We often discuss trailers and their accompanying trends here at Tower of Babble. Whether it's the "sombre piano", the "transformers noise" or the recent "remixed classic rock song", it's always fun to take a look at the monkey-see monkey-do nature of Hollywood. So in that same vein, here's an article from SlashFilm that I didn't know I wanted but I'm glad exists.
Ben Pearson explores the new hotness in trailers known as the "pre-roll bumper". You know, that 5 second clip that shows you footage from the trailer you're literally about to watch. Apparently people lose interest as early as the green band that plays is in front of every trailer. So to combat this, they blast you with some quick action or comedy right at the top to keep your attention.
Here's a quote from Elias Plishner, EVP of Worldwide Digital Marketing for Sony Pictures Entertainment that Ben included in the article:
"These 3-5 second bumpers have helped our mobile-optimized trailers increase both retention and interest by almost four times, versus the exact same trailer without the bumper."
Honestly, the data makes perfect sense to me. Of course giving people something more engaging than a green screen will help improve retention. That being said, some people seem to be a little annoyed by this new practice. Ben himself says he's worried about it ruining the artistic nature of trailers. I don't quite see it that way. This is just a clever marketing strategy, an extremely effective one at that, which has very little impact on the overall product.
The bigger concern for me is the continuing use of "teasers for a teaser" that seem to come along with every new comic book movie. We don't need an 8 second clip from a trailer that is going to drop tomorrow!
Check out Ben Pearson's full article here: http://www.slashfilm.com/trailers-before-trailers/
