Discuss: Is Graffiti a Viable Means of Film Marketing?

Posted by Paige MacGregor (paige@filmschoolrejects.com) on March 5, 2009

Is Warner Bros. paying street marketing teams to vandalize public property in New York City? Well, when put that way, it sounds like something the film industry monolith wouldn’t want to own up to. Whether or not they’re responsible, the words “Who Watches the Watchmen?” have appeared in spray-paint on walls across the big apple, inviting the question of whether Warner Bros. is responsible or if renegade street vandal/comic book geeks have taken to the night to publicly display their excitement over this week’s theatrical release of the highly anticipated Watchmen movie.

Better yet, it begs the question of whether advertising like this is effective. On one hand, it places the name of the film squarely on the minds of anyone who gets a glimpse. On the other hand, it’s too esoteric to reach anyone who wouldn’t have been going in the first place.

Some interesting photos of the famous Hiroshima Lovers silhouettes painted next to advertisements for The Veidt Method and more scrawling of the enigmatic rhetorical question of watching Watchmen have also surfaced in Toronto, that’s most likely related to the underground publicity stunt/geektastic orgasm of spray-painted excitement seen across NYC.

Hat tip to our friends at /Film who compiled the pics from flick users: davesbu, kellan, andrewdkeller and twitpic users bonerjamz and HermitHomeboy.

What do you think? Is marketing like this actually hitting an audience? Is that audience targeting going to translate into box office receipts?


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  • yes, I think it's rather effective. It doesn't matter who did it-- it builds up the excitement and buzz for the movie. People who might not know what the Watchmen is, will rush home and google "watchmen" and find out about the movie and the graphic novel..
  • There's an important rule for any business: 90% of the business comes from 10% of the customers. These are the low hanging fruit, and the implication is that it's ten times as easy to get them to buy than the non fans.

    All this adds up to yes, it's marketing and, yes, it's effective--to its intended audience.

    As for those of us who aren't already predisposed, some will be intrigued, others will be turned off, but both groups will have a new awarenes of the film. The studio is betting that the ultimate outcome will be positive.
  • carbuncle
    You're talking about it here, aren't you? QED.
  • Graffiti advertising won't make me see a movie I didn't want to see in the first place. That said, I love the way this stuff looks, especially the Veidt method posters and silhouettes.

    FACT: I have never correctly spelled silhouettes without the aid of spell-check.
  • I think in this case, it's only really targeted towards people who know what the movie is. If you were just someone who didn't know about the movie (or its 'tagline') you would probably a) ignore it as just being normal graffiti in the area and just blends into the background or b) would notice it and not put it together with a movie.

    Of course, if you heard about the movie, it might pique your interest, but I'm not convinced about that.

    But at the same time, there's going to be a lot of people who are interested in the movie that would think it was cool, like people who like the AR games and so forth.
  • this reaches more people than billboards because it's at eye level...it all depends if these spots are paid for and buildings are allowing this to be put there...if they are just randomly tagging walls it's annoying and illegal giving graffiti artists a bad name....urban advertising is going to be more common in New York and LA..... although if I see a graffiti ad for King Lear that might ruin the cool factor
  • Damn effective and a great idea. Sure they dont have to pay for anything but it just goes to show you YOU could do the same thing with your FILM.
  • Would Warner Brothers who may or may not be damaging other peoples property to promote their rubbish film, be the same corporation that is so determined to stamp out the heinous crime of digital piracy?

    I personally think hypocrisy should be a crime too.
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