Joker (Media Campaign)

Media Campaign PowerPoint.

1. Film Campaign Research:

2. Purpose of the campaign: The purpose of Joker’s campaign was to garner interest in the film, whilst also raising awareness to gain the largest possible audience for the film. The campaign was strategically planned, using cross-media platforms to promote the film. All promotional material was shared across multiple platforms to reach as many people as possible. The marketing techniques used were traditional (posters, videos, trailers). These techniques are familiar to most audiences so using these methods will generate more viewers than using other, more abstract methods (such as ARG’s).

3. Joker: (Behind The Scenes Marketing) On September 16 2018, Todd Phillip’s uploaded a picture on Instagram simply captioned ‘Arthur’. This was the first time the public had seen Joaquin Phoenix in character as Arthur Fleck. Six days later on the 22 nd Phillip’s released the first video captioned ‘Camera Test (w/ sound). Joker’. On the 25 th September 2018, Phillip’s posted a seemingly onset image simply captioned ‘Work’. On November 5 th an Image of Phoenix’s Joker was posted by Phillip’s captioned ‘On set. Five minute break’. On 22 nd Phillip’s posted an image of Joaquin's interpretation of ‘Joker’ captioned ‘Editing’.

4. Joker: (BTS Marketing) For the first few months, the public is only fed tidbits of information about Joker, which makes it all the more enticing. The director's captions are extremely short, only using one or two words sometimes. His part in the marketing campaign speaks volumes about his span of creative control.

5. Genre: Joker is recognised as a Psychological Thriller, Drama, Action, Crime and Adventure film.

6. Cast, Director (Previous Success) Director Todd Phillips has had previous success as a director most notably directing ‘The Hangover Trilogy (2009, 2011, and 2013)’. Joaquin Phoenix (Arthur Fleck) also had previous fame from such films as ‘Signs (2004)’and most notably his portrayal of Commodus in the 2000 historical epic ‘Gladiator’. Robert De Niro of Mean Streets (1973) and Taxi Driver (1976) is a legend in the film industry with his film Taxi Driver heavily influencing ‘Joker’.

7. Marketing: Website! After the first few months of teasers from director Todd Phillips, Warner Bros. created a standalone studio-sponsored ’Joker’ website. This website was created just before the first poster was released. The website created was www.jokermovie.net

8. Marketing: First Poster! April 2, 2019: The first ever poster of Joker is released on the director’s Instagram account. Simply captioned “Teaser trailer tomorrow.”  April 3, 2019: The first Joker poster is then re-posted on Joker Movie’s Instagram. April 3, 2019: The first Joker poster is then again re-posted on Warner Bros. Instagram. With the first Joker poster, we don’t even get a good look at his face! We only get a glimpse of the clown makeup and few words including "put on a happy face." The director’s behind-the-scenes posts and the first real piece of marketing content, the poster, sets the tone for how they’re going to sell this movie: they’re not going to oversell this movie. It’s a far cry from the first poster of Jared Leto as the Joker in Suicide Squad. 

9. Marketing: Trade Shows & Conventions! On April 2, 2019, The director debuted the very first footage of Joker at CinemaCon - the largest cinema trade show in the world. 

10. Marketing: Teaser Trailer: On April 3, 2019, the teaser trailer for ‘Joker’ was posted on the Warner Bros. YouTube Channel for the whole world to see. The trailer was also posted on the director Todd Phillips’ personal Instagram account on the same day. Also, on the same day, the trailer was posted on the movies own Instagram account. The first trailer follows the first poster in the sense that it doesn’t reveal too much. So right up until this point the majority of the marketing is just of Joker and no other characters in the movie. There’s an impressive amount of restraint shown in the marketing. The lack of over-selling is refreshing. The first trailer for Todd Phillips' Joker, a movie that exists somewhere off to the side of the DC Extended Universe, and starring Joaquin Phoenix (not Jared Leto) as the Clown Prince of Crime. It's not a superhero movie, it's our first genuine supervillain movie, and it's unlike anything we normally associate with comic book blockbusters. Instead, Joker appears to take most of its inspiration from Martin Scorsese rather than DC Comics. We went hunting for Batman Easter eggs but came up short. But other cinematic ones? Well, Joker has them all.

11. Marketing: Magazine Article & Covers! On July 6, 2019 the world’s biggest movie magazine, Empire Magazine, announces July 11th Issue which has the first ever Joker interviews with Joaquin Phoenix, Phillips and more, plus brand new exclusive images .  July 11, 2019: Empire Magazine posts a video on their Instagram account urging people to pick up the world-exclusive Joker report.  Also on July 11, 2019 Director announces [on his Instagram]  Empire Magazine issue with  Joker  on Cover. Aug 20, 2019: The smarter movie magazine, Total Film Magazine, announces [on Instagram] its subscriber-only cover with Joker. Aug 22, 2019: Total Film Magazine shares exclusive images from Joker on their Instagram account. Aug 24, 2019: Total Film Mag announces [on Instagram] issue is on shelves with the non-subscriber Joker cover. Aug 24, 2019: Director announces [on his Instagram] Total Film Magazine issue with Joker on Cover + inside article. Joker could have easily been on a lot more covers, and had a lot more articles! But, it’s only on a few select ones. The marketing campaign is especially selective.

