Results and Effectiveness

Such was the success of the strategy for the Trailer launch that audiences actually increased versus the previous Australian Idol segment. Given the success of the 1st screening of the ½ hr special, the show was rebroadcast without cost. Awareness tracking for the film opened at 86% which is 40% above expected norms From a commercial perspective, AVATAR has broken every existing box office record. IMAX screenings were sold out for weeks on end AVATAR became a box office phenomenon. It achieved $114 million at the box office, sinking James Cameron’s previous record-breaking blockbuster, Titanic, which achieved c.$58 million.

Creative Execution

There is a standard way to launch a new film. We ignored it. We built and extended the story. Using the veil of secrecy surrounding materials to our advantage we created event status for every release. We integrated the 3m.20s minute exclusive supertrailer into the biggest “water cooler” show, Australian Idol. We had the host alert viewers that the first glimpse was coming up. Later we seamlessly cut from the host introducing our trailer thus ensuring audiences did not simply switch during the ad break. The trailer timeslot was also heavily promoted throughout the week and in all the key TV listings guides nationwide. We also created a ½ hr AVATAR program, which was listed in all the TV guides and also heavily promoted on air. It ran in Saturday night peak (21h30). By using this unique approach we successfully positioned the film as an experience like no other.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

Despite AVATAR being a true box office phenomenon, prior to launch it was by no means a slam dunk! At first glance, the film had many limitations not least of which was that it featured 9ft tall blue people on a world no one had heard of. Further limitations included • Niche appeal for Sci-Fi • Lacked bankable stars • The secrecy surrounding the project meant that we had very limited materials to work with • 3D technology like this had never been experienced before In a world of franchise films, established plots & stories we set off to launch an unknown epic adventure. We positioned AVATAR as a film like no other. This meant that the film needed to be a talking point for mass audiences from the very first encounter. People needed to be left with no doubt that this was much more than just a “space/alien” film.