About a month ago, I was walking down Melrose with my girlfriend and I saw an all white billboard sign with black letters that read "You suck Sarah Marshall." I laughed, I seriously thought it was a guy getting revenge at a girl and what a better way than to display his feelings in a public billboard.
After a couple of days I started to see the same billboard sign with different choice of words plastered in every bus and billboard around Los Angeles. A couple of my friends also wondered who was this mysterious person "Sarah Marshall". After watching the movie "Drillbit Taylor" I found out those billboard ads are for an upcoming film called "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" that is going to come out this Friday the 18th.
In my opinion it's a brilliant graphic design campaign. I always thought, a good movie ad consisted of a well designed poster, but it's not the case with this film. It's a simple design, that definitely caught my attention, even though the movie ad is damm near ugly. It's going to be hard to forget "Sarah Marshall" with these funny marketing strategies.
5 comments:
When I first saw the adds I thought the same thing--and your right--the ad is really plain. A short sentence, with no pictures or anything else to distact the viewer. Its straight to the point, but it leaves you asking yourself who Sarah Marshall is and what she did in order to be hated. I guess just using typography can get a viewers attention.
I think the use of negative space (white or blank areas) is being heavily utilized. I think it is a very effective way of getting straight to the point. Especially when somebody is driving down the block at 35 mph and remembering that Sarah Marshall sucks on the way home... It really not a bad idea...
Maybe we'll be remembering Fine Arts Calendar of events sometime soon when we're walking to the parking lot...
I also did wonder who Sara Marshall is when I saw the poster. It didn't occur to me that the poster is for a movie. I thought it's for a comedy show or some kind of chain-store ad. However, the poster did cause a wondering mind to the viewer.
Viral marketing at its best. Effective, isn't it?
In a visually cluttered landscape, simplicity works - and we all agree that it was a great campaign.
I am more saddened that you paid money to see Drillbit Taylor.
Hollywood - 2
My fellow CSULA student - 0
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