Mid-June 2024. A whole page of indecipherable glyphs bursts in Seattle Timeswith the only indication being a typed note at the bottom: “Printed at the request of LONGLEGS.”
A week later, a user named Mr_Downstairs leaves strings of glyphs in comments on Letterboxd.
pop-up billboards; a partially obscured face looks at the drivers. In big red letters there is nothing more than the phone number and the date. 458.666.4355. 7.12.
It was all part of an eerily good marketing campaign by independent film distributor Neon, and it grossed a respectable $22 million for Long legsopening weekend in July. Arguably – don’t come for me – the campaign itself was more provocative than Nicolas Cage’s deranged serial killer.
I asked our most awesome HubSpot marketers: What made it Neon campaign so effective, what tactics can we introduce into our (hopefully) less spooky marketing efforts?
1. Build a continuous journey for your audience.
“The Long legs the campaign brilliantly invited people into the narrative, turning them into active participants rather than passive audiences. By driving suspense and curiosity through its progression, the campaign ensures a dedicated and engaged audience eager for what’s to come.
“For marketers, this approach offers a clear lesson: Target more than just one peak of interest — build a continuous journey that keeps your audience engaged and eagerly anticipating what comes next. By cultivating ongoing interest and curiosity, you create a dynamic relationship that leads to deeper bonds and greater loyalty over time.”
—Carly CHILL-iamsdirector, media monetization
2. Build community and shared experiences.
“What’s so sharp about that?” Long legs the campaign is to exert pressure from two angles. People don’t like unanswered questions, but on the other hand, they like to be part of something.
“When is Long legs the audience tries to answer those unanswered questions, SURPRISE, they are now part of the mystery game.
“That may be harder to apply if you’re selling, say, drain plugs, but there are some lessons here that everyone can benefit from.
- Give your audience something to answer for themselves. Maybe it’s adding their details to the quote builder. Maybe finding a coupon code is somewhere on your site. Even mundane industries can enjoy a little mystery.
- Welcome them to be a part of something bigger. Maybe it’s a social community, a Slack channel, or a product forum. Even just naming your audience can be a powerful way to create a sense of ‘something bigger’. (Think Swifties, Bills Mob or Browncoats.)”
—Curt exits PRINCE OF DARKNESSsenior marketing manager
“I like that I immediately want to share the experience. I want to text this phone number to my sister and wait for her totally weird response. It’s such a special feeling when a marketing campaign makes you want to attract more people.
“As marketers, we think a lot about how to break through today’s noisy market. But sometimes we forget that creating an experience that our audience wants to share with others is a great way to expand your reach (and make our audience do a little hard work).”
—Meg PraterGEISTeditor-in-chief, blogs
3. Continuous crops.
“At BeyondFest in Los Angeles this fall, the developers put together a trailer for the American remake Speak no evil into the pre-show party, a cinephile joke that pokes fun at how often different parts of the trailer – which gave away much of the film – appeared in theaters before its debut.
“Long legs took the opposite tactic, reveling in minimalism. He’s never given too much away in his trailers, leaving viewers wondering when and how Nicolas Cage, his biggest star, will appear.
“Instead of neon invited the audience into his mystery through a series of cryptic codes and phone numbers, creating the same sense of fear and intrigue that the character of Maika Monroe – a young FBI agent – experiences in the film.
“Additionally, marketing created an accessible, interactive alternate reality game (ARG) that fans could freely enjoy anywhere, maintaining interest in the film without spoiling it or draining potential buyers.”
—GHOUL-iet Bennett Rylahsenior writer, The Hustle
“I think the marketing was effective because of that harbored a sense of uncertainty by planting breadcrumbs. Neon lets its target audience fill in the rest with their imaginations, which can be the most powerful tool in horror and marketing.
“Unfortunately, I was disappointed with the actual movie — as were a lot of other people I talked to online and IRL — so the marketing stepped up also a lot of anticipation for me. The more the campaign let my imagination run wild, the higher my expectations were — and the greater the discrepancy between my expectations and my experience.
