Celebrating 30 Years of 'Ghostbusters'

Culver City, Calif. — Sony Pictures Entertainment recently embarked on a multi-phase campaign that marks the 30th anniversary of the “Ghostbusters” franchise and promotes new Blu-ray anniversary editions of two films released in the 1980s. The effort includes several retail elements, including a partnership with Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corp. to sell “Ghostbusters”-themed donuts.Sony Pictures’ strategy to promote Blu-ray editions that offer new content, art and special features focuses on the franchise’s most loyal fans. “We went right after the core – our superfans – and they helped spread the word and made this exciting,” says Marc Rashba, vice president of shopper marketing at Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.“Ghostbusters” remains a vibrant evergreen property that Sony Pictures carefully manages. “Every five years we take a look back at not only how do we market to a new audience, but also bring back the fans that have been there again and again for us,” Rashba says.The campaign kicked off in the spring with an art show. Featuring “Ghostbusters”-themed works by 75 artists, the show traveled to four cities and was supported by a Ghostbusters30th.com promotional website. The final stop was at the San Diego Comic-Con, where fans routinely attend in jumpsuits and proton packs as their favorite “Ghostbusters” characters.Sony Pictures also launched a Ghostbusters.com website containing an online store, free “Ghostbusters” games and more information on the Blu-ray releases. “We really enriched it so there’s all kinds of unique products and content that you can only get from the store,” says Greg Economos, senior vice president of consumer products for Sony Pictures Entertainment.A theatrical re-release of the first film opened on Labor Day weekend. “We re-released the 30-year-old movie on 700 screens, and had close to a half-million people see it in a two-week period,” Economos says. “Those fans took their kids or their friends, and I think it created a whole new surge in people who really appreciate this film.”Sony Pictures generated further interest by letting Google Play use the “Ghostbusters” logo in a national ad campaign. Via Amazon.com, Sony created early buzz through an early preorder phase for various new products. Online, it catered to enthusiasts with a full “Ghostbusters Week” of webisodes on the entertainment news site Beyond the Marquee. Sony Music Entertainment’s Legacy Recordings also joined in with a limited-edition, glow-in-the-dark vinyl release of Ray Parker Jr.’s classic “Ghostbusters” theme song.Krispy Kreme seemed like a natural partner for Sony Pictures. “It’s a great matchup because Krispy Kreme is also a classic brand with a classic logo and classic donut,” Economos says. The collaboration spanned grocery stores as well as Krispy Kreme franchises.Roughly 7,000 grocery outlets featured special “Ghostbusters” black-and-green dotted glazed donut dozen boxes released to coincide with the Blu-ray launch. The boxes included $5 coupons for the Blu-rays and also promoted Ghostbusters.com.At the same time, Krispy Kreme locations debuted two new “Ghostbusters” marshmallow donuts. One had the “Ghostbusters” logo and a green “splat” inspired by the movie’s Slimer character, and the other had the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man’s face and a sugar hat. The partners sent samples of the donuts to local and national media outlets the day before the Blu-ray release, garnering significant coverage.At the Krispy Kreme locations, employees wore “Ghostbusters” visors. Large blow-up inflatables of the Stay Puft and Slimer characters were placed at the front of the store, and shoppers were encouraged to take pictures with them and upload the photos to their social media accounts.The in-store donut boxes featured the “Ghostbusters” logo and the tag, “There’s something sweet in the neighborhood.”Sony Pictures additionally promoted the Blu-ray releases in grocery stores, as the Sony Corp. subsidiary owns different racks throughout grocery channels that are typically reserved for new releases. “For the mass merchants and grocery, we just wanted to make sure we were positioned properly in all of the right new-to-format and new release sections to give people the opportunity to come in with the coupon offers,” Rashba says. “We went after a positioning strategy, but not a lot of the circular placements we might go after on a new release.”He says Amazon.com focused more on the limited-edition gift set containing both films and a collectible Slimer figurine; Best Buy on a Blu-ray digibook containing both films; and mass merchants Target and Walmart on the single “Ghostbusters” and “Ghostbusters II” Blu-ray discs.The “Ghostbusters” donuts and custom packaging were slated to stay in stores through Halloween, and the anniversary campaign was to continue through Christmas. Sony Pictures will define the success of the overall campaign based on sales of “Ghostbusters” consumer products and the Blu-ray. “Second is fan sentiment and fan engagement, all of which has been extremely positive,” Rashba says. “That means that we’ve done the brand right.”Most of the work on the campaign was performed internally along with the studio’s agency of record, New York-based McCann-Erickson.

Celebrating 30 Years of 'Ghostbusters'

P2PI MEMBERS

JOIN P2PI

Related Images

Business Topic

Market Segment

P2PI MEMBERS

JOIN P2PI

Related Images

Related Articles

Business Topic

Market Segment