Traditional media, especially public television, was 20th Century Fox's first choice for promoting *City of Chaos*. The most crucial television promotion was the Super Bowl halftime commercial that year.
20th Century Fox invested heavily, directly purchasing thirty seconds of ad time. The current cost of Super Bowl movie ads was $150,000 per second. This expenditure alone amounted to $4.5 million, but Super Bowl halftime ads have always been synonymous with value for money. In recent years, they have consistently topped North America's TV ratings, unmatched by any other sports event or entertainment program.
After the Super Bowl, 20th Century Fox conducted related statistical surveys. Nearly 15% of viewers who saw the movie ad expressed interest in *City of Chaos*. Given the Super Bowl's audience of hundreds of millions, this percentage was quite impressive.
This success was partly due to Murphy's strategy. Even though the film's special effects weren't complete, he included close-combat scenes in the thirty-second ad. The sharp and realistic combat style stood out amidst the fancy fighting scenes brought about by recent years' visual effects and kung fu trends in Hollywood, attracting significant attention from movie enthusiasts.
Moreover, Murphy Stanton had become a renowned brand. His recognition among movie fans was on par with Hollywood's biggest stars.
Movie marketing isn't just about promoting a single film but also about building and spreading a brand. This approach, based on brand strategy, can create strong, favorable, and unique brand associations in the minds of movie fans, prompting them to form judgments or impressions about the brand, fostering relationships and brand resonance, thereby accumulating brand equity.
The brand-building efforts embedded in the marketing of each past film had enhanced the appeal of the Murphy Stanton brand, akin to what Steven Spielberg once achieved and what James Cameron has now.
After the Super Bowl, *City of Chaos* truly entered the sights of many movie fans, especially older TV viewers.
Additionally, 20th Century Fox conducted a series of audience segmentation studies, trailer testing research, audience awareness tracking surveys, and more.
These professional studies and surveys provided crucial data for the overall movie promotion activities.
However, while emphasizing traditional media promotion, they didn't neglect the internet. Compared to the television ads managed by 20th Century Fox, the internet promotion was primarily handled by the film crew.
Murphy's social media has always been a focal point for the media. After the Super Bowl, he personally updated several related stills, including many photos with Henry Cavill and Margot Robbie on set.
Margot Robbie, due to her looks and her role as Sansa Stark, also had a significant number of fans on Twitter.
She also updated a selfie with Murphy, captioning it, "It's really lucky to work with an extraordinary director and be part of an exceptional movie!"
Meanwhile, CAA communicated with several of Murphy's fan organizations, including the relevant discussion groups on IMDB. Instantly, many comments appeared under the newly established *City of Chaos* section on IMDB.
These comments all expressed their anticipation for Murphy's new film.
"From the ad, the dark atmosphere seems excellently crafted!"
"The action design is explosive, the real punch feeling is so much better than those fancy moves. This is real fighting!"
"Is Murphy ready to bring us another masterpiece? Personally, I felt *The Wolf of Wall Street* was a bit of a letdown. I really hope he returns to that dark, high-brow style!"
"In just thirty seconds, you can see the action scenes are thrilling, and the dark atmosphere is very engaging!"
"Murphy's films have always been synonymous with high quality. This one is clearly no exception. That line 'Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up' immediately elevated the entire ad's mood!"
On Rotten Tomatoes, although the film had no related reviews yet, and the freshness rate was still at 0%, the audience anticipation rating, the Popcorn Score, quietly rose to 92% after a round of massive promotional campaigns by 20th Century Fox, and it continued to climb slowly.
Major Hollywood studios like 20th Century Fox, while emphasizing traditional media marketing, would not miss out on proven effective new media methods. Integrating traditional media platforms with emerging ones like the internet is not unusual.
In this promotional campaign, 20th Century Fox used TV ads as the core to drive online media buzz, integrating various channels.
Integrated marketing channels are not an invention of Hollywood but under the proficient management of the six major studios, they exert significant power, becoming the most popular and common marketing method.
This approach is extremely conducive to formulating unified marketing strategies and coordinating the use of various promotional channels and methods, comprehensively utilizing the advantages of different promotional tools to implement marketing strategies, ultimately achieving low-cost, high-return marketing effects.
Compared to 20th Century Fox, Murphy's influence on traditional media was limited. Besides cooperating with Fox's plans, he and the cast exerted all efforts online to promote the film, especially on their social media platforms.
It's no exaggeration to say Murphy, Henry Cavill, and Margot Robbie worked hard in this regard. Firstly, because they would directly benefit from the movie's success, and secondly, because their contracts included related clauses.
Murphy did most of his work on his official Twitter and Facebook, continuously revealing bits of new content about the film, drawing frequent attention from fans and media.
Henry Cavill did something similar but also frequently interacted with his new girlfriend on social media, often discussing the film's shooting conditions. Since being chosen by Murphy as the lead actor, he had become a target for paparazzi and entertainment media.
Moreover, his new girlfriend's identity was quite unique. Gina Carano, who had previously worked with Murphy, was a renowned mixed martial artist and had recently appeared in *Fast Five*.
As Margot Robbie teased Henry Cavill, despite his strong build, if he had a conflict with Gina Carano, Henry Cavill might end up on the losing side.
For Margot Robbie, CAA devised a series of promotional plans.
While Murphy was busy with fine-cutting, Margot Robbie quietly followed Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo on Twitter, continuously liking his posts and commenting that she was a fan.
Leveraging such promotions is a tried-and-true method in Hollywood. A new movie can advertise during the release of a blockbuster, and a less well-known actor can use other celebrities to gain attention.
After several days of liking Ronaldo's posts, it was unclear which entertainment media outlet started it, but soon, entertainment and sports media and the internet were abuzz with rumors of "Sansa Stark" being involved with Ronaldo. Some tabloids even claimed that Margot Robbie's involvement was causing a rift between Ronaldo and Irina Shayk.
Perhaps football stars don't have much influence in North America, and Irina Shayk isn't a supermodel, but no one can deny that football is the world's number one sport, and Ronaldo is one of the best players, with undeniable influence.
While North American markets are the foundation for Murphy's films, the vast overseas market cannot be ignored. Margot Robbie's promotional strategy was targeted at the international audience.
This scandal spread worldwide like wildfire. Even Lionel Messi's staunch supporters paid attention to the news, mocking Ronaldo as a playboy.
One-sided hype often doesn't last long, but what Murphy and CAA didn't expect was that Ronaldo, for reasons unknown, followed Margot Robbie on Twitter amidst the rampant rumors and liked many of her photos.
Ronaldo even left a comment on a recent photo of Margot Robbie with Gal Gadot, saying, "I'm a big fan of both of you!"
As soon as the comment appeared, entertainment and sports media swarmed in, each with wild imaginations, creating intricate love stories between Ronaldo and Margot Robbie, spreading them worldwide.
Because of Ronaldo, this round of marketing exceeded expectations.
"He indirectly helped us a lot." Murphy told Gal Gadot, "If Ronaldo ever wants to transition into acting, I might consider giving him a role."
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