Task: Cut through the clutter on YouTube to promote the new movie The Expendables.
Execution: The promo starts like any other. Sylvester Stallone is being interviewed about his new film The Expendables and his role in it. After a few seconds, we notice that all is not as it seems, as the action spills out across the page. Obviously, this is no ordinary movie trailer.
Credits: Lionsgate, The Visionaire Group.
Why I like this: With more than two billion views a day and 20 hours of video uploaded every minute on YouTube, the importance of cut-through is vital.
What makes The Expendables trailer stand out is the use of a technique called mimicry, which allows brands to create pages on YouTube that look like standard video pages, but are custom-built ads.
Lionsgate has used such trailers for films including Daybreakers and My Bloody Valentine 3D. But as Danielle DePalma, Lionsgate's vice-president of new media for theatrical marketing, explains: "We took The Expendables to the next level by turning something as simple as an interview into a badass experience that matches the film's fun and intensity."
Wish I'd thought of: Lionsgate didn't believe that a standard trailer for a Hollywood blockbuster would be enough to excite the masses, and The Visionaire Group's work is both exciting and spot-on in terms of tone of voice. At the end, Sly tells viewers: "Don't forget to share" - surely a first for the channel.
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