Simpsons' Movie a Hit - Producers Point to Viral Marketing Campaigns

If you haven't heard, over the weekend the Simpsons Movie, took in over $71 million dollars.  That makes it the 5th best opening of the year topping even the opening of the Transformers and Disney's Ratatouille movies.

What made the movie a hit?  Well I'm sure most of the popularity of the movie came from the fact that it is the longest running sitcom of all time and it has a rather large fan base.  Really who doesn't know such phrases as "doh!" and "eat my shorts!"?  However, the producers of the the movie at 20th Century Fox, also are pointing to another contributing factor.

The producers of the Simpsons Movie have said their very successful marketing campaign for the movie, comprised mostly of Viral Marketing stunts had a lot to do with the weekend success of the movie.  From changing 7-11's to Kwik-E-Marts to the extremely popular Simpsonize Me site (check out my review of Simpsonize Me), apparently these viral marketing pieces did have an affect on people to draw them in to see the movie this weekend.

Up next, movie and internet marketing wise, Bourne Ultimatum.  Marketers for this movie, did a paid marketing piece for their site within Google Adwords to promote the movie with both a paid ad aligned with a video in You Tube that all tie to a special site "The Ultimate Search for Bourne".