‘That just doesn’t cut it anymore’: Universal Pictures had to ‘go to the next level’ with Furiosa campaign
Run of the mill film campaigns aren’t enough in 2024 according to the director of marketing for Universal Pictures ANZ, and their effort for the current #1 film in Australia, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, is an example of that.
The movie’s stars, Chris Hemsworth and Anya Taylor-Joy, director George Miller and producer Doug Mitchell hit Sydney earlier this month to promote the fifth film in the Mad Max franchise and one of the media calls included “a media call like no other”.
The cast and crew participated in a unique photo shoot where they posed for photos on Sydney’s Harbour, flanked by the legendary ‘Interceptor’ vehicle from the Mad Max films, and ‘Cranky Black’ Furiosa’s car from the new film, while the famous War Boys chanted from atop the Harbour Bridge.
Appearing on a recent episode of Mumbrella’s one-on-one podcast series, Suzanne Stretton-Brown said the campaign was an inspired move by the team attempting to create something completely different and unique and working with the names.
“Where we are now as a business, we look at it and say, ‘Okay, we can take the stars, we can put them in front of the Opera House, we can take a photo and go, there you go,’” Stretton-Brown explained.
“But that just doesn’t cut it anymore. In my opinion, we have to go to the next level.
“So, for that particular one, working with the filmmakers, we managed to get the War Boys… a big part of the Furiosa brand, we basically managed to get them on top of the Harbour Bridge in an incredible shoot that Doug Mitchell facilitated a lot of that, or all of that.
“And then we’re able to marry that together with a story down on the foreshore, where we created this, almost a movie set, with the cars from the film. We had other war boys on big poles, sway poles, which are used in the film. And then we had our stars at the very centre of it.
“It just ignited your imagination.”
The campaign was a huge success, making headlines both in Australia and around the world, stamping Stretton-Brown’s point that you must “push boundaries” to get the desired result.
Listen to the full episode here.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is out in cinemas now.
Subscribe to the daily newsletter
Got a tip?
Neil Griffiths is the editor of Mumbrella. He joined the company in October 2023.
Linkedin
topics
Anya Taylor-Joy
Chris Hemsworth
Doug Mitchell
Furiosa
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
George Miller
Mad Max
Suzanne Stretton-Brown
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures ANZ
Universal Pictures Australia
It boggles the mind how this movie is seemingly flopping. It has everything going for it. Solid stars, an established IP and also a follow up to the cult success that was Fury Road. It has great reviews and lots of marketing presense.
Yet the general audience just aren’t coming out.
User ID not verified.
Have your say