“Misfortune awaits; Lucky you.”
If this tagline sounds familiar, you probably spotted Wendy’s recent campaign inspired by the Jenna Ortega-led Netflix series Wednesday. Wendy’s leaned into the series’ dark, gothic themes, poking fun at its competitor with the golden arches with the line, “There’s Nothing Happy About This Meal.” The results? Buzz across social media, coverage in USA Today, and countless review videos.
Although the final sales figures have yet to be shared, Wendy’s seems to have enjoyed plenty of good fortune with its Wednesday-inspired meal, and it’s a perfect example of how horror movie marketing lessons can inspire brands well beyond the big screen.
While Wendy’s isn’t the first brand to borrow from a frightening franchise, how horror films and TV shows market themselves is often unique. The most effective campaigns create unforgettable moments that allow a franchise to live long after its run in theaters or on TV (or should we say, in the afterlife).
What can brands learn from some of horror’s most memorable campaigns? Here are three frightfully good lessons:
Smile, You’re on Camera
Even if you’re not a baseball fan, you probably remember the marketing campaign for Smile that swept across Major League Baseball stadiums in 2022. That’s when paid actors pretending to be fans began showing up at baseball games, sitting directly behind home plate, grinning creepily into the cameras broadcasting the game. The stunt also popped up on The Today Show.
Viewers couldn’t look away, and social media and news coverage were flooded with the footage. With a budget of just $17 million, Smile went on to earn $217 million worldwide and even spawned a 2024 sequel.
Key takeaways: Simple ideas stick. The premise of Smile was as basic as it gets: a creepy grin. The marketing capitalized on the simplicity and proved that making millions doesn’t have to cost millions when creativity meets opportunity. When your message is clear, creative, and unexpected, it spreads faster and more effectively than any ad spend could.
A Final Destination Nightmare That Came Back to Life
If you get nervous driving behind a truck carrying a bunch of logs, you’re not alone. For many drivers, the opening highway scene from Final Destination 2 has lived in the back of minds since the movie’s release in 2003. In the latest and final installment of the series, Final Destination: Bloodlines brought that nightmare back to life by using a combination of nostalgia and trauma to revitalize a once-flagging franchise.
The marketing campaign for Bloodlines featured a diabolical yet clever homage to one of the franchise’s most memorable moments by having fake logging trucks featuring an ad for the film drive on major highways. The campaign tapped into collective memory, reigniting fear as audiences wondered: if the studio would go this far for marketing, what terrors awaited them in theaters?
Key takeaways: Any long-running product risks becoming passe to everyone but diehard fans. That’s why finding fresh, creative ways to remind people what they loved (or in this case, what scarred them for life) is an essential part of the marketing cycle. The same applies in public relations. Even if your client hosts the same event every year, emphasize what makes each year’s experience unique.
House of Wax Seals Its Fate
For our last film, let’s rewind to 2005, when one of the true first social media stars, Paris Hilton, was trying to transition into acting. Her chance arrived with House of Wax, a remake of the beloved 1953 classic starring Vincent Price.
However, many horror fans resented a remake of the beloved film, and plenty of others were simply tired of Hilton’s overexposure from The Simple Life. So, what did the marketing team do? They leaned in, launching a marketing campaign with one brutally simple message: “See Paris Die.”
Horror movies thrive on uncertainty over who will survive, but House of Wax turned that trope on its head by openly advertising Hilton’s character’s demise, and in gruesome fashion. The “See Paris Die” campaign helped House of Wax gross $70 million worldwide against its $40 million budget, a win for a critically panned film.
While the campaign sparked criticism, Hilton herself reminisced on her role, calling her death scene “iconic.” Now, 20 years later, the film has developed a cult following, with a 44% audience score against a 27% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Key takeaways: By embracing the backlash against one of the film’s stars, Warner Bros. reframed the negativity into a bold, tongue-in-cheek hook that got people talking and, ultimately, buying tickets. If you’re marketing a brand or product that’s getting negative buzz, find a way to flip it into a positive.
Doing so could turn misfortune into a small fortune. Lucky you.
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