Entertainment: Starting as a Succubus, Taking Hollywood by Storm

For the film Inception, Martin pinned high hopes, his anticipation for it no less than for The Joker.

Before its release, Meyers Studios launched a viral marketing campaign.

The campaign unfolded in three meticulously planned phases, each executed with precision and clarity.

At first, the official website featured only a spinning top, leaving most visitors puzzled, wondering what it had to do with the plot.

At San Francisco's WonderCon, Meyers Studios staff handed out T-shirts to attendees. The front displayed the "Dream Machine" from Inception, while the back bore a QR code.

The QR code led to a viral marketing website, http://PASIVDevice.org, which doubled as a user manual for the "Dream Machine."

After reading the "Guidebook," you'd see the phrase YOUR MIND IS THE SCENE OF THE CRIME again. Clicking it took you to the second phase: an online game at http://Mind-Crime.com.

The website rolled out four promotional phases, each introducing new content like posters or trailers. To unlock these, netizens had to complete tasks like maze games.

Additionally, Inception had a viral site, its address hidden in street posters, called What Is Dream Sharing?

This site, styled as an anonymous blog, explained the theory and mechanics of the "Dream Machine," teasing the truth behind Inception.

The second phase followed: popularizing the science of dreams.

After spreading influence online, Inception campaign didn't dive straight into the plot.

This was the strategy Martin, Delo, and Ivanka's marketing team settled on after discussions.

Since the film's depiction of dreams leaned fantastical, the campaign revealed just enough to ground audiences without spoiling the mystery.

Fortunately, Ivanka's team quickly noticed the audience's growing fatigue from overly technical content and relentless viral tactics.

So, Meyers Studios' marketing team pivoted.

A month before the premiere, they deployed staff across major North American cities—New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami—to hang massive posters on towering buildings.

The posters used stereoscopic imagery, akin to the now-popular naked-eye 3D ads, though one was static, the other dynamic.

In an era before naked-eye 3D was mainstream, this creativity was undeniably eye-catching.

One poster showed a building's exterior curling inward, revealing inner floors to evoke a sense of folded space. The other depicted a torrent of red water cascading from the top floor's window.

These giant posters were so realistic they could pass for the real thing, highlighting the film's visual flair and aligning perfectly with its tagline, The Dream Is Real. They captivated passersby.

Many stopped in their tracks, snapping photos or recording videos.

Soon, the posters went viral online, drawing even more eyes.

Before the campaign began, Martin set the tone with a remark that laid the foundation for its success: "Don't try to change consumers' preconceptions. Instead, work with their perceptions and guide them toward the direction we want. That's the iron rule of marketing."

"And our marketing campaign must light that one match in the powder keg."

Of course, the ultimate box office ceiling hinged on the film's quality.

If the film flopped and failed to win over audiences, the viral marketing would backfire. Viewers would feel duped, their initial excitement flipping to outright disdain.

The Blair Witch's $200 million box office was entirely fueled by viral marketing.

In truth, The Blair Witch was an experimental film, pioneering the mockumentary era.

It shouldn't have grossed so high, nor was it truly terrible—it just wasn't a commercial film.

But the distributor's viral tactics convinced audiences the story was real, even faking the deaths of the three leads on IMDb, the largest film database in the U.S.

Leveraging the internet's power and deceptive marketing, The Blair Witch raked in $250 million on a mere $60,000 budget.

Audiences felt played, venting their rage on the two young, talented directors. Their later films found no buyers, while the distributor laughed all the way to the bank.