12. Marketing: Secret Code for Trailer Reveal! On Aug 25, 2019 the director released six brief teasers on his Instagram that contained flashes of writing, revealing the second trailer would be released on August 28. On Aug 28, 2019 a secret code reveal of final trailer date (next day) on Joker Movie's Instagram. The secret code is consistent with the rest of the marketing campaign: mysterious and secretive. The movie is one big secret, and everyone wants in on the secret.

13. Marketing: Final Trailer! On August 28, 2019, the final Joker trailer was released on Warner Bros. YouTube Channel . At the moment of writing, the final trailer has 77+ million views on YouTube. This movie could have done several trailers and showed way too much in the hope of raking in more money... but, they only did two trailers. Two simple trailers.  Final Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAGVQLHvwOY

14. Trailer Analysis: Obviously this movie is an origin story for the Joker. All we know is that it's about Arthur Fleck "a man utterly disregarded by society" who finally reaches his breaking point. This seems to follow the "one bad day" idea, first put forth in Alan Moore and Brian Bolland's The Killing Joke(and later played with in an episode of Batman: The Animated Series), that all it takes is "one bad day" for someone to completely lose their way. In any case, don't expect Arthur Fleck to fall into a vat of chemicals in this movie. His transformation appears to be primarily a mental one. At least for now. That being said...There's something about the water hitting Arthur's mother's face and revealing a smile that seems like it foreshadows the Joker's fate of taking a chemical bath that then reveals a permanent smile. There are other hints of the Joker's more traditional origin, such as this shot of him playing with a more "permanent" and deformed smile, or the brief glimpse of green hair dye dripping from his scalp, which, like the makeup running here, seems to tease the chemical permanence of his other origin stories. Phoenix has nailed the Joker's rail-thin frame, and throughout the trailer contorts his body into some disturbingly unnatural poses. Travis Bickle did pushups every day but it looks like it's going to take all the king's men to put it back together again for Joker. The trailer plays with Arthur's "clown evolution" throughout, and even though this still isn't the most traditional Joker facepaint look, everything about Phoenix's body language here and in the dancing on the stairs, is a convincing embodiment of the character.

15. Marketing: Film Festivals & Press Conferences! Aug 31, 2019: Joker premieres at the Venice International Film Festival, and gets an eight minute standing ovation.  The premiere of “Joker” at the Venice Film Festival drew an eight-minute standing ovation for actor Joaquin Phoenix, director Todd Phillips and the gripping but harrowing origin story they’ve mapped out for Batman’s arch-villain. Buzz in Venice had been growing steadily around the Warner Bros. movie, from the time of its unveiling as part of the line-up to the climax of the two press screenings and red-carpet premiere. Both press screenings were packed, with the second one also drawing loud applause at the end and cheers when Phoenix’s name appeared in the closing credits. On September 7/8, 2019, Joker won the ”Golden Lion Award” at the Venice Film Festival. On September 9, Joker premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Also, on the same day, there was a Joker Q&A at the TIFF.

16. Marketing: Negative Reviews! On Sept 10, 2019, Warner Bros. marketing team decides to make lemonade out of lemons by cutting out the kindest portion of a negative review by Indiewire's critic David Ehrlich and actually using it to promote Joker. Ehrlich said Joker was "toxic" among other negative things, but the marketing team only used the positive comment, “An Immaculately Crafted Piece Of Mass Entertainment.” This type of marketing is actually perfect for a movie like  Joker  because the main character's whole shtick is anarchy. It just matches him perfectly! The joke’s on them! Warner Bros. is kind of flexing and saying “Hey look we can use your negative review and still get people to watch our movie.”

17. Marketing: Positive Reviews! On Sept 12, 2019 and Sept 15, 2019, Joker Movie's Instagram shares positive review. They actually went to town with their video marketing!! They posted a lot of short review clips on their Instagram which are ultra shareable to produce great results. ”Warner Bros was able - in their marketing strategy and with a film good enough to generate strong word of mouth - to appeal both to the genre/comic-book fans that made Venom a success in this slot [in 2018] as well as fans of more adult drama.”

18. Marketing : Promotional Tour & Interviews! On September 19 th 2019, Joaquin Phoenix (Arthur Fleck) and director Todd Phillips do a DC interview with Fox 5. The next day, Phoenix has an interview with Extra TV. On the 25 th of September, Joaquin participates in an interview with People TV, and walks out after a question about violence. Joaquin Phoenix walked out of an interview with The Telegraph's film critic Robbie Collin. Collin asked the actor whether he thought his character in "Joker" might inspire the kind of person the movie is about, which he described as "an unstable, self-pitying loner with a mass-shooter mindset.”

