1. Keep your powder dry

Timing your teasers

The Barbie marketing machine is in full swing right now, but the hype has been built up carefully since we frst got the news that Greta would be lending her talents to Mattel cinematic universe.

First, over a year before the flm’s eventual release, we had the shots of Margot and Ryan decked out in dayglo Lycra skating around Venice Beach. 6 months later, we had the Kubrick inspired teaser trailer. 3 months after that, the internet went to pieces over Margot’s perfectly arched foot. Then the food gates opened…

Travis Scott’s Utopia opted for a more cryptic tease. Showing up to Cannes Film Festival in May with a mysterious brown briefcase. Scott then handed of the the case to a series of famous friends including The Weeknd, Bad Bunny and Mike Dean (the producer not the ref). The result was a collective guessing game amongst his fanbase, building a crescendo of conversation around what the album’s collaborations might have in store, and ultimately when the record might drop.

The Oscar nominated The Whale – albeit perhaps not intentionally and not entirely positively – also stoked fames of social buzz with the most minimal of marketing materials. Collectively mocked (or celebrated?) for the fact that every article, tweet or mention of the flm was accompanied by the same, single frame of Brendan Fraser’s central character, the lm is a lesson in how, whether deliberate or unwittingly, you don’t have to give the game away to get people excited about what you have to punt.

Releasing just enough to whet the appetite, and carefully feeding the hype, is a key facts of any legendary launch.

The legend of launches

The latest release in Nintendo’s Zelda franchise, Tears of the Kingdom, was one launch that really capitalised on the power of scarcity and hype. With the frst details of the game emerging six years prior to its release, they took the art of the drip feed to new extremes as they meticulously teased out small details that kept fanbases on tenter hooks without over saturating and subsequently losing their interest. Despite the long build up, the resulting snowball efect lead to fever pitch hype that propelled the game to the top of the charts.

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