Coraline subway advertising

The definition of creative advertising? Has to be this ad for Coraline.

“Shown in the tunnel between Metro Center and Gallery Place in the Washington DC subway system”

After doing a bit of searching, I found the website of he agency responsible for promoting the film in the United States. They have an incredibly detailed and fascinating account of their advertising strategy.

Part 1 of this strategy was to “activate influencers”. They came up with the idea to create 50 one of a kind, hand made “influencer boxes” which were sent to targetted bloggers. The boxes contained relics from the set and passwords to unlock behind the scenes footage.

Super Punch has photographs of the various boxes, and links to the bloggers that received them.

What is so brilliant about the boxes is that they were tailored to appeal to each blogger and their passion. The agency came up with 5 target influencing groups :

• Fans of Selick, Gaiman and anyone involved in the creation of the film (“Creators”)
• Fans of the craft of filmmaking and especially the type used in this film (“Craft”)
• Comics, animation and collectibles geeks (“Geeks”)
• Folks who we knew would be excited about the themes/aesthetics of the film (“Culture”)
• People in the video game world (“Gamers”)

Is this campaign the best example of marketing/pr engaging with bloggers? I don’t know, but it sure as hell impressed me.