Coraline Feature Film Integrated Campaign

Credits & Description:

Type of Entry: Titanium and Integrated
Title: CORALINE
Advertiser/Client: LAIKA
Product/Service: CORALINE FEATURE FILM
Entrant Company: WIEDEN+KENNEDY Portland, USA
Advertising Agency: WIEDEN+KENNEDY Portland, USA
Creative Credits
Name Company Position
Phil Knight Laika Chairman
Travis Knight Laika CEO
Henry Selick Laika Director
Claire Grossman Laika Producer
Susan Hoffman Wieden/Kennedy ECD
Mark Fitzloff Wieden/Kennedy ECD
Bill Davenport Wieden/Kennedy Entertainment President
Wk Five Wieden/Kennedy Ad/Copywriter
Maya Roberts Wieden/Kennedy Studio Manager
Paul Levy Wieden/Kennedy Designer
Ken Smith Wieden/Kennedy Account Director
Matt Kelly Wieden/Kennedy Strategic Planner
Jennifer Fiske Wieden/Kennedy Producer
Sean O'brien Wieden/Kennedy Digital Director
Marcelino Alverez Wieden/Kennedy Ex. Interactive Producer
Kris Hanson Wieden/Kennedy Ex. Interactive Producer
Jeremy Lind Wieden/Kennedy Interactive Producer
Suzanne Twining Laika Animator
Details
Describe the campaign/entry:
Coraline is the first feature film from LAIKA. Directed by Henry Selick and based on a book by Neil Gaiman, it is the first stop-motion animated feature filmed entirely in 3-D. Coraline looked like a film for eight-year-old girls, but we knew it had more potential. Our challenge was to get a broader audience excited about it. So we developed a fully integrated three-tiered strategy. Phase one activated online communities to build a foundation of support. Phase two created intrigue on a mass scale and introduced mysterious elements of the film into the real world, driving people to our website to learn more. Phase three created mass awareness for the film and its launch date. Creatively, our campaign allowed the public to experience the movie’s story and its world far beyond the film itself. Everything we did reflected the handcrafted, completely unique nature of the movie itself. Creatively, our campaign allowed the public to experience the movie’s story and its world far beyond the film itself. Everything we did reflected the handcrafted, completely unique nature of the movie itself.
Give some idea of how successful this campaign/entry was with both client and consumer:
The boxes generated such hysteria that some fans made their own. Websites sprung up just to track the campaign and the boxes as they surfaced. One week prior to launch, two of the five sites driving the most traffic to Coraline.com were talking about the influencer boxes and estimated online impressions directly linked to the boxes were 1,898,000. Of all the estimated online impressions over the course of the campaign, approximately 30,000,000 occurred before Coraline’s theatrical release and can be attributed to the campaign. Coraline.com visitors reached 845,000 before the movie’s release, more hits than three comparable movies opening during that same time period, combined. The best news came during opening weekend. Projected to make $9 million, it made $16.8 million and within its first month became Focus Features’ second highest grossing film ever, pulling in a much larger contingent of the moviegoing public than eight-year-old girls.
Describe how the campaign/entry was launched and executed across each channel in the order of implementation.
To start with, we hand-made 50 one-of-a-kind boxes, filled with desirable relics from the set of the movie and sent them to our influencers. Each box was designed with that of a single influencer in mind and included secret passwords that unlocked exclusive short films about the movie on Coraline.com. To create intrigue about the film we made thousands of skeleton keys that said “coraline.com” and mysteriously placed them in major metropolitan cities throughout the U.S. Other phase two elements included interactive storefronts, subway zoetropes, a creepy inflatable character that haunted a NY sidewalk at midnight, a fully explorable website and limited-edition Nike Coraline Dunks. We finished where traditional movie marketing begins: with trailers, online banners, cinema, out of home, newspaper and lenticulars, as well as original content for the web and cable networks (IFC and HBO), and a blog “written” by one of the characters from the film.