like horses, obviously.

NETFLIX CONSTRUCTS ACTUAL SWEATING BILLBOARDS FOR EXTRACTION 2
Yup, you read that right! To promote action-thriller EXTRACTION 2, Netflix constructed billboards featuring Chris Hemsworth that have technology to make it look like his character is perspiring as intensely as he does on screen. The marketing installations were then strategically set up on the sidewalk so that passersby were able to touch the sweat (don’t worry! It was actually just water!) and take selfies with the posters. Cool … but also kinda gross.

THE ARC OF OBLIVION’S “ARK” MOVIE THEATER
Is this the most meta of all indie film promotions? During the course of Director Ian Cheney’s documentary, THE ARC OF OBLIVION, a wooden ark is constructed on Cheney’s parent’s property in Maine. The structure serves as both a physical storage space for archival materials and a symbolic representation of humanity’s desire to retain meaning in an impermanent world.

During the month of August, Cheney worked with Sandbox Films to transform the ark into the Ark Light Theatre – a 24-person screening room where the film was screened for the public, with live music, snacks, and wine! What a fun – and unique – way to generate buzz.

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: DEAD RECKONING PART ONE - LETTERBOXD REVIEW MESSAGING
Paramount teamed up with Letterboxd for a clever marketing gimmick; when users went to “save” their reviews of MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: DEAD RECKONING PART ONE, a secret message was activated from the “I.M.F,” complete with a self-destruct countdown, cut short by Agent Ethan Hunt. This was such a fun surprise to discover! And it activates whenever you review ANY of the Mission Impossible films – not just Dead Reckoning.

COCAINE BEAR EMBRACES SOCIAL MEDIA
When you have a movie called Cocaine Bear, you gotta lean in to creating content where your audience lives, and in this case the marketing team went hard on social by hopping on viral TikTok trends, creating meme after meme after meme on Instagram, and making its Twitter feed LOL funny — with tweets created by the bear, herself.

MW INDUSTRIES ON LINKEDIN

A24 is so very good at creating subtle, yet brilliant, marketing. To promote BEAU IS AFRAID they leaned into how important MW Industries is to the film’s twists and turns by creating a LinkedIn page for it, and making posts that promote various fictional developments.

2024 MARKETING TRENDS WE HOPE TO SEE MORE OF
There’s no denying the fascination (and …. huh? reactions) to the Dune Sandworm Popcorn bucket! 2023 saw a lot of limited edition themed popcorn and soda containers at various theaters, with collectors scrambling to catch ‘em all — and the trend continuing into this year with GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE. Team Smarthouse is wondering what fantastical popcorn containers we’ll see this year!

As always, here are some posters that made us do the happy dance:

Our Favorite Film Marketing in 2023