Why the new Teaser For “The Martian” is also An underneath Armour advert

The lead up to Ridley Scott’s upcoming movie The Martian has gone far past the traditional trailer, creating teasers that deal with the movie’s story as an actual existence news and pop cultural event. Even Neil deGrasse Tyson, StarTalk, and Nat Geo received in on the motion. Now, the mixing of the movie’s fictional world and ours is complete with the latest teaser, and an extraordinarily practical brand partnership.

Astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) prepares for the bodily rigor of house exploration as the voiceover describes the sacrifice and tough work required to succeed in greatness. If it seems and sounds just a little bit like an beneath Armour business, which is as a result of it is.

Product placement in film at all times walks a superb line between seamless integration and distracting target market insult. way back, Wayne’s World correctly summed up the majority of branded film roles.

extra lately although, some brands and picture producers have teamed up to create brand opportunities in movie that do not (SHOCK!) make everybody roll their eyes in revulsion. Will Ferrell being a major instance in motion pictures like Semi pro and Anchorman 2, the place he enthusiastically shilled for previous Spice, Bud light, and avoid, respectively, gloriously in personality. And James Bond has lengthy been a brand magnet.

last year, Scott’s RSA movies and theatrical merchandising agency Wild Card launched a new advertising and marketing retailer known as 3AM, with a goal to collaborate with filmmakers, studios and brands within the early degrees of the movie production cycle to create built-in content material and advertising and marketing extensions. 3AM creative director Chris Eyerman says that programming original content around movies is an area with big untapped attainable.

For The Martian, Eyerman says the ingenious technique from the outset was once to depict the Ares III astronauts as celebrities and observe the occasions of the mission in a technique that reflected how they might be lined. “We asked ourselves what it will seem like if we took the pop culture attraction of Apollo and Mercury-generation astronauts and infused that world with today’s hyper-related social media tradition,” says Eyerman. “on this setting, we may see the crew bid Earth farewell by the use of live video and a Persicope-like social media feed. and we would almost certainly see these astronauts being sponsored by way of manufacturers. this idea ended up being a ripe territory for content that allowed us to develop an emotional bond with these characters and also seize the humor, drama, and science that people cherished within the e-book.”

The company in fact approached under Armour with the theory for the most recent teaser. “Our partners at RSA reached out to (under Armour agency) Droga5 on our behalf to peer if UA had any pastime in being a content material partner on this film,” says 3AM managing companion Alison Temple. “From there, everybody labored collectively to create something that felt genuine to both the movie and the emblem.”

Nick Phelps, international Alliance Director for Droga5, says that the partnership is mutually advisable—the film needed a strategy to introduce the astronauts while setting up their credibility as fantastic athletes, and under Armour is all the time in search of opportunities in athletic performance and innovation with the most fascinating athletes. “that includes the astronauts in an underneath Armour marketing campaign was an effective way for all sides to reach their targets,” says Phelps. “beneath Armour is not an interruption into the movie’s fictional world, it is realistic and in reality provides credibility. the brand helps make their future world seem real, and of course that is what the film makers want. For the movie and the emblem it’s a win-win.”

Temple says that this approach represents a new manner forward for film partnerships. “everyone is attempting to post quality content at the moment,” says Temple. “this provides brands the power to create significant, culturally relevant content material, tied to a property that people care about. And in return, the studio gets to succeed in an target market that they won’t have reached otherwise. And it all works collectively to kind an important approach to seize passion and get audiences excited with out spoiling all the story or the moviegoing expertise.”