Warner Bros.’ Bold Content Marketing Move
It’s too late now.
But if you were lucky enough to hear about it or stumble upon it, you actually experienced Warner Bros. bold content marketing move to promote The Lego Movie 2 – The Second Part.
What did they do?
To promote the release of The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, Warner Bros. partnered with YouTube and streamed the WHOLE original Lego Movie.
In my book, 51 Content Marketing Hacks, I call this “Content Marketing Hack #5.” What is the hack?
Content Marketing Hack #5: Begin your campaign with content that can be thought of as samples and teasers.
Movie Trailers Are “Free Samples”
We don’t usually think of them in this way, but movie trailers are really just a form of a free sample.
Are free samples actually that powerful?
In my book, I quote what the great advertising pioneer, Claude C. Hopkins, said this about the power of samples:
“The hardest struggle of my life has been to educate advertisers in the use of samples, or to trials of some kind. They would not think of sending out a salesman without samples. But they will spend fortunes on advertising to urge people to buy without seeing or testing. Some say that samples cost too much. Some argue that repeaters will ask for them again and again. But persuasion alone is vastly more expensive.“
Advertising Pioneer: Claude C. Hopkins
Later in my book, I say this…
“As content marketers, we need to think of the videos that we create more as trailers than advertisements. And we also need to remember that they are only one small part of the whole strategy. The point of the content we create for a trailer is not to sell. It’s just to whet audience members’ appetites. Don’t try to accomplish more than that with them.”
– 51 Content Marketing Hacks
What Warner Bros did by offering the whole first Lego Movie for free is just take Claude Hopkins’ “free sample method” and put it on steroids!
It worked because it wasn’t too much of a sample from a movie they wanted to sell tickets to. It was a HUGE sample from their previous movie that had the same “flavor.”
By not just making their ad a small sample of scenes from the new movie and by instead showing the whole first movie, they were going to the full extreme to whet their audience member’s appetite.
Not a New Content Marketing Strategy, But a New Application of a Proven Strategy
This isn’t a completely unheard of content marketing strategy. Disney is one of the studios that has done this before.
In fact, I talked about this in a post I wrote back on June 19, 2012, called Disney’s Content Marketing Technique Used To Promote “Carsland.”
In that post, I talk about how Disney aired the movie “Cars” on network TV for the first time. But they weren’t just doing that for fun or out of kindness.
It was a brilliant content marketing strategy used to promote “Carsland” at California Adventureland (Disneyland).
How do I know? This is how…
- Before they went to the commercial break they showed clips of kids riding the new rides.
- They also had John Lassester (animator, film director and the chief creative officer at Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios) talking about kids coming to meet their Cars “friends” they’ve come to know.
- Larry The Cable Guy was host of this “Cars network TV premiere.” At different commercial breaks, Larry would come on and tell more about the different aspects of this new 12-acre section of California Adventureland.
I’ve also seen Disney use this same content marketing strategy to promote movie sequels by showing the original on network or cable TV.
Even though this strategy isn’t a completely new one, using YouTube as a platform to implement this strategy is a new way to use this strategy.
In fact, according to TheVerge.com, this is the first time an entire movie officially played as an ad on YouTube.
Will Other Movies Attempt This?
I don’t know if other studios will try this or if this will become a common thing, but I am sure it has been an effective way to get kids and adults excited about The Lego Movie 2.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens if it does become a common practice.
But either way, it’s a good reminder for all of us to never forget “Content Marketing Hack #5” and think of new and creative ways to apply it.
Let Me Apply This Strategy Myself and Whet Your Appetite
On June 5, 2012, I wrote a post that would later become one of the most popular posts on ContentMarketingInstitute.com that year.
Joe Pulizzi, the founder of ContentMarketingInstitute.com, later said this…
“Scott has consistently been one of our top authors at the Content Marketing Institute. His posts are timely, fact-driven and almost always drive a high-level of discussion. His ’21 Types of Content We Crave’ infographic post on CMI was one of our most popular posts of the year!”
Joe Pulizzi, Founder of ContentMarketingInstitute.com
In that post, I revealed some of the types of content that people crave.
And it was that post that later became the basis for training I created which was based on how to use these types of content to create engaging and unique content.
Two people who heard this training live said this about it…
“Scott is a fantastic speaker. His presentations grab your attention from the very start, then keep you on the edge of your seat for the entire duration. Scott had an audience of B2B content marketers hanging on his every word. Scott’s presentation sparked so many ideas that the subsequent Q&A with audience members ran long. Being a good sport, Scott stayed until every last question was answered.”
– Dennis Shiao Former Director of Content Marketing, DNN
—-
“The title of Scott’s presentation, ‘21 Types of Content We Crave,’ was completely misleading, and that’s a good thing. For most audiences, the phrase ‘types of content’ denotes the different content assets: data sheets, white papers, infographics, news releases, etc. Currently, there are many content experts who talk about content strategy and content assets – talks that have become content cliché. Scott’s presentation, on the other hand, was about the different emotional triggers that content should elicit and evoke – a truly brilliant and novel approach.”
– Alok Vasudeva, The Marketer’s Continuum
My Free Sample for You – No Sign-Up Required
I want to practice what I preach by offering you a free sample of “31 Types of Content We Crave” video training.
It is based off on my infographic and is the training that the two testimonials above are talking about.
I want to let you watch to the first 12 minutes of my 52:39-minute video training. You can watch it for free with no sign-up required at the link below. (You normally have to sign-up by email.)
That way you can get a taste and see if you would like to purchase it or not.
And if you decide that you do want to purchase it, I have a special offer for you.
When You Purchase Access to My “31 Types of Content We Crave” Video Training You’ll Get My Book and Two Other Powerful Video Products for Free
My “31 Types of Content We Crave” video training currently sells to the public for $99.
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If you purchase my special offer, you’ll not only learn the ingredients and recipes for creating engaging and interesting content, but you’ll also learn:
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“Before writing a word for the web, read Scott Aughtmon’s new book. It will turbocharge your brain. Great book with great stories.”
– Al Ries Author of the classic, best-selling book Positioning: The Battle For Your Mind (with Jack Trout) and many other books. (Positioning was voted by AdAge as one of the 75 most important advertising ideas of the past 75 years.)
I’m a business strategist, consultant, content creation specialist, and speaker. I’ve been studying effective marketing and business methods (both online and offline) since 1999.
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