• Marketing Land
  • Sections
    • CMO
    • Social
    • SEM
    • SEO
    • Analytics
    • Display
    • Retail
    • MarTech
    • Resources
    • More
    • Home
  • Marketing Land
  • CMO
  • Social
  • SEM
  • SEO
  • Analytics
  • Display
  • Retail
  • MarTech
  • Resources
  • More
  • SUBSCRIBE

Marketing Land

Marketing Land
  • CMO
  • Social
  • SEM
  • SEO
  • Analytics
  • Display
  • Retail
  • MarTech
  • Resources
  • More
  • Home
  • Newsletters
  • Home
CMO Zone

Sci-Fi Thriller “The Martian” Gets Immersive In 20th Century Fox/Microsoft Marketing Tie-Up

The upcoming Matt Damon film gets the full geeky treatment from the software company, which has embedded marketing elements into a variety of its products.

Pamela Parker on September 16, 2015 at 10:38 am
  • More
2015-09-16_09-14-40

It’s a movie about an astronaut stranded on Mars, so what better way to promote it to sci-fi-loving techies than via online and mobile integrations that let them play with gadgets?

That seems to be the thinking behind a partnership launching today between 20th Century Fox and Microsoft that seeks to bring the story of sci-fi pic “The Martian” to life via Microsoft products.

The campaign involves a Bing Map of astronaut Mark Watney’s journey on the red planet, a design contest called #HackMars that virtually puts players into Watney’s shoes, and an educational program aimed at teaching grade schoolers about our nearest neighbor in the solar system.

“The detail and effort that went into pulling this program together is truly monumental,” said Zachary Eller, senior vice president of marketing partnerships at 20th Century Fox. “We couldn’t be happier with the results, and we know moviegoers will want to engage in the amazing content and activation that Microsoft has created.”

The movie, to be released on October 2, stars Matt Damon as Mark Watney, an astronaut who gets trapped on Mars when the rest of his crew is forced to evacuate and leave him behind. Based on the best-selling novel by Andy Weir, the film follows Watney’s determined efforts to survive and communicate with NASA while he finds a way to return to Earth.

One of the more visible elements of the campaign is a Bing Map called “Bing Watney Home,” which takes visitors through the places that the character traverses in the film. It uses real imagery of Mars, along with “transmissions” written from Watney’s point of view. Bing says it will be adding additional content daily through the movie’s debut.

2015-09-15_12-12-05
2015-09-15_14-43-26

Click to enlarge

“They can see the story through a new lens,” said Bryan Saftler, a senior marketing manager for Bing. “It’s a great opportunity to understand how dangerous and difficult his journey was.”

There’s little to no custom video produced for the map-related content, though, as most of what’s embedded throughout the pages is re-purposed from trailers, other promotional material or from NASA footage about Mars exploration.

Microsoft is spreading the word about the custom Mars map via Twitter and Facebook and declined to say whether the campaign would include paid media outside of Microsoft sites:

Lost Astronaut #MarkWatney confirmed alive. Follow his journey with #Bing http://t.co/xBmmUFUVZW pic.twitter.com/ENQAaME8Qa

— Bing (@bing) September 15, 2015

The mission: bring @MartianMovie's Mark Watney home from Mars. http://t.co/xeueGXm9uz

— Microsoft (@Microsoft) September 15, 2015

Additionally, Bing has built an instant-results page for those who search for “The Martian” that features the trailer, top reviews and links to the cast and related topics, as well as show times and ticket purchasing opportunities.

Martian091515P2

The most engaging aspect of the campaign, the #HackMars contest hosted on HackingMars.com, is also the most complex — so complex that only a relatively small group of people will be likely to explore it in its entirety. Still, Microsoft has the opportunity to use the video submissions to entertain a much wider audience.

For the contest, teams of three adults will collaborate to develop a product, service, app, game or something else that solves one of three major challenges Watney faces in the film — how to stay alive, how to deal with extreme isolation and how to get home.

