Online Marketing, For Action Heroes

Sylvester Stallone’s interview for his new movie, 'The Expendables', starts off innocently enough. But then it gets real. A little too real.


On Monday, Lionsgate Entertainment unleashed one of the coolest customizations of the YouTube Watch Page we’ve offered to-date. Fresh off their promotion of ‘The Expendables’ at ComicCon, Lionsgate has pumped their YouTube advertising full of testosterone, and hopes to see big results at the box office.

Lionsgate has been placing its footage on YouTube for awhile now, in the form of promotional trailers and clips, television shows and full length films. So why this inspired creative approach to ‘The Expendables’ trailer where Stallone interacts with the ‘mercenaries’ in other videos?

“We’ve promoted ‘trailer overlay experiences’ for past films like ‘Daybreakers’ and ‘My Bloody Valentine 3D’ to great results”, said Lionsgate’s VP of New Media for Theatrical Marketing, Danielle DePalma, “This time we took the idea for ‘The Expendables’ to the next level by including a human element that surprises the user and turns something as simple as an interview into a bad-ass experience that matches the film’s fun and intensity.”

A bad ass YouTube experience? Precisely. It’s not about just getting your content uploaded anymore. There have to be drivers to your videos. For Lionsgate, that’s been the Youtube Homepage, the brand channel, Promoted Videos, and offline activities. DePalma went on to say, “Any offline event as powerful as Comic Con translates into buzz online, which is critical to marketing success. In the case of ‘The Expendables’, the energy and excitement from the overflowing crowd in Hall H and the thousands of fans proudly displaying their Expendables tattoos and pumped up by the cast signing and materials turned into extraordinary word-of-mouth via Twitter, Facebook, and blogs.”

Granted, not every business can attend trade shows or leverage large budgets for custom gadgets and Stallone-caliber endorsements. Lionsgate had the assistance of The Visionaire Group to pull together their YouTube customization. Nevertheless, if you're Sly-less and without a digital creative agency, there's still something to learn from 'The Expendables'. Have a diverse range of drivers to your video online and off, bring the element of surprise to your ads in ways that delight your audience, and hey - don't forget to SHARE.

Posted by Kate Rose, YouTube Communications recently watched Rocky Remix