10 Cloverfield Lane: 8 Reasons The Marketing Was Genius

6. The Viral Marketing Has An Impact On The Movie

The original Cloverfield was notable for its exemplar viral marketing, with an expansive campaign that ran from the teaser's unveiling in July 2007 (with Transformers) all the way through to the DVD release. Jumping from a few easter eggs in the trailer and detailing the origins of the monster, it sits alongside The Dark Knight's as the peak of alternate-reality games (nowadays most films just have a fake in-universe site and call it a day). There was one niggling little issue with it all though; while we did indeed get background information on the attack, very little of it actually impacted on the events of the film. There was Slusho cup at the party and a smashed Tagruato ship in the East River, but for all intents and purposes the ARG could have been in a different universe. Which is fair enough - an audience shouldn't need months worth of pre-reading to enjoy a big monster movie - although it would have been nice to have it add something to the film. Well here's the good news - 10 Cloverfield Lane's ARG, while not quite as involved or as expansive as the original's, does correct that mistake; you get more out of the movie if you've followed all the websites and email chains. The viral marketing details the backstory of John Goodman's Howard, including including his work in satellites (in Tagruato subsidiary Bold Futura, no less), obsession with doomsday bunkers and attempts to reconnect with his estranged daughter (right down to her love of Pretty In Pink), all of which are directly alluded to in the story and further the confusion over his true motivations.