Players have the opportunity to tap the expertise of tech professionals via a public chat room on Skype called “Hacking Mars Challenge,” which they can join by adding “Skype The Martian” to their Skype contacts. Microsoft is encouraging contestants to use its inclusive design toolkit as they put together their projects.

What we loved about The Martian is how human it is. Technology is hacked in extreme ways to benefit the thing that matters most –- the person in need. It shows how design can start with the most basic human needs, like food, entertainment, and a sense of connection. If we design with these basics in mind, we end up creating solutions that benefit people on a universal scale. Our idea was simple: designing a solution for Mark Watney on Mars can also lead to designing better solutions for people on Earth. Together with Jen Buckmaster in marketing, we called the filmmakers to see if they wanted to partner.
Sarah Morris, a senior design strategist in the Windows and Devices design team at Microsoft

The grand prize includes $25,000 in cash, as well as a trip to Microsoft, where winners can meet with design experts and experience holographic technology.

This aspect of the campaign does feature original video, though it mostly is made up of interviews with the book’s author, Andy Weir, and clips grabbed from the film.

2015-09-15_14-40-03

The third prong of the campaign involves an educational effort aimed at grade schoolers. Through Bing in the Classroom and the Microsoft Educator Network, the company’s existing outreach channel to teachers, the company has made available lesson plans related to Mars and space travel.



About The Author

Pamela Parker
Pamela Parker is Research Director at Third Door Media's Content Studio, where she produces Martech Intelligence Reports and other in-depth content for digital marketers in conjunction with Search Engine Land, Marketing Land, MarTech Today and Digital Marketing Depot. Prior to taking on this role at TDM, she served as Content Manager, Senior Editor and Executive Features Editor. Parker is a well-respected authority on digital marketing, having reported and written on the subject since its beginning. She's a former managing editor of ClickZ and has also worked on the business side helping independent publishers monetize their sites at Federated Media Publishing. Parker earned a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University.

Related Topics

BingChannel: CMO ZoneCreative Of The DayFacebookHoloLensMicrosoftSocial Media MarketingTwitterVideo

We're listening.

Have something to say about this article? Share it with us on Facebook, Twitter or our LinkedIn Group.

Get the daily newsletter digital marketers rely on.
See terms.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS

MarTech 2021: March 16-17

MarTech 2021: Sept. 14-15

MarTech 2020: Watch On-Demand

×

Attend MarTech - Click Here


Learn More About Our MarTech Events

April 13, 2021: SMX Create

May 18-19, 2021: SMX London

June 8-9, 2021: SMX Paris

June 15-16, 2021: SMX Advanced

June 21-22, 2021: SMX Advanced Europe

August 17, 2021: SMX Convert

November 9-10, 2021: SMX Next

December 14, 2021: SMX Code

Available On-Demand: SMX

Available On-Demand: SMX Report

×


Learn More About Our SMX Events

White Papers

  • The Six Principles of Building a Memorable Customer Experience
  • 5 Reasons Agencies Adopt Marketing Automation
  • How to Land Higher-Paying Clients: A 7-Step Framework to Grow Your Agency
  • B2B Marketing Trends Shaping 2021
  • State of Email Marketing 2021 Report
See More Whitepapers

Webinars

  • Crawl Your Way Towards Better Search Results With Dynamic Rendering
  • The AI Revolution Is Coming to Every Stage of Your Buyer’s Journey
  • The Fundamentals of Link Building for E-Commerce & Affiliate Sites in 2021
See More Webinars

Research Reports

  • Local Marketing Solutions for Multi-Location Businesses
  • Enterprise Digital Asset Management Platforms
  • Identity Resolution Platforms
  • Customer Data Platforms
  • B2B Marketing Automation Platforms
  • Call Analytics Platforms
See More Research

h
Receive daily marketing news & analysis.

Channels

  • MarTech
  • CMO
  • Social
  • SEM
  • SEO
  • Mobile
  • Analytics
  • Retail
  • Display

Our Events

  • MarTech
  • SMX

Resources

  • White Papers
  • Research
  • Webinars

About

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • RSS
  • Youtube

© 2021 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.