Web Series: 5 ways 'Dating Rules' can keep audiences falling deeper in love

(Photo source: Dating Rules Facebook)

With a high concept and starring a recognizable cast, Alloy Entertainment’s branded web series Dating Rules From My Future Self launched in January to great fanfare.

Revolving around twenty-something Lucy (Shiri Appleby) who receives texts from herself 10 years in the future that help her navigate her current love life, the effortlessly charming and addictive nine episodes, each five-to-nine minute long, made up the first season and attracted over 500k to 700k viewers each at press time.

Using Facebook and Twitter, Dating Rules’ digital marketing campaign focused on the relatable trials and tribulations of dating by giving fans advice much like Lucy’s future self.

Dating Rule of The Day (Photo source: Dating Rules Facebook)

The social networks posted a “Dating Rule of the Day” with an accompanying sharable captioned photo; these were humorous yet truthful and applicable. Fans could also email “#futurelucy” for relationship advice.

Dear "#futurelucy" (Photo source: Dating Rules Facebook)

Moreover, Dating Rules' Facebook shared appropriate articles such as “25 First-Date Dos and Don’ts” and “10 Things You Should Never Say To A Guy” from third-party websites. Appleby and cast member Alison Becker also participated in a live Ustream chat and answered questions about love and what it was like working on the show.

Finally, some of the advocates Dating Rules sought were entertainment websites Entertainment Weekly (an exclusive trailer), TheTVAddict, and Collider (Appleby gave interviews), celebrity gossip tabloids The Celebrity Stone and Cupid’s Pulse, and love and relationship advice hub YourTango (Appleby gave an interview and wrote an article about her personal breaking up experience).

Appleby's article on YourTango

Heading into Season 2, Dating Rules' digital marketing campaign can delve even deeper into emotionally connecting with its millennial audience by continuing to explore the commonality of breaking up using other cost-effective social media tools such as Pinterest, Instagram, and Spotify.

Below are five recommendations that will lead 'Dating' audiences to engagement:

'American Reunion' digital marketing campaign: Excited for one last piece?

(Facebook cover, Photo source: American Pie Facebook)

It's been over twelve years since Universal Pictures released American Pie and it became the teen comedy classic that depicted and defined Generation Y. Now the entire gang is back for their high school reunion in American Reunion on April 6.

The box-office hit Pie became a franchise that spawned two sequels, American Pie 2 (2001) and American Wedding (2003), and four direct-to-video spin-offs.

Reunion's one-sheet pays homage to the original Pie (Photo source: IMP Awards)

With the franchise's rich library of material and built-in fanbase, American Reunion’s remarkably extensive digital marketing campaign aims to engage fans with a slice of nostalgia in different ways while replicating the brand's gross-out humor to entice newcomers.

Did the campaign succeed in getting fans salivating for more Pie? Let’s take a look and see if the strategies made this a Reunion worth waiting for.

TV: 'Ringer' - the ultimate double cross-examination on interactive campaign

Marking the return of cult classic Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s Sarah Michelle Gellar to the small screen, The CW’s drama Ringer was one of the most buzzed about shows heading into the Fall television season last year.

Taken from IMDB, Ringer is about “a young woman on the run from the mob [who] poses as her wealthy twin sister to try and evade them, but soon discovers that her sister has a price on her head as well.”

The highly anticipated series arrived with much fanfare, including the cover of Entertainment Weekly

The series premiere attracted 2.74 million total viewers and 1.2 ratings in the coveted 18-49 demo, which was tepid considering many were expecting Buffy-like numbers. Originally conceived for sister network CBS, Ringer had a more mature tone and cast that looked like it could also broaden CW’s audience outside their core teen females.

Subsequently, the series has had a rocky fall throughout its season with hemorrhaging numbers that never matched its premiere high.

The cast and concept skewed older than the typical CW fare (Photo source: Ringer Facebook)

To build awareness for the premiere, Ringer employed a flashy interactive marketing campaign that connected outdoor advertising with social media while having fun with its identical twins premise.

