Skyfall is the first social media Bond movie

Stand tall and face it all. That’s what netizens across the globe are doing as Skyfall, the latest James Bond movie, opens in India on 1 November following its worldwide release on 23 October. And bowing to the digital wave, the film’s makers and marketers have been running online contests and promos. For its London premier, Sony Pictures had incorporated the social media into its overall campaign running across Britain.

add_main_imageSocial media marketing has been one of the keys to promote the film online. There is of course an official James Bond Twitter account and a Facebook page which has 99,896 followers and 13,20,307 likes respectively. Strangely, the official Skyfall page has only about 28,649 but no official Twitter handle for the movie. It is being promoted through the James Bond handle. Both the pages share content like premier pictures, behind the scene videos, Bond’s 50 year celebration, movie review and related news. Similar approach is being followed on their Twitter handle.

In fact, Wishaw compares himself to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. “I think the writers did a brilliant job of finding this Mark Zuckerberg, computer hacker, genius person who feels sort of familiar to us now in our culture. That’s where so much of our lives happen now, on the internet and cyberspace,” he says in a Digital Spy report.

Over the last one month Skyfall has generated over 1.5 million mentions. According to Cision, a social media analytics company, the mentions saw a surge on three occasions. First, on 5 October when singer Adele released the official song for Skyfall, which was also the global James Bond day. Second, on 23 October the night of the royal premier. And lastly on 26 October when the movie opened in the UK.

A lot of brands are piggy backing on the movie for promotions either through tie-ups, product placement or digital campaigns. Brands like Omega Watches, Tom Ford, Aston Martin, Visit Britain, Coca Cola, Heinken, Sony Electronics and many other are part of the movie. So, it is very obvious that some of the best digital campaigns have come from these brands.

Beverage major Coca Cola ratcheted up the tempo online with a sleek marketing stunt, a mix of interactive and ambient marketing. It was called ‘Unlock the 007’ in you, and the winners got tickets to the Skyfall premier.

Honda Cars UK, which is present in the movie through a bike used by James Bond, has also released a Facebook campaign where it is sharing behind-the-scenes footage and images. The Facebook tab gives details about the bike used in the movie, a modified Honda CRF250R and also redirects users to its Twitter page @Honda_UK. It is a question-based contest which gives three winners a Bond Experience weekend.

The franchise also has an app on its official site where you can be a part of a James Bond mosaic. It is constructed by using the real photos of Bond fans uploaded by them. After uploading your own photo, you can search for it and share it on Facebook and Twitter.

Older Bonds also get their few minutes of fame with a 007 Legends video game. The storyline of the game is inspired by the five classic Bond films - Moonraker, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Die Another Day, Licence to Kill, and Goldfinger. A sixth mission based on Skyfall, will also be available post launch as downloadable content. It is an out and out action game where you get state-of-the-art spy gadgets and an arsenal of weapons, exotic locations and a tense situation to keep you busy. It is available for pre-order here.