As a Stephen King enthusiast, I was very excited when the third film adaptation of his novel Carrie was released. Prior to the release, there were, of course, multiple kinds of promotions done to advertise the movie. Among these advertisements, one of them was featured in my fellow COMM 296 classmate (Elaine Ho)’s blog post titled “Your daily dose of coffee [sic]”. It was an interactive advertisement in the form of a prank.

I agree with what Ho comments: “this marketing tactic is absolutely brilliant” as it is very unique and leaves a deep impression to potential customers. When I first came across this advertisement on YouTube, I was impressed by the amount of work and time invested in setting up this elaborate prank. Here are some of the things that I think the advertisement utilises well:

Word of Mouth
Needless to say, an elaborate prank such as this would get people talking, especially the people who were involved in the prank. If there is one thing that I have learnt from the marketing business, it is that you want people to talk. No publicity is a bad publicity in the entertainment world.

Social Media
Posting the video of the prank on YouTube was a brilliant idea. Props to the marketing department for realising that prank videos are the in thing at the moment. Prank videos are very popular and goes viral very quickly, and a prank video like this gets shared very frequently.

Surprise
The people behind the prank caught people off-guard and  a good surprise always draws attention. The 2013 Carrie is basically a remake of the two preceding film adaptations. A normal 3-4 minutes trailer would not have caught anyone’s attention. The idea of using a prank for publicity is very fresh, as it is not used often, and people definitely do not expect a horror movie like Carrie would be advertised in such a mischievous way.

Comedy
Humans are funny creatures; they find amusement in watching other people confused and outwitted. The Telekinetic Coffee Shop Surprise has done well to attract potential customers by providing amusement in this way.

Overall, it is a prank gone right! The Internet has really changed the way that things are being promoted. Nowadays, there are so many informations available to potential customers that companies have to find a way to stand out. The marketing department of the Carrie (2013) movie has set themselves apart well.