Close-Up: What adland can learn from movie marketing.

Hollywood is deploying increasingly innovative marketing techniques to create cut-through, Noel Bussey explains.

How much do you already know about Watchmen? How many articles have you read about it? Have you seen the trailer? Worn the condom? The pre-launch noise has been deafening, and indicative of the rise of movie promotions as one of the most sophisticated and creative sectors of marketing.

Promoting a movie used to be a one-way dialogue with punters, aimed at getting bums on cinema seats. A pre-release trailer cut from the film shown in cinemas and a shorter version as a TV ad, if the budget permitted, was about as much teasing as the public got.

Now, with the impact of the internet and an imperative to drive longer-term DVD sales, film marketing has become a hugely creative and financially successful industry.

Films such as The Dark Knight, Cloverfield and Watchmen have redefined how to build interest, and longevity of interest, in a film.

But for all its creative, innovative and cutting-edge marketing nous, it's still a sector that largely bypasses traditional creative agencies, with most of the leg-work coming from media agencies.

Howard Nead, a managing partner at PHD, which handles the Warner Bros business, says: 'A lot of it comes down to editing the original film and putting out an interesting teaser: that's why it's cost-efficient just to use a media agency. But this also gives us the chance to do some really innovative stuff when a film warrants it.'