The Buzz Blender: Fox’s Hit Series Bones Helps Promote Cameron’s Avatar
We have made it somewhat of an interesting theme here to discuss the buzz and marketing of one of this year’s mostly highly touted films, Avatar.
The marketing has been discussed in terms of its attempt to use Augmented Reality with the sci-fi fanboys and main demographic of the film. We have also looked at other pieces of the film’s advertising onslaught with their first big media push on Fox’s Sports Sunday with the World Series and the NFL.
Now the TV arm is at it again with a major in episode tie-in on the most recent episode of the hit crime serial Bones. In this week’s Buzz Blender I couldn’t help but look at the episode’s nice little comedic tie-ins with the upcoming film.
In the episode two of the series regulars Sweets (John Francis Daly – of Freaks and Geeks fame) and Hodgins (T.J. Thyne) as well as a reoccurring character Fisher (Joel Moore), an intern for Dr. Brennan, are collectively gathering for a premiere opening for Cameron’s Avatar. At what first seemed like a simple reference “hey I have tickets” turned into a major focal point for the episode. The three while helping solve a crime of a video game pro dead in a grease filled dumpster team up and bond over sneakily waiting outside of a theater to ensure great seats for the premiere of their long awaited look at Avatar. There is even a scene where they explain the movie to a co-worker, Angela, who walks in on them all googooing over the trailer on a big screen in the lab. I should point out to that dialog by our three nerds consist of “I am no longer able to discern special effects from live-action,” says Sweets with a casual response from Hodgins saying, “Oh man thats 2d, 3D is going to blow your mind!” Angela then comes in interrupting them and asks “what’s with the blue people?” They explain that they are the Navi and are from the lush planet Pandora, a clever little education for her and for the audience at home.
All three of the characters fit the demographic of the main moviegoer for this movie which made the interactions believable and fun to watch. The concept of Bones is slightly different than most crime procedurals that populate the networks (CSI, The Forgotten) it infuses light and dark humor with character development thus making the plot element brilliant and workable into the episode. The series is immensely popular which makes it a great platform for an Avatar product placement as a likely successful one. The night’s episode garnered a 9.9 million viewers with an 8 share with a 2.9 rating for the 14-49 demo for the 8:00 EST slot. Thats a really good night and great exposure for the film. I think the clever part is it not just a media buy but it is a part of the story making it something the audiences have to watch and referenced too.
I have to commend the marketing team of Fox for throwing Avatar into the series of an immensely popular show like Bones and not taking anything away from the series, even though the promotion was obvious it fit the show’s characters and humor. The audience of the show is most likely diverse that also makes the brilliance of getting Avatar front and center to them just like they did with the sports media buying but even better.
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Categories: Features, News, The Buzz Blender
About the Author
Kevin is a film freak, just ask him something movie related and he lights up like a Christmas tree. Originally his destiny was to go to film school, hit LA and try and become the next big thing. Circumstances change but in college, he fell in love with writing. After several failed attempts in starting a legit and hip school online magazine for his university Kevin moved into the blogosphere for himself and began Kevin’s Rant which in 2007 morphed into Fused Film. Kevin has contributed articles on other sites like Geeks of Doom and FilmShaft, he has also been a guest on podcasts for MovieViral and The Film Feed at FS.Net. His favorite movie of all time is Empire Strikes Back, he loves his Chucks, he is an avid Stargate fan and classic rock is his music scene. Email him at: kcoll@fusedfilm.com Follow His Twitter: FusedFilm
