Abstract

On October 16, 2009, a low budget horror film ‘Paranormal Activity’ was released in the US. The film went on to become a huge hit after it opened to packed houses and grossed US$ 22 million in one week. By the end of October 2009, the film had earned a staggering US$ 65 million. According to experts, the film was one of the highest revenue earning low-budget films in Hollywood. The success of the film was widely attributed to the unique promotional strategies adopted by California-based film production and distribution company, Paramount Pictures Corporation (Paramount Pictures). The promotional strategies started with a buzz created by free midnight screenings in college towns and word-of-mouth marketing (WOM) through social media and other channels. The most significant part of its promotion strategy was the ‘Demand It’ campaign launched by Paramount Pictures on the movie’s website, ‘www.paranormalmovie.com’. The site included a ‘Demand It’ tab that required the user to click and demand the release of the film in their city.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Analyze the promotional strategies for Paranormal Activity and understand the factors that led to its success. Understand how Paramount Pictures managed to get huge publicity for the film. Study how the promotions of films have changed with the emergence

Keywords

Service marketing, Promotional strategies, word-of-mouth marketing, viral marketing, online marketing, Viral movie marketing, 'Demand It' campaign, Paranormal Activity, Blair Witch Project, social networking, Paramount Pictures