Abrams Is A Marketing Genius

[Trajet]

Wowbagger said:
He's whipped us into a frenzy, which is a very different claim from whipping the population into a frenzy. Anyone have non-Trekkie friends with a reaction to the teaser?

I've shown the teaser to three of my good friends who could never ever be described as Trekkies. In fact, they barely like any form of science fiction whatsoever, but each of them had what I would term "positive" reactions to the teaser.

One of them in particular surprised me - after being informed of the trailer, he said there was no way in hell he'd be going to see Star Trek when it comes out. However, upon actually viewing the teaser online, he changed his tune, saying "Yeah, I'll go see it, it doesn't look as cardboard as Star Trek usually does". The other two (fellow design students with little to no interest in Star Trek, but an appreciation for art) summed the teaser up as looking "well cool!"

If the teaser is going over equally well with the public in general, I think Star Trek's box office showing might be something of a surprise.

 

[steveman]

He's doing a superb job.

I don't think there's any doubt that he was the right man for this project.

 

[God Magnus]

The pattern is following the one laid down many times before such as with "Transformers". They put out a teaser that you did not know the purpose of until the last few seconds. I remember upon seeing that there was much groaning and people dismissing it. Then later as more trailers arrived with more dynamic visuals, excitement built up to a fever pitch - and we all know how that turned out at the box office.

If ST replicates even a quarter of that success, I'll be ecstatic.

 

[Basil]

Genius? No. Stunt casting and publicity long before the movie opens up is nothing new. In the old days, we would have been getting equally vague interviews, along with a photo or two in rags like Starlog. The Internet has allowed video and sound into the mix, but Abrams isn't doing anything new. On the other hand, the way "The Blair Witch Project" turned the Internet on its head, making people wonder whether the event was a film or had actually happened, was rather brilliant; it exploited a medium that the masses were only starting to become familiar with. Abrams is being hailed the next Spielberg, which isn't too far from the mark, as their brilliance mostly comes from reinventing known properties with massive budgets for the masses to consume (and re-consume). But he's just following that particular play book.

 

[Wowbagger]

Well, this is all great news. Everyone in my family is at least versed in Star Trek (my influence, thank you much) and enjoy at least one or two of the series, but my parents' reactions were, respectively, "That's it?" and "Why didn't Shatner do the voiceover?" My theater deigned not to show it, so I have seen literally zero public reactions.

It sounds like I can now begin to get cautiously optimistic.