You’ve probably already stumbled across the hype for the movie “Paranormal Activity”, “a terrifying shot-on-video haunted-house thriller made very much in the found-footage, this-is-really-happening! mode of Blair Witch” (Owen Gleiberman, EW.com).

Here’s how MovieRetriever.com describes the hype:

Paramount has brilliantly pitched Paranormal Activity as a viral movie, a film that they’ve played in midnight screenings in college towns across the country and instructed fans who wanted to see it to join the movement to bring it to their city. The incredible new marketing concept paid off as the film, reportedly produced for $11,000 [or perhaps $15,000 -- see below], made more than that PER SCREEN this past weekend and brought in over $7 million at the box office.

Advertising Age (as reported by The Wrap) suggests that marketers should learn the following conclusions from the exercise:

• Let consumers dictate distribution. Once “Paranormal Activity” reaches 1 million Demands on its Eventful page, Paramount will release the movie within a reasonable radius of all the fans who demanded the movie by providing their age and zip code. “It totally transforms the brand into a benefactor,” Eventful CEO Jordan Glazier said of the site’s marketing model. “You now have a self-identified list of participants who are passionate about entertainment, and the event brand has even more value to them.”
• Don’t waste money on large-scale TV campaigns when you can talk directly to your fans. “[Paramount is] using social media as a marketing vehicle as well as a market-research vehicle,” said Sarah Hofstetter, a senior VP at 360i, an independent digital-communications agency that has worked with Paramount on previous campaigns.
• Don’t create false hype. Ten years ago, “The Blair Witch Project” struck gold with one of the most successful viral movie marketing strategies to date by trying to pass itself as a documentary rather than a fictional horror movie. “Paranormal Activity’s” theatrical trailer and TV spots are focused more on marketing the audience’s terrified reactions to the movie itself.
• When there are low financial barriers, have fun. “Paranormal Activity” cost a mere $15,000 to produce, with little spent thus far on traditional media, so Paramount stands to recoup any overhead costs thousands of times over if the film catches on with a national audience. But despite the initial success, “If it all ended today we’d be very happy,” said Paul Greenstein, the studio’s co-president, marketing.

If you’re going to steal this idea for your business, these are our learnings from “Paranormal Activity: The Marketing Sensation”:

1. Your product better be not just good but great. If you expect others to promote it for you, it has to live up to the hype. It’s their reputation on the line as well as yours.
2. Be creative or don’t bother. Nobody’s going to rave about “same old, same old”.
3. Make it exclusive. Whatever your offer, restrict it to a favored few. Reinforce that exclusivity with your communications. and enforce that exclusivity for real — cut off the flow of products or services on the specified date or at the nominated level.
4. Consumers are in control. Get used to it. Allow them to spread the word and control the success or otherwise of the product/service. Give them the mechanisms to evangelise on your behalf (whether texting, Facebook apps, Twitter tools or whatever).
5. Don’t be blatant. Nobody wants to be a marketing shill. Promote with subtlety.
6. Be ready for failure. The reason Paranormal has sparked such attention is because it’s working. Many, many studios have tried to replicate the Blair Witch marketing magic. Most have failed bigtime.

This is the latest of our “101 Marketing Ideas Worth Stealing”, from the ebook STOLEN MARKETING IDEAS, available in limited release [of course!] from December 1-20, and only to subscribers to the Marketing Rag newsletter.

Located in downtown York in old  England, the Jorvik Centre provides an entertainment, education, sight and smell sensual experience at the site of a Viking village discovered during the construction of the Copper Gate Mall.

Heritage Resources
The Jorvik Viking Centre is an archaeological site of a Viking village of 975AD. Artifacts were removed from the site, stabilised and then brought back to their original locations. The specific artifacts range from buildings to tools–all are restored and preserved for visitors to understand how an excavation is conducted and how the Viking culture worked.

This video clip gives a useful summary of the history of Jorvik:

Jorvik Viking Centre

How Visitors Interact with Resources
The experience is provided by entering at street level, paying a fee, and being escorted down the stairs to the Viking Village level. After passing through a maze of descriptive panels, the visitor enters a small electric car (time car) and travels slowly backward in time (facing backward) viewing panoramic scenes of historic events, first World War II, then World War I, the British Civil War, and then arriving in the Viking historical period, about 1,000 A.D. All of this is explained by audio narrative.

The visitor’s car is then reversed and travels forward through a reconstructed village that was sacked and burned with all of its sounds, smells, and sights.

The visitor travels down a street, in the time car, and into individual buildings observing the production and sale of products and foods, even passing by an ancient latrine with all of its pungent odors. The visitor then travels by a fish market and fishing boat with its smells and sounds. Now, moving forward into the present through a darkened tunnel, is a view of the actual Viking village excavation. The visitor then travels through the excavation in the exact sequence as in the reconstruction.

The process of archaeology is explained as you travel through this stabilised Viking ruin. After passing through the authentic ruined village, the visitor enters the mock-up laboratories where the passenger gets out of the time car and is met by docents explaining the process of research involved in the reconstruction of the village. The visitor may look into microscopes, view seeds and learn pollen analysis and understand the use of floatation equipment.

Visitor Experiences
Visitor experiences at this site are rich and varied. After this trip they can visit traditional displays and a gift shop. This shop has a wide variety of gifts including everything from blood axes to erasers that smell like a latrine and fish market to scholarly publications. The visit ends with an opportunity for the visitor to stamp a coin from a die made from an original coin found at the site. The stimulation that is planned for the visitors is varied and rich.

Benefits
A major reason for this site being designated a fully developed heritage tourism site is the completeness of the benefits. Visitors, the site and the community all benefit from the visitor experience. Visitors have a stimulating, memorable experience. The site receives increased awareness of archaeological practices, in addition to revenue needed to continue the scientific research. The host community also benefits from the visitation in immediate and tangible terms.

The line to enter the Viking Center is often quite lengthy, so visitors take time to visit the nearby shops in the mall.

Marketing Lessons Worth Stealing
Many lessons can be learned at this site, but two are highlighted here. Shopping is a critical part of the visitor experience, and this site is able to leverage its visitation to benefit the greater community in a visible way.

Another key lesson is the visitor experience and the distinctive Visitor Interaction Mechanisms (VIMs). Coin stamping and VIMs like the microscopes which visitors can use to investigate key elements are