Could a stronger digital marketing campaign have doubled the premiere’s success? And could anything have kept week-to-week interest in Ringer reverberating? Let’s take a retrospective look at this particular strategy's strengths and weaknesses.

QUICK TAKE - 'Silent House' digital marketing campaign: Are audiences listening?

(Movie poster, Photo source: IMP Awards)

Open Road Films / Liddell Entertainment’s horror film Silent House utilized three key elements in its digital marketing campaign: a mysterious official site, an interactive trailer and portal, and a Twitter contest mirroring the film’s real-time continuity.

Opening on March 9, the R-rated Silent House was inspired by true events and a remake of the Uruguayan Spanish-language film The Silent House (La Casa Muda), which was met with mostly positive reviews. At last year's Sundance Film Festival, this remake was also one of the two films headlined by Elizabeth Olsen; her breakthrough performance in the other film Martha Marcy May Marlene won universal acclaim, was nominated by a barrage of critics associations, and instantly propelled Olsen as a future star to watch.

The Devil Inside and The Woman In Black scared up $33.7 and $20.9 million openings, respectively
(Photo source: IMP Awards)

With two horror films, The Devil Inside and The Woman In Black, opening to large numbers in January and February, respectively, and receiving middling to downright nasty CinemaScores, one wonders if moviegoers are currently suffering from disappointing-horror films fatigue or are only hungrier for scares that deliver.

Is Silent House’s digital marketing campaign loud enough to get audiences screaming for tickets? Let’s take a look.

Game over? 5 ways 'John Carter' can play for bigger audience on Earth

Carrying a hefty budget of over $250 million, it is alarming Walt Disney Studios' John Carter is reportedly tracking soft ahead of its global release date March 9.

Looking at the film's official website and Facebook page, online games are notably used to engage fans.

Upon inspection, the three games are surprisingly elementary, which can be beneficial in targeting families and casual gamers, but have minimal replay value or prolonged engagement.

Three games featured on the official website

The film's digital marketing campaign is targeting audiences across the board, attempting to reach the literary fans with polls and engagement questions about the source material, young males with clips, comics, and articles highlighting the action and sci-fi, and families with its Disney-brand and partnership with Read.gov to promote with reading.

Below are five recommendations how John Carter's digital campaign can use engagement games more effectively and build awareness with each of its target audience without sacrificing their brand image:

5 ways 'This Means War' could have found more love on Valentine's

(Photo source: IMP Awards)

20th Century Fox planned to release the Reese Witherspoon-Chris Pine-Tom Hardy romance/action comedy This Means War today with the date heavily publicized in print ads and TV spots.

In the eleventh hour, Fox delayed War to February 17 and hastily proposed its initial Valentine's Day release as a sneak preview in an attempt to save face.

They had good reason to worry.

Last weekend, no studio pitted a romance or rom-com against Sony/Screen Gems' The Vow for the pre-Valentine's business; Fox was the only maverick then-scheduling War on the actual holiday to vie for that same audience.

With its tearjerker premise, appealing leads, and promise of The Notebook's earnest romance and sentimentality, Vow was a juggernaut to be fear; it had everything going for it to be the ultimate date movie and girls' night out. Tracking for Vow rode high for months, while War failed to pick up; on Facebook, Vow had over 900k fans the day before its release compared to War's current 23k (no, that is not a typo).

Vow opened last weekend on top with a record-breaking $41.2 million, and is predicted to continue raking business today for Valentine's.

Which will be a sign of the future of your relationship?
(Marquee created at says-it.com)

The McG-directed War spy vs. spy romance/action comedy by no means has the stench of a stinker and looks like popcorn-fun similar to Mr. and Mrs. Smith, but the timing is off. With love in the air, the distasteful and aggressively-titled picture is not something I picture couples gravitating toward at the marquee when next to the romantic Vow; War would better take advantage of its mix of action and light romance-comedy appealing to both sexes in summer or early fall.

