The Boat That Rocked - Marketing (Viral and Trailer)

One poster for TBTR

The Boat that Rocked – Lack of Viral campaign.

There was no such viral marketing campaign for the boat that rocked, however there was still a strong marketing campaign following key conventions of many British films. One reason for this lack of Viral marketing is that unlike American movie companies British ones just want to get the film made and do no worry about marketing until post production. However in America throughout the production of the film they are always thinking about how to market the end product.

Trailer

The 39 seconds teaser trailer was released before the full one minute 30 second trailer in cinemas, this got people talking about the upcoming film. It gave little away which captivated the audience. Further more it made people aware that:

• The film was opening
• Who’s in it
• Genre
• Idea of story

Both the teaser and the full length trailer require requires synergy, the teaser haven given the audience an idea about the film, the film trailer should take the idea further and develop it. TBTR trailer did that, it revealed more about the main characters as well as giving away some of the plot.

Why no Viral?

Social networking sites are very influential in successful viral campaigns

It was a traditional British film that stuck to posters and trailers, despite these drumming up initial interest in failed to live up to its budget retaking only a quarter of their production budget. Another reason for the lack of viral campaign may have been because of the adult target audience. The primary target audience was 35-60 year olds who grew up around pirate radio, this is an age group that are not known to be big users of digital technology and the internet such as YouTube, Facebook and smart phone apps.

It is through these platforms that viral campaigns are most successful; one flaw of the campaign is the Facebook page for the film targets younger audience who the film did not appeal to as it was a period film. 

Reviews state that ‘If you liked ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’ and ‘Love Actually’, you’ll love ‘The Boat That Rocked’.’ All free films are related as they are great representations of British society.