“My conclusions:
- Know when to leave a meaningful blank space. What is left unsaid and unseen gives your audience room to imagine.
- Plant breadcrumbs. Marketers can encourage people to actively engage in your marketing campaign without them even realizing it. Provide new information with each iteration of your campaign and you’ll have an audience yearning for more.
- Use multisensory marketing. Phone number, audio recording, music, etc. contribute to the atmospheric success of this campaign, which the film achieved.
- Repurpose your content. A two-hour movie can pull hundreds of types of mini-content, whether it’s a still image, a number, a clip, or a series of puzzle pieces. You don’t even have to create new things – just make a meat product and use the product itself to create marketing assets.”
—DYIN’ Zhongsenior marketing manager
4. Unify analog and digital marketing strategies.
“Neon did movie marketing, especially horror movie marketing, didn’t he.
“Movie promos are known for showing all the good parts, but Long legs beautifully captured the suspense the audience would experience in the film and piqued curiosity without giving anything away.
“I like how the film’s marketing has united the analog and digital worlds.” People could see a billboard with his gruesome images and move on, but if they called the phone number, they could experience it for real.
“This strategy kind of brought them into the film and made its value more of a reality. It’s not difficult marketers from all walks of life to emulate this by using URLs and QR codes.
“Additionally, Neon’s trailers used behind-the-scenes footage and actual footage of lead actress Maika Monroe’s heartbeat when she first saw Nic Cage as Longlegs.
“It makes the terror much more palpable. They didn’t just tell viewers the movie was scary in their marketing, they proved it.”
—Ra-MOAN-a Sukhrajchief marketing writer
5. Rely on imagination and interactivity.
“I’m a huge horror fan and I was really impressed with how Neon took an entirely fictional threat (Nicolas Cage’s Longlegs) and brought it into our dimension. (The non-fictional menace of Nic Cage himself predates the film industry.) It’s a creative and impressive way to capture the attention of fans and build curiosity among moviegoers.
“Smile 2 did something similar, breaking the fourth wall in its marketing campaign by putting strange smiling people at random sporting events or news shows to draw attention to the film.
“In that film, an ominous smile is a murderous threat. Bringing elements of it into our world adds legitimacy and makes the film feel even more believable. That strategy also played into word-of-mouth marketing, as regular SOCIAL MEDIA users posted different smiling people they’d see on TV, generating even more interest.
“What I take away from these scare marketing campaigns is that the more imaginative and impactful your marketing team is, the more you’ll get from letting your viewers unravel the mystery or story.“
“Capture their curiosity, use cryptic symbols or details, and provide interactive elements that encourage exploration and sharing among friends—and you can turn a paid marketing campaign into a real hot topic.”
—Tristen Tay-LORD UNDERWORLDservice blog editor and marketing manager
“What made this campaign so effective was that it gave people a lot to do – codes to decode, numbers to call, backstories to research – but none of it gave people what they really wanted: to reveal the face of the titular villain. You could only get that by watching a movie, which made people eager to show up.
“My favorite element was the sound of Maika Monroe’s heartbeat when she first saw Longlegs. I expected it to be so terribly grotesque and disgusting that I was almost relieved when it was mostly just ugly. Since it wasn’t as gruesome as I expected it to be, it made the film’s true horror (which was also hidden from the trailer) hit home even more.
“Long legs“Marketing is a lesson in the importance of interactivity. Giving your audience something to do that relates to your product or service keeps them engaged. And pre-engagement makes product unveilings, launches, etc., even more exciting.”
—GORY Needlesenior marketing manager
6. Trust your audience.
“Long legs‘ Minimalist drip marketing is an exercise in restraint. A few lines of glyphs here, a phone number there. It’s straight out of the scream queen book: the more it’s left to your imagination, the scarier it is.
“But to make it work, you have to trust your audience. That’s not always the easiest thing to achieve, especially if you’ve been up to your elbows in marketing copy for days or weeks. But remember that your audience is made up of real people, not numbers — the payoff can be huge.
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/6-marketing-takeaways-from-longlegs-campaign-of-terror
