Cloverfield is already an interesting compilation of genres, with thriller, sci-fi, first persona and horror elements spread across all three films in a variety of applications. Along with the franchise being an interesting experiment of filmography, unique and interesting viral marketing was employed to promote all three films.
Cloverfield
The first film was ground-breaking in employing a viral marketing scheme where a website was created with the domain name; 1-18-08.com, this refers to the release date for the film in the US. The purpose was to create an atmosphere of enigma, as it was not clarified until later in the campaign what the date actually referred to. The site eluded to the famous Slusho! which instantly informed fans that this was indeed a J.J Abrams venture. With other clues on the site, fans took to social media to speculate and dissect the site to finds its true meaning. Eventually the more traditional marketing of a trailer was provided to appeal to the general audience, but fans of the genre and creator were already hyped.
10 Cloverfield Lane
The second instalment of the franchise used the films shift in genre to mislead audiences into not immediately connect the two films together and it was only later that they reviled the title for this film and its links to the massively popular first film. This marketing scheme’s strengths are with how well the deception tactic fits with the narrative of the film. It’s a much smaller more focused strategy compared to the first films and again that suits the narrative of the overarching connection between the films as the first film is located over ground in the sprawling city of New York and the second film largely takes place in an underground bunker.
Cloverfield Paradox
The third and final film in the franchise was slightly consumed by production and budgeting issues, and therefore didn’t receive a theatrical release but instead was sold to the streaming service Netflix. Despite this last minuet circumstance, the marketing team still managed to produce a viral campaign that reached a massive audience. The Superbowl is one of the worlds largest sporting events and was not only used to advertise the film but also to launch it. During the advertisement section of the half time show, Netflix premiered an ad that informed the world that the film was now available to stream online. The ad then became viral, as so many half time show ads do. The most interesting part being that this was the first and only promotion for the film, probably because it cost so much to get the time slot at the Superbowl.
Film Rabbit 