Using Human Fear and Mystery to Boost Marketing Sales: The Blair Witch Project (1999)
- Calan Mengel
- Sep 24, 2021
- 5 min read
Talk about impressive, this campaign helped the movie raise over $250 million worldwide.
I love a good movie, but what do I love even more than that? A phenomenal marketing campaign for a movie. The creative aspects of a film are essential, but so is the money stuff, especially for a producer.
Sure, you can use billboards, flashy signs, and crazy trailers, but there have been alternative techniques used throughout history to sell films in such interesting ways. One of these famous campaigns was for the popular found footage film known as The Blair Witch Project.
As the story goes, three student filmmakers ventured off to Burkittsville, Maryland in hopes to create a documentary on the legend of the Blair Witch, interviewing the locals and exploring the area. It isn't until the trio travels into the woods when interviews start getting darker and they are told the woods are haunted. When one of the filmmakers, Josh, knocks over a cairn in a small cemetery, their journeys intensify-- they hear twigs snapping in the forest near them, they get lost in the woods, and their belongings are messed with. Eventually, Josh goes missing, and one by one come the fates of each student.
Photo sourced from Creepyshake.
So, knowing what the story is about, let's take a look at how marketing was done back in the late 1990's...
Where could you find information on movies in the 90's? On TV, before the movies you went to see in the theatres, magazines, on VCR tapes... so, what was new on the rise? Two words:
THE INTERNET.
The world wide web was a new platform for many individuals. Bye-bye were the days of newspapers and print work and hello to the newest, coolest thing around. What comes with new inventions, though, also comes things like curiosity and superstition. These are feelings that the team on The Blair Witch Project used to turn heads and start engaging their audience. And although the project used new forms of media to market the piece, such as a webpages and AOL chat rooms, they still used older versions of media marketing, such as newspapers and fliers.
The Webpage
Probably the most notable thing the team used to get word out about their film was through a website. The goal for this campaign was to make the Blair Witch seem real, using the power of the not-yet-fully-explored internet. This was an easy catch, again, since computers were a new addition to human's technological advances.
The website featured all black backgrounds with photos and audio clips in order to immerse each visitor into the experience. With little to no information on the film itself, audience members were forced to weight their questions in their own heads: "Are these audio clips real?" "These photos look so spooky, is this legend true?" "Will the Blair Witch come after me if I travel into the woods?".
A photo from the original website. Photo sourced from Alyssa Bereznak's article on The Ringer website: https://www.theringer.com/movies/2019/3/28/18280988/blair-witch-movie-marketing-1999
This website started the small talk between high school students in the cafeteria, kids hanging out after school, and even parents who caught word of their children speaking about the subject. What was going on, and is this real?
The AOL Chat Room Plan
A great way to spread a rumor is to distribute it so that it catches a spark and spreads like wild fire. AOL, or America Online, chat rooms were a hit in the early days of the internet, and the film team seized their chances of utilizing the platform to their advantage.
In AOL, you could chat with people around the world about different topics and things. A plethora of channels were featured, such as Sports, News, and Entertainment. Crew members took to these chat rooms with strangers and mentioned the tale of the Blair Witch. This sparked even more curiosity between individuals to tell their other AOL chatrooms what was going on. In return, those chatrooms told other chatrooms, and so on and so fourth.
An old photo of the channel homescreen. Photo sourced from Karl Kreder Ph.D's article written on his website: https://medium.com/@karl.kreder
By this point in the game, the crew had spooked a bunch of people, especially teenagers. What was this thing, and was it real? People tend to panic when uncertain-- when they don't know all the facts and details-- it can lead the human mind to fear. This fear is what the marketing plan fed on to stay alive and grow to the size it became.
Fake Pamphlets and Newspaper Listing
How else can you create uncertainty within a sea of audience members?
Hand out fake leaflets to people on the street.
How do you take this a step further and really freak people out?
Pay to publish a fake 'Missing Persons' advertisement in some local newspapers.
A 'missing persons' ad that even has an office you can call. Photo sourced from Masters in Marketing: http://www.masters-in-marketing.org/10-most-innovative-movie-marketing-campaigns/
Imagine you were walking down the street and handed this flyer. The person handing it to you seemed distressed and worried. Or, picture this-- you sit down to drink your morning coffee and read the paper before work (in the 90's, of course). All of a sudden, you see a 'missing persons' post in the paper. How do you react? I'm sure many people felt nervous, curious, or confused... maybe scared.
Film Trailers and More
Just as many other movies have, The Blair Witch Project came out with trailers.
One of the original trailers. Sourced from user, "Forever Horror Video Archive" on YouTube.
Take a look at the editing, and what shots were used. When you press play, what do you hear? Distorted music, metal banging in the distance, screaming, lightening strikes, footsteps. How does it make you feel?
They matched the trailer to their marketing, feeding on people's fear of the unknown. What IS the Blair Witch? Imagine what it would have been like if you were in elementary school, walking downstairs to get a glass of water at night, and someone left the TV on. What if you saw this trailer? You'd probably be terrified.
According to Tom Armitage's article on www.site-seeker.com, a magazine ad was released after the film's opening weekend. They took a whole page of Variety Magazine to state the following:
“blairwitch.com: 21,222,589 hits to date.”
Talk about impressive. Essentially, this was the announcing of their successful marketing scheme. They did it-- they pulled you in!
Final Thoughts
Photo by Pavel Danilyuk from Pexels
Movie marketing is such an essential part of creating a successful piece. What The Blair Witch Project goes to show is that you can get extremely creative and smart with how you start broadcasting your film to the world-- as long as you time it right. There are a few key takeaways to take note of for you fellow indie filmmakers:
- Timing and location are EVERYTHING. Look at the world around you: how are people marketing their pieces? What is trending at the moment? What was trending a decade ago and can you revive it? What new technology is out there, and how can you utilize it effectively?
- Fear is a good way to get people curious and superstitious. This one is specific to the horror genre... Make your audience want to uncover more secrets about your film. How can you achieve this?
The Blair Witch Project was created on a budget of $60,000 and made $1,512,054 during its opening weekend, debuting in 27 different theatres. There have been video games released years after the movie, as well as other consumable content for audience members. The Blair Witch Project has gained a significant fan base and will go down as one of the most iconic and successful indie found footage movies in history.
Sources:
- How “The Blair Witch Project” Reinvented Movie Marketing by Markairn on Better Marketing: https://bettermarketing.pub/how-the-blair-witch-project-reinvented-movie-marketing-f7fe5f8285f7
- Blair Witch Project - Still the Greatest Marketing Campaign After 15 Years by
Tom Armitage on site-seeker: https://www.site-seeker.com/blair-witch-project-still-greatest-marketing-campaign-15-years/
- The Blair Witch Project Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blair_Witch_Project
- Box Office Mojo: https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl2269611521/
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