Alan Is Good

No apologies for any bias or skew this post may contain.  The past 5 years have been horrendous for American horror, and original films like the SAW franchise have been our only saving grace from throwing in the towel and letting Japan go ahead and handle the entire genre.

Yes, the SAW franchise is five sequels deep.  I strongly recommend watching them chronologically, as the story definitely builds upon each previous movie.  In an age with remakes abound,  films produced around gore/new CGI tricks instead of storyline and plot, the SAW franchise is original, unpredictable, and THE most successful horror franchise ever.  Fact.

I put together a rough breakdown of the box office success the SAW franchise has seen to date:

(Hover over the movie posters to see movie data)

Its important to note that the SAW sequels didn’t go too wild with budget increases despite seeing incredible success at the box office every year.  The budget/box office ratios for the first two films are amazing, and despite a slow decline in worldwide revenue, the ratio of the last three films is still better than other horror films released those years.  The official budget of SAW VI is still being crunched, but it should be interesting to see how the number differs from last year’s installment.  This year, SAW is tackling the social media aspect harder than ever before, but that doesn’t necessarily mean increased spending.  In fact, the quality of flash art and design looks to be about the same as always (which is awesome) but the social media engagement has gone through the roof.

Keeping up with the zany world of digital media and online promotions isn’t easy, and executing a cutting edge, effective game plan is even harder.  Kudos to Lionsgate for both, and for doing so gracefully.

Motion Posters

Click here to see the official SAW VI motion poster

If I embedded the SAW VI motion poster in addition to my dynamic chart on my already pretty loaded site, things would be awfully slow.  This isn’t MySpace.

This year we’ve seen several innovative motion posters from horror and action films that are embracing new media.  When done correctly, these come out looking beautiful and probably do a better job of enticing moviegoers than do traditional posters.  No, Rob Zombie, not like that.  Motion posters should in theory speak to the plot, story or message of the movie.  The SAW VI motion poster has been very well received when posted in message boards and social networking sites.

Microsite

Not to be confused with the official SAW site or the House of Jigsaw message board, the SAW VI microsite has all of the juicy embeds, pics, videos and links to social networking profiles.  Alas, there are links at the bottom of the site, (Bloodlines, Wheel of Death, and Become Jigsaw’s Apprentice) but they all say coming soon. . .    (looks at calendar; looks at watch)

Social Networking Profiles

Great job here.  Each platform is played to its strengths.

LionsgateHorror on Twitter is apparently the official handle for whatever Lionsgate film is about to be relased (earlier this year it was focusing on The Haunting in Connecticut).  They share links to the latest pics, trailers, etc. and with decent @ reply interaction, they keep the communication two-way.  As of this post, they’re coming up on 9,000 followers.  Smart motion picture/entertainment companies promote through a central Twitter handle instead of creating new ones specific to one movie (then building it up and then abandoning it a few weeks after theatrical release).  Online campaigns are not supposed to resemble sandcastle contests.

SAW VI on MySpace focuses more on the audio/visual assets and less on interaction, which is about right for MySpace.  They’ve gathered over 40,000 friends here.  The bulletins still get the word out, and the page is well linked to all the other interactive promos.

SAW VI on Facebook will make your day if you are a fan of the franchise.  The updates cover everything being shared on Twitter, but there are also Facebook exclusive contests, updates and conversations that are quite active.  The fan count is at 1,144,267 as of this post, which is remarkable.  The MySpace page and microsite URL s are pegged to SAW VI, so we can expect to see them abandoned or shut down at some point.   Lionsgate did secure Facebook.com/SAW for this page, so it will probably evolve into the official fan page for any and all upcoming sequels.

Another point about the Facebook activity is that most of the updates have thousands of “Likes” and hundreds of comments, even the updates that aren’t promoting anything in particular.  Franchise trivia, quotes and musings get the job done for horror social media.  The general strategy takeaway here is not being informal and off-topic, but knowing your targets well enough to engage them sans any marketing speak.

Imagine the aged communications veteran running a Facebook campaign, trying to stay on his messaging points and looking forward to answering questions about a film, only to see minimal feedback and engagement.  Contrast that with some young marketer at Lionsgate who posts “Those who do not appreciate life do not deserve life,” and instantly accrues three thousand “Likes” and generates a discussion with hundreds of responses.  Know your audience.  There’s actually a Jigsaw quote that’s relevant to the rules of social media engagement – “If you’re good at anticipating the human mind, it leaves nothing to chance.”

Lionsgate YouTube Channel

The Lionsgate YouTube channel has an interesting concept going: users submit videos of SAW-related content, and they can be featured in a Jigsaw video mosaic.  Over 9,000 subscribers, haha.

House of Jigsaw Fan Boards

Though not particularly impressive in terms of traffic or activity, and despite the many SAW haters present, some pretty interesting conversations still take place here.  Its understandably not a focus of the promotional machine, as there are far better new media strategies available.  Ahem.

iPhone App

The official SAW VI iPhone app lets you record a message and warps your voice to sound like Jigsaw.  It works really well, and its fun to send customized messages to friends.  Easily one of the better movie apps out there.

SAW Video Game

Not really social media, definitely another talking point.  Comes out this month for PS3, XBOX 360 and PC.  As with most video games, the controversial buzz should boost sales a bit.

Blood Drive Widget

Blood drive.  Of course.  Over 350,000 lives saved, not bad.  Even if you disagree with Jigsaw’s ‘teaching methods,’ its easy to admit this is a good cause, loosen up and give some blood the voluntary way.  Solid PR effort.

Conclusion, Musings

We’ve all seen the SAW trailers and TV spots between our favorite shows, and we are always sitting near someone who rolls their eyes and says, “Another one?!  How are they still making those?”  Well, they’re still making them because they’re making tons of money from each film.  One of the pillars of online communications is that the naysayers are the loud ones, while the satisfied consumers are elusive and quiet.  Such is the case with this franchise, as the movie critics online and offline grill it harder with each passing year.  It scores lower each year, and many are asking how there could conceivably be a seventh or eighth film. . .  but the social media momentum, especially from the Facebook page, say otherwise.  People LOVE the SAW franchise, and it has millions of hardcore fans worldwide.  They congregate and express their enthusiasm through these social media outlets.

The SAW franchise feeds off of this support cult, who quietly resist the naysayers and remain loyal.  The Lionsgate/SAW social media presence is a great example of a brand knowing its audience, communicating to them appropriately, and effectively utilizing new technology to promote an age-old concept, selling tickets to a show.

Creative energy is the cardio of online consumer engagement, and the community dynamics of yeasayers is the actual blood pumping through its veins.

SAW VI hits theaters October 23, 2009

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