Iron Man kicks it into high gear

I know I've been blogging mostly about "Iron Man 2," but there is honestly just that much to commend Marvel Studios and Paramount Pictures for. For instance, they have slowly been building the excitement around the movie through different television spots and revamping their entire Web site dedicated to "Iron Man 2." They've even set up two viral marketing Web sites I've mentioned in earlier posts.

I am writing this post because Marvel has just released a new trailer. You might think, "big deal, they all show the same scenes anyway," but this time, they've made this one interactive. Yes, that's right, as the trailer plays, it hits check points that you can refer back to after you've watched the preview--and you'll want to do that too.

Each of the checkpoints dive into a mini gallery of the character in that snippet, and it also pulls up a biography on whomever you might have clicked on. Just check it out for yourselves.

At the same time, Marvel has also released their first joint commercial with business sponsor Dr Pepper. From now through September, Dr Pepper cans will don Iron Man's front profile as part of a well integrated public relations/marketing strategy. I think this will bode very well for the Iron Man franchise because this means that publicity efforts will stretch far past the movie's release date, keeping Iron Man in everyone's brain for much longer than just the first two weeks in theaters.

Anyway, for your viewing pleasure, here is the commercial.

It was a good week for Iron Man

Last week was certainly eventful for Paramount and Marvel in terms of promoting their new flick, "Iron Man 2." Just in time to coincide with San Francisco's comic extravaganza, WonderCon, the production companies released and distributed lots of new promotional goodies all week long.

On Mon., March 29, Marvel released a new poster for the movie featuring cast members Robert Downey Jr., Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson and Gwenyth Paltrow.


On Tuesday, new mini-posters spotlighting the movie's hot hot heroine Black Widow, played by Johansson, were being given out for free at Iron Man 2's booth at WonderCon. That same day, Marvel added to its viral marketing campaign and launched a new fictional Web site featuring a digital map of the Stark Expo grounds, downloadable wallpapers, videos about the original Stark Expo with a 1970s-esque feel and a countdown to the opening day of the expo (really, it's a countdown to the movie's release date).


On Wednesday, a new trailer was released, this time promoting the "Iron Man 2" IMAX experience.

On Thursday, Marvel launched a new and improved movie Web site presenting up-close views of Tony Stark's armor, downloadable wallpapers and buddy icons, an expansive picture gallery of official movie stills and theatrical trailers and teasers.

And finally, last Friday, Marvel and Paramount released three new never-before-seen movie stills just to top the week off.

SXSW kicks off with 'Kick-Ass'

For those of you who don't know what the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival is, it is an annual set of interactive, film and music festivals and conferences that take place in Austin, Texas every spring. For four days, the city is the center of one of the largest music festivals in the United Sates.

Performers, new talent and film creators congregate to premiere their works and gain media exposure. This year, film director Matthew Vaughn opened the festival with the premiere of his latest movie, "Kick-Ass."

I cannot think of a better way to jump start promotions for a new movie than to give film enthusiasts a sneak peek of the final production.

"Kick-Ass" isn't your typical superhero movie. This film tells the story of an average comic-fanboy who takes his obsession with superheroes to the next level--he decides to become one himself.

The movie is supposed to be a comedy, and personally, I can't wait to see it. From the trailers I've come across, it looks like it will be an entertaining watch.

At the premiere at SXSW, Vaughn complained that one of the speakers was blown, citing that it was awkward in many instances where the audience would see a gun firing but no sound accompanied it. Even with a rough start, however, the audience seemed to really embrace the movie.

To top off the opening night, "Kick-Ass" posters were also being given out and signed by the cast. This is the type of simple, yet effective public relations tactic that I always enjoy seeing.

"Kick-Ass" opens April 16.

Tony Stark has a confession?

In conjunction with the Stark Industries Web site, it turns out Paramount and Marvel and really putting thought into their viral marketing angle.

One of the things I love about big movies from Marvel is that they know exactly how to stir up buzz among their fans, and they are able to do this by releasing even the most minute details that hardcore fans are sure to pick up. For "Iron Man 2", they have released three separate installments of another viral campaign featuring burnt newspaper clippings of stories about Tony Stark, the man behind the mask.

These fictional newspaper clippings were all released to different sources with one word highlighted in each of them. The clipping released first had a headline which read "The Secret Life of Mr. Stark" with the word "Secret" highlighted.

The second clipping's headline read "Stark Situation Paralyzed" with the word "Stark" highlighted.


The final installment of the campaign had a newspaper clipping that read "Tony Stark's confession: I am Iron Man" with the word "confession" highlighted.


All together, the highlighted words create the phrase "Secret Stark confession." This has been enough to make fans go wild with speculation as to what the superhero might reveal.

No matter what this revelation might be, Paramount and Marvel's online strategy has certainly worked and word of mouth has rapidly spread leaving fans wanting more. May 7 can't come soon enough.

Iron Man goes viral

I am really excited to see "Iron Man 2" when it comes out in May, but until then, fans get to find entertainment in Marvel's public relation tactics.

Marvel launched www.starkindustriesnow.com in the summer, but I just recently came across it and decided to check it out. The Web site has a really simplistic, straight-froward design in the classic Tony Stark manner. As of right now, Stark Industries is accepting job applications online. If you click the "Join Stark Industries" tab, you'll find areas of information to fill in along with entertainingly complicated questions on physics that sound as if Stark's character were asking you himself.

This is actually one of the more fun and amusing public relations strategies I have come across. Personally, I don't think any movie Marvel makes needs much hype to begin with, but you can check this out and wait to see if you are Stark Industries material. I'm still waiting on a response myself, but I have a nagging gut feeling I just may not make the cut.

There are still two months until the movie's theatrical release, and it will be interesting to see what else Marvel decides to post onto this new Web site. I guess we'll just have to keep our eyes open to see what happens next!