The Cost Of Giving 1-18-08 A Name

10/20/07

The Cost Of Giving 1-18-08 A Name

10/20/2007 |

Posted by Dave and Thomas

One blog (see here) has taken a look at the ripple effect for the Cloverfield/1-18-08 marketing department that will occur when or if a movie title is announced. More preciscely, the post looks at the effect a name change will have on the Google search engines. While this is far from being a precise tool to measure a movie's marketing, it does bring up some key issues on the project.

The author seems to think that keeping with the codename 'Cloverfield' will be the best marketing decision. Keep in mind that the author is using his projected Google scenerio as his source of data. While search results are key to any website or movie, with a viral project like this the bulk of the data is being heavily driven by forums, blogs, and movie websites.

The title of the movie won't live or die by how Google Trends sees the movie. Instead, the film will fill seats by what Ain't It Cool News, Slash Film, and unFiction mention. With a timeline now of 3 months until the release, 1-18-08 has garnered enough buzz on so few facts that the first wealth of information that overwhelms the fans and bystanders alike that it will easily create enough of a factor for the Google Trends that will ride the movie into opening week.

As for keeping the term 'Cloverfield' as the movies title I personally couldn't disagree more with the Marketing author about keeping that term. If your choices are using 'Cloverfield' or the release date 1-18-08, it makes more sense to use '1-18-08' than 'Cloverfield.' The only real exception is to tie in the 'Cloverfield' term into something relevant to the movie such as the secret, underwater ingredient in Slusho is called a 'Cloverfield' because of its color. Even that is too much of a stretch for my liking. At this time I can't see how the term could fit in.

I've liked '1-18-08' as the title for awhile now for multiple reasons. Like the arguement for 'Cloverfield' the date '1-18-08' is already established. The movie is supposed to take place that night which connects the title and movie. Plus, Paramount's homepage now refers to the movie as '1-18-08.'

Labels: 1-18-08, 1-18-08 movie, bad robot, cloverfield, cloverfield monster, jamie and teddy, JJ Abrams, Monstrous, Overnight, Parasite, Slusho, Tagruato

1 comments:

Anonymous said...: wolfmother has got something to do with it.

we will find you.; October 24, 2007 at 9:43 PM

What is Cloverfield?

Welcome to 1-18-08 Project Cloverfield Blog.

Cloverfield is the J.J. Abrams (Lost, Alias) produced monster flick directed by Matt Reeves. Get caught up on all the Cloverfield news including the viral world of Tagruato, TIDOwave, and Slusho!? And now Aladygma?

However, I love viral campaigns. Cloverfield taught me the fun of being involved with the viral world of movies and TV. That's why I'd like to branch out this site to cover some of the major viral campaigns as they are developing. Feel free to drop me a line or tip on any you find interesting.

Welcome to Cloverfield

Very few facts emerged from the viral campaign that was Cloverfield. It all started after a short, teaser trailer for Cloverfield appeared with the Transformers movie in early July of 2007. Since then, speculation surrounded what the title of the movie would be (Monstrous, Overnight, etc...) and what the monster really is and why it is tearing up New York City.

A few pictures and covert videos from the film showed up online and there were only a few core facts we knew of including the poster, the teaser trailer, and a few websites at 1-18-08, Tagruato Corp, and Slusho .

In November, the official full-length Cloverfield trailer was released that helped open up the story as well as cement the "Cloverfield" name for the movie. A short glimpse of the Cloverfield Monster was seen but for most people they still had little or no clue as to what it was.

The movie centered around five young New Yorkers throwing their friend a going-away party the night that a monster the size of a skyscraper descends upon the city. Told from the point of view of their video camera, the film is a document of their attempt to survive the most surreal, horrifying event of their lives. Cloverfield opened the weekend of 1-18-08 and set box office records for a movie in January with a monster take of over $40M. Continue to check back here for updates on the mystery and viral campaigns of Cloverfield.

Get Started with the Cloverfield Viral Marketing

If you're new to the Cloverfield viral world than let's get started. First off, for the beginners let's look at what we're talking about.

What does viral marketing mean? Click here.

1-18-08.com Updates with pictures randomly. Each picture is layered onto of the previous update and all can be dragged and moved around the screen. Click and hold the mouse to 'grab' an image and move it around. While holding the image, shake it back and forth quickly and it will flip over. Some images have writing on the back.

Slusho This is the Japanese frozen drink made from a secret ingredient gathered from the bottom of the ocean. Slusho gives you a kick and makes you extremely happy. Prior to 1-18-08 Slusho was not sold in the US. However, recent FDA approval gave Slusho clearance to come to the states. Rob Hawkins, the lead character, was recently promoted to vice-president of Slusho and was on his way to Japan the night of the attack. Slusho is owned by the Tagruato Corp. of Japan. Slusho also first made an appearance on J.J. Abrams Alias during a scene where characters buy the drink at a store.

Tagruato This ficticious Japanese company is the parent company of Slusho as well as the Yoshida Medical Research, Bold Futura, and ParafFUN! Wax Distributors. Besides drilling the oceans for Slusho ingredients, Tagruato builds everything from space satellites to medical gear.

T.I.D.O wave An activist group set out to bring to light all the damage Tagruato has done to the envirnoment.

Jamie and Teddy A minor character from the movie, Jamie popped up on a 1-18-08.com picture and the MySpace profiles for the movies characters before getting famous for her "Jamie and Teddy" website. The site is comprised of video journals from Jamie. The site is password protected but can be accessed by the password "jllovesth"

1-18-08 Project Cloverfield - Warning! Spoilers