Whedonesque : Comments on 7908 : Universal promoting SERENITY on TiVo.

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September 15 2005

Universal promoting SERENITY on TiVo. As of early this morning, up to 3.3 million TiVo users may find a new menu item - "Meet the Crew of SERENITY" - which will play the full trailer for the film on their TV. How shiny is that?

Selecting this menu item (which rotates on and off the bottom of the main menu with other ads, but is also available under the "Showcases & TV Guide" sub-menu) takes users to a dedicated SERENITY menu screen, prominently displaying poster art and the release date, along with a menu item to play the full trailer.

The "headline" on this screen is "The Fight For the Future", and the blurb reads: "They live for risk, they thrive on danger and they fight for the future. Catch a ride with the crew of SERENITY, in theaters September 30th."

Note that I of course can't guarantee to a metaphysical certainty this has yet been downloaded onto every TiVo - or even that it will, but it seems likely. (If you have a TiVo and don't immediately see it, check your "Showcases" menu, or otherwise just give it a day or so to pop up.)

Kudos to Universal marketing!

P.S.: BTW, in other SERENITY marketing news... it's worth noting that the "Good Guys" commercial aired during Tuesday night's season premiere of HOUSE (on the evil Fox), which had a massive 15.7 million viewers according to Neilsen overnight ratings. And we're not even two weeks from release until tomorrow, which is when a film's marketing traditionally kicks into high gear.

Robogeek | Firefly&Serenity | 14:24 CET | 15 comments total | tags:

I would love to know how much Universal's budget is for the marketing campaign.

Simon | September 15, 14:30 CET

I've heard a whisper they've reserved some money for a 2nd week push (after release) which is tradtionally not done nowadays - most 'blockbuster' movies get lots of advertising pre release, and then it drops off completely as soon as they're in the theatre (mainly because people realise the film is, like, Stealth quality). Tends to also bode well.

[ edited by gossi on 2005-09-15 12:54 ]

gossi | September 15, 14:54 CET

A "second-week push" is going to be absolutely crucial for this film (given the lack of name-brand stars, etc.), which should be made that much easier given (likely) strong word of mouth and positive reviews.

On top of that, there's a clear opportunity schedule-wise for Universal to have a lower-than-average second week drop-off, since there are no big high-profile movies targeting the same demographic - much less anything close to the same genre(s) - opening October 7.

Though I am personally quite eager to see "Wallace & Gromit". ;-)

Anyway, I do hope the marketing distills its focus on "Mal-the-anti-hero" and "River-the-deadly-enigma", as they're clearly the film's two main characters - and, I think, the two clearest 'hooks' to get non-Browncoats to connect with what this movie is.

Robogeek | September 15, 15:14 CET

I love my Tivo! More than ever now! Thanks for all this good news...*dancin' the happy dance*

sandyg | September 15, 15:18 CET

I just have football & range rover.
Going to try an extra download. Pathetic, me.

ETA: And it didn't even work. Bah. You'd think they'd purposely target those with Firefly season passes maybe? Guess not.

[ edited by melsta on 2005-09-15 15:38 ]

melsta | September 15, 17:27 CET

I also have just the football and car. Well, have to wait for the reset..it'll happen sooner or later.

sfrechette | September 15, 18:31 CET

I also saw an ad during the premiere of Supernatural on Tuesday, and last night on NBC. They're really doing a great job marketing this film. Even more kudos to Universal, for not only making this film, but, for getting it out there. The Signal's strong...

k8cre8 | September 15, 18:50 CET

Yippee Skippee. And a friend said he saw an ad during Monday Night Football and he took it as a sign that I would win the office football pool. He was right, and what great exposure!

blutortu | September 15, 19:45 CET

I must say, I've been really impressed with how widespread their marketing campaign is. I don't watch much TV at all, and in the very little bit I've seen in the past week (a tiny bit of Monday night football and part of Rescue Me) I've seen it come on twice. Then last night I saw a trailer (different from the first one) before "40-year-old virgin." And there's been a fair amount of press. They're getting it out there a LOT. Hopefully they'll get people talking about it too...
I agree about the second-week push being important. And hopefully this is a film that will be helped by word of mouth. I know I'll be contributing to those second-week dollars, since I'm in a wedding the opening weekend.

acp | September 15, 20:09 CET

I've also gotten a banner ad at Yahoo Games when I go to play hearts. Makes the heart smile, no pun intended.

melsta | September 15, 21:29 CET

Yes, I do also agree that they are doing an amazing job marketing this film, I've had people who I know that know of it through me come up to the me the last few days and tell me they are seeing commercials. Bring on SEPTEMBER 30th!

sfrechette | September 15, 21:51 CET

I agree that that week 2 (and I'll add week 3) will be crucial to the future of any franchise. We all know this is going to bust out week one, but it needs to have legs if we're going to convince the uninitiated that there's something special they need to check out. I'm glad to hear that Universal is setting aside some week 2 money.

Shakespeare | September 15, 22:58 CET

I have seen others posting about seeing Serenity promos on Fox, but seeing one last night during the premiere of "Head Cases" took my breath away. I had to check the channel info to make sure I was not hallucinating!

And woohoo! to Uni for week-2 $$$!

brownishcoat | September 16, 04:14 CET

And... we also got a commercial on last night's season premiere of SURVIVOR! Another encouraging sign that Universal is playing for keeps.

Robogeek | September 16, 09:49 CET

If you go from Tivo Central to Now Playing and then back to Tivo Central a few times, it should pop up. I was so excited to see Serenity on there! I've watched the trailer several times now.

Illyria | September 19, 00:40 CET

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