I’ve just gone through the entire Watchmen site and it’s impressive. A little background: Watchmen is really critically acclaimed graphic novel from the 80s. Lots of comics fans will tell you it’s the best ever in the genre. I’m not a comics reader, but I read it last month and it’s terrific. Zach Snyder, the guy who did 300, directs.
Watchmen handled its numerous business challenges brilliantly.
1. How do you introduce this IP to people who know nothing about the comic and get them to care? At a base level, it’s a big budget superhero flick, but you don’t have well known characters like Batman and the Joker.
Solution: Horizontal navigation via characters shows a video giving the backstory to the main characters. Lots of mood and action and production value. So at the very least you’ll know it offers good eye candy like 300.
2. How do you let the fanboys know you didn’t screw it up? These will be the first guys to buy their ticket on opening day. This is a sacred text to these guys – they will be your most vocal critics and advocates.
Solution: Multiple levels of interaction that speak deeply to the mythology of the book. A clean vertical navigation offers straightforward links (video, downloads) and others that are a bit more intriguing (6 minutes to midnight, New Frontiersman) that throw a bone to the core fan.
“6 minutes to Midnight” is an immersive, interactive trailer, done in a way I haven’t seen before. Exclusive footage highlights some memorable images from the comic. It gives a bigger dose of the movie for fans who crave more than the standard trailer that’s been out for months. A nice touch is to let you know it’s going to take at least 10 minutes.
New Frontiersman offers some ‘transmedia’ ideas I’ve talked before about. The comic is set in the 80s with flashbacks to other eras. So there are videos Martha Quinn-era MTV and other media that reference the world of the game. This stuff was also seeded on youtube etc. Lots of this content does double duty as a means of introducing the characters as well. This puts the content in a format that’s more accessible to mainstream fans who can’t be bothered visiting the official site.
There’s a flash video game you can play with features graphics and sound from arcade style 80s games. And you play as a superheroes from the 50s (older superheros referenced in the comic). There’s even ‘Night Owl II coffee’ and limited edition vinyl records for sale. An image of a Dr Manhatten giant blue promotional condom has been floating around the interweb.
Another smart PR strategy: They leaked the major changes and omissions in the movie. Better to let the fanboys know in advance and manage expectations, instead of keeping it a secret and then getting a torrent of bad reviews.
3. How do you turn those fanboys into more vocal advocates?
Solution: “I watch the Watchmen” link hosts a suite of social media content and tools. Myspace skins and banners, profile pic creator, iphone apps, countdown widgets, Playstation Home content. Facebook gets its own link from the main nav and this takes you to the fan page, which has its own assortment of apps and content. Overall they are providing tools for people to express their fandom – but not on the Watchmen site itself. Don’t want n00bs screwing up the production value of the brand site.
A few more general thoughts and observations.
* In this case, they really focused more on the characters than the story. That’s the common thread linking the content together. You have to be careful not to divulge too much of the plot in a movie (or an RPG game), and in the case of Watchmen, the plot is awfully complex in any case.
* A pretty clean navigation, doesn’t frustrate users with a lot of tricks. These different links open up a new browser, which is somewhat annoying, but you don’t get lost in the site either. Some of the tools and experiences go out of there way to make the user understand what to do and make it relatively painless.
* A clever choice in acknowledging Facebook as the “big dog”, giving that site the most attention. But they still acknowledging the many other social networks out there and providing portable content for those sites as well.
* Compared with other movie sites, there’s less about the ‘movie’ itself. Part of this is that it doesn’t feature big name actors, but I suspect there was a conscious decision to make it less of a film, with actor bios, production notes, ‘making of footage’ and draw you more deeply into the world itself.
So, kudos to the digital marketing team for Watchmen. Let’s hope the movie doesn’t suck.
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