Since Fox did not budge and wave the white flag on War's ill-fated February release, perhaps they could have done more to differentiated their picture.

Here are five suggestions how their digital movie campaign could have recruited moviegoers to fight harder for War:

1. The ANTI-Valentine's

For every PDA-hands-all-over-each-other couple on the street who adores Valentine's Day, there are more singletons and people who view it as a grossly commercial and sappy day. The Vow will take Valentine's Day, but War can put up a brawl for the days and weekend after.

Make opening day an event for people who aren't V-day fans to get excited about and come together on the 14th to watch it together.

A campaign plastering the slogan "THIS MEANS WAR on Valentine's" on RSVP cards and videos all around the web can serve as a dig on the holiday while promoting the movie. Fans can invite friends by sharing the RSVP cards and videos that poke fun at love on their social media networks.

Partner up with sites such as Meetup.com and Eventbrite where people with similar interests can get together, and make opening day at a theater a "THIS MEANS WAR on Valentine's" event party. To encourage people to attend, an opening day exclusive Anti-Valentine's freebie or incentive (example: Restaurant.com voucher so the group can dine out after the movie) can be given with each movie ticket.

For Pine and Hardy wage War over you, the Tweet Cheat-Off, and more:

'The Thing' (2011) digital marketing campaign analysis

(Movie poster, Photo source: IMP Awards)

The Thing (2011)
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Domestic release date: October 14, 2011 (Wide)
Rating: R
Genre: Sci-fi, Horror
Cast: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Ulrich Thomsen, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Eric Christian Olsen

Premise: Paranoia spreads among a team of Norwegian and American scientists, including Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), when they discover something inhuman buried deep in the ice of Antarctica that is still alive and begins consuming then imitating the team members.

The hook:

• A prequel to the John Carpenter-directed 1982 cult classic The Thing
• Deliver scares in time for Halloween (the only other horror movie in wide release, Paranormal Activity 3, is released the following weekend)
• From the producers of the successful Dawn of The Dead (2004) remake and stars genre-favorite actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Grindhouse: Death Proof, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, forthcoming Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter)

Target audience: Males 17-34
Secondary target audience: Females 17-34, Fans of sci-fi, horror, and the 1951 and 1982 films The Thing is derived from

THE DIGITAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN

Game App - Flame Thrower:

• Free for iOS and Android
• Easy installation and short game
• First-person perspective simulation
• Blast creatures by touching and holding screen
• Must move mobile device 360 degrees to defend one's self
• Difficult to play, low replay value
• Other features: 

• Photo manipulation - "Infect Yourself"
• Fun to share
• Trailer

On Target: As technology increase and there are more leisure options demanding for one’s attention, people want the most out of their time and cram as much as they can into it. Budgeting their leisure time in shorter segments, they prefer “[playing] short, more casual games rather than in-depth time-consuming ones.”

A short, simulated game app where one is a scientist firing at the incoming alien creatures sounds like instant gratification – simple to start playing and takes one temporarily to a different world.

The “Infect Yourself” photo manipulation, which transforms a self-portrait into someone being split open by The Thing creature, is easy to use and fun to share with friends.


Missed Opportunity?: While Flame Thrower sounds ideal, it is an example of a good idea poorly executed. By requiring the player to shift around 360 degrees with the motion of the phone or tablet, the game is impossible to play sitting down.

The most successful game apps offer casual players who might have a few minutes during a class break or waiting in the office lobby an entertainment diversion; Flame Thrower’s game design would put people off by making them stand and spin around. It sounds like a good immersive experience in theory, but it is not practical.

Furthermore, the game has limited replay value, strategy, or goals. As the scientist, the player carries a limited amount of fuel to fire that doesn’t refill and stands static fighting aliens until fuel runs out and they are helplessly killed. A grim ending indeed.

For The Thing online games, prank videos, digital comic book analysis, and Recommendations: