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The horror film industry has invested in some interesting marketing in the past, but perhaps none more grisly than this: Lionsgate Films plans to splatter 1,000 promotional posters for the film Saw III with the actual blood of actor Tobin Bell, who plays the movie’s villain.
Bell donated his blood for posters that feature his character in a blood-red shroud, along with the tagline Legends Never Die, writes AdAge. The posters will be used in movie theaters and other entertainment venues, but some will be sold on the Lionsgate website for $20 a pop. Proceeds will go to the American Red Cross.
Lionsgate co-president of marketing, Tim Palen, hit on the idea of using real blood because he thought it would create a more authentic shade of red.
Adidas once drew blood from members of New Zealand’s All Blacks rugby team, mixing it with the ink that was used to print posters. Fans who purchased an Adidas team jersey received the poster, and all 8,000 poster-jersey combos quickly sold out. The campaign was dubbed Bonded by Blood.
Lionsgate actually has a history of collecting blood from fans, beginning with the Saw blood drive in conjunction with the first movie released in 2004. The second drive, last year, netted more than 10,000 pints of blood. The goal this year is to double last year’s contributions. Blood donors will be lured by studio-created movie-like posters that include “naughty nurses” and the tagline “Give ’til it hurts.”
The film’s website invites visitors to bid in order to win an exclusive movie poster “marked in the blood of Tobin Bell & autographed by the cast and crew of Saw 3!” Proceeds benefit the American Red Cross.
Katz Radio Group has snared two more major clients, having approached and signed CBS Radio and Entercom Communications, formerly clients of Interep.
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Black Friday is typically known as the day of unbeatable deals, but also long lines, packed stores, and jostling customers.
But this season, online retail giants Amazon and eBay are doing their best to get customers out of stores and…
Despite the U.S. financial crisis and dwindling marketing budgets at some financial institutions, the number of retention-related direct-mail offers sent by banks to current customers in Q3 2008 was 42% higher than in Q2.
View chart of estimated mail volume, Q3…
