Open Letter to ‘Prometheus’ Marketing

Dear ‘Prometheus’ marketing and promotional boffins,

When it comes to the marketing and promotion of the new film ‘Prometheus’ please stop.

When director Ridley Scott first announced he was going to return to sci-fi, the project was shrouded in mystery.  Film fans salivated at the thought of what the creator of ‘Alien’ and ‘Blade Runner’ might conjure up.

From that moment onwards Scott denied the rumours surrounding his return to the ‘Alien’ universe that was a popular rumour at the time. It felt like Scott was protecting something or trying to throw people off the scent. Hardcore fans started to speculate more about the project thus increasing the hype and the momentum started to build.

The strength of the allure of the unknown is where an opportunity should have been recognised.

During the film’s production information leaks were inevitable but it was easy to avoid the reports on websites and the mainstream media.

Then the teaser trailer for the trailer arrived followed by the trailer.  Soon, Scott came out from behind the curtain and was happy to spruik something he once denied and tried to keep a secret.  Then there was a slightly longer trailer with potential spoilers, clips, featurettes and an endless stream of images.

Certain images shown off in the promotional material gave away too much and all of a sudden it felt like you were getting the news about Santa Claus from your parents all over again.

In the lead up to the release of ‘Prometheus’ there has been new footage of the film shown off every single day and a clever editor could combine it into a rough cut of the film.

It’s getting to the point of ridiculous where fans who were once passionate are now playing hide and seek in cinemas when ‘Prometheus’ trailers come on.  Why do we have to do all the work avoiding your marketing mistakes?  Is there such little faith in the project that you’re shoving it down our throats hoping we will submit and pay for a ticket?

As an exception, the viral marketing has been superb and it would have been interesting to see that used solely to promote the film.

As a fan here’s where you had me…new sci-fi film directed by Ridley Scott.  That’s why fans will be lining up for a ticket and I’ll be one of them.

Regards

Cameron Williams

Graffiti with Punctuation