19. Marketing: Press Release! On September 24 th 2019, Warner Bros. finally weighed in on the mounting controversy surrounding  Joker.  There is that common issue of: does art imitate life, or does life imitate art? In Warner Bros. statement they seem to be leaning toward art imitating life. Below is a similar statement from the director: "I often see movies as mirrors of society, not necessarily as moulders of society." - Joker Director, Todd Phillips.

20. Marketing: Billboards & Countdown to release! During late September/early October people started to spot Joker Billboards. On the 27 th of September, the Joker Movie Instagram account posted a countdown labelled: ONE WEEK. Then on October 1 st , the same account posted: 3 DAYS. The next day it posted: 2 DAYS. On the 3 rd of October the account posted: TOMORROW! The countdown is a classic way of getting people hyped for the movie. Timing is paramount when it comes to marketing films—they must build up as much hype in the time leading up to and around the release as possible.

21. Marketing: Memes! The controversial Joker movie was released on 4 October, starring Joaquin Phoenix as the infamous DC villain. The movie has been criticized for being "violent" with some reporting that people have even walked out of the cinema. However, others have loved Todd Phillips' take on how Arthur Fleck became the Joker. Of course, with any popular movies, the memes started rolling in and the internet is losing it over one particular scene. Basically, in one scene the Joker is seen riding in the car. The same happens in the 2008 movie The Dark Knight, where the Joker was played by Heath Ledger. Someone pointed out the obvious similarities on Twitter, writing: "for those who didn’t catch the reference."

22. Multi-Platform Marketing: Joker was advertised using multiple platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. They were all connected by using the same logo for the advertising of the product. On YouTube, multiple trailers were released up until release to garner hype and interest for the film. On Instagram and Twitter, various teasers, posters and behind the scenes were shown for the film to also ramp up interest in it.

23. Multi-Platform Marketing: Throughout all of the marketing and advertising, Joker kept the same colour and font for it’s logo to keep things consistent for the audience so there would be no confusion. All trailers released, kept the same theme and message for the movie about it’s main character.

24. Timeline: On September 16 2018, Todd Phillip’s uploaded a picture on Instagram simply captioned ‘Arthur’. This was the first time the public had seen Joaquin Phoenix in character as Arthur Fleck.

25. Timeline: April 2, 2019: The first ever poster of Joker is released on the director’s Instagram account. Simply captioned “Teaser trailer tomorrow.” 

26. Timeline: On April 3, 2019, the teaser trailer for ‘Joker’ was posted on the Warner Bros. YouTube Channel for the whole world to see.

27. Timeline: On April 3 rd , 2019, the official trailer for Joker was released.

28. Timeline: On August 28, 2019, the final Joker trailer was released on Warner Bros. YouTube Channel .

29. Timeline: On October 4 th , 2019, Joker was released in cinemas.

30. Box Office:

31. Conclusion: To conclude: Warner Bros.’ campaign works hard to sell the movie as a throwback to the kind of gritty urban anti-hero films of the 70s, the kind made by William Friedkin, Martin Scorsese and others. The trailers, posters and more all come together to present a movie rooted in urban and societal decay. In the absence of any chance at redemption, then, the protagonist chooses nihilistic chaos and violence. What’s missing from the marketing is any sense that the nihilistic chaos and violence embraced by Arthur Fleck as he descends into madness as Joker is a commentary on anything in particular. Instead it appears to hold that chaos and violence up as a reasonable reaction to feeling like the world is holding you back. That’s a worldview eerily similar to what’s ascribed to many of the white men in the wake of mass shootings at schools, mosques, churches, homes and elsewhere. That Phillips and Phoenix didn’t have a reasonable, constructive response to concerns along those lines is in and of itself a response. The decision to bar members of the press who would ask questions from the premiere reinforces that conclusion. The controversy around the movie’s story is rooted in a separate question that’s been asked by comics fans and others for years: Does Joker even need an origin story? While Tim Burton’s 1989 movie and the “Gotham” TV series have given him a clear one, the comics have been more vague. Even Frank Miller’s “Year One” storyline didn’t make his origin explicit and Scott Snyder’s 2013/14 “Zero Year” arc danced around the villain’s beginnings. The incarnation in 2008’s The Dark Knight, as memorably played by Heath Ledger, purposefully muddied the waters as the character gave several contradictory variations on how he got those scars. In short, the origins of the Joker have always been in doubt, and the uncertainty only adds to the character’s unpredictability. Giving him a backstory is not just unnecessary but can take away from the impact he has. Making Joker human and relatable diminishes him. That gets to the crux of the problem: If there’s no real reason to tell this story, then why did it have to be *this* version of the story? The studio’s campaign offers no real answer.