Advertising Marketing PR, Movie Marketing, Movie Marketing Madness, Online, Social Media

Movie Marketing Madness: Miss You Already

miss you already one-sheetWho’s your best friend? The person who knows all your secrets, who you share everything with and who not only doesn’t judge you but who still loves you? Everyone should have one of those people in their life, the kind of person who will be your emergency phone call when you need to disappear a body or who, when you hang out with her/him, there’s always a decent chance you’re going to wind up in Tijuana with no socks and a backpack full of novelty teeth.

The new movie Miss You Already is about a friendship that’s that close. Jess (Drew Barrymore) and Milly (Toni Collette) are life-long friends who know everything about each other and are always going on vacations, brunches and more together. Their friendship is put to the test though when, almost simultaneously, Jess finds out she’s pregnant and Milly finds out she has cancer. Not wanting to hurt her further, Jess keeps the news from Milly and Milly downplays her problems. The movie is about how they navigate this hard period of their lives.

The Posters

The one-sheet is primarily aimed at presenting the movie as an enjoyable and warm story of female friendship and turning out women in particular. Barrymore and Collette are the only faces – or any other visual element – on the poster and they’re shown laughing with each other. Below the title treatment the tagline reinforces the message by saying “When life falls apart, friends keep it together.” This is very much being presented as the kind of movie you should see with your girlfriends after brunch. I’m trying very hard not to sound sexist and trade in stereotypes here, but I think that’s pretty clearly the goal and the target demographic here.

The Trailers

The first and only trailer shows almost everything we need to know about the movie. We get the setup that these two are best friends who, as we’re told, do everything together. But then Collette’s character gets cancer and Barrymore’s becomes pregnant and, of course, everything changes.

The trailer is intent on showing us the dichotomy between the two tones of the movie. On the one hand we’re sold a feel-good comedy about two friends who get into all kinds of trouble together and have a blast doing it. On the other this is a very serious story about those friends dealing with hardships and changes that are going to be difficult.

Online and Social

The movie’s official website opens with full-screen motion graphics showing clips from the trailer, which you’re also prompted to watch right there on the home page.

The first section is “About,” which has a one-paragraph synopsis of the film’s story. The “Cast & Crew” section here is pretty interesting since it’s not just filmographies and such, but has the cast talking about their characters and how they related to them. This is pretty unique and I like it a lot since it helps create a much more personal relationship between the audience and the actors.

miss you already pic

The “Gallery” just has four stills from the film and then “Trailer” has the one trailer. There’s also a “Go Pink” prompt that presumably ties to the film’s story by encouraging you to support breast cancer awareness. It requires you to login using Facebook and I’m not going to do that, so I can’t offer more details.

The Facebook page is full of clips and images, along with a few posts about cancer research funding and related topics. There’s also an emphasis, particularly in the last couple weeks, on the lead singer from the band All American Rejects since he wrote a song for the soundtrack and has a part in the film. There was no dedicated Twitter or Instagram for the movie so it hitched a ride on the Twitter and Instagram for Roadside Attractions, where it was an emphasis, especially in the last month.  

Advertising and Cross-Promotions

As far as I was able to find there was no advertising done for the movie. I haven’t seen any online ads and didn’t see any TV spots online.

Media and Publicity

Director Catherine Hardwick talked about how this wasn’t just a random story she was telling but something she felt a personal connection to because of her own experiences with family and friends being diagnosed with or dying from cancer.

miss you already picm2

Collette and Barrymore would talk at various times, including here, about how the friendship that’s displayed on-screen is mirrored by the friendship they developed off-screen, immediately hitting it off and bonding after they met.

Overall

There’s a bit to like about this campaign even if you’re not in the target audience. And boy do the marketers know who the target audience here is. The “Gen X Female” is firmly in the crosshairs of the marketing team, who are promising that group a good laugh, a good cry and some good female bonding quality time, and what more could you want.

Like I started to say, though: Even if you’re not in that group there’s a bit to like here. Collette and Barrymore are both greatly talented actors and they seem to be in full charm mode here. So even if you don’t have girlfriends to go see it with there may be something to attract you to the film. I don’t believe it will manage great box office success – it seems like the kind of mid-level drama that is more at home on VOD these days – but I’m sure it has made an impression on a core group that will turn out if they can find it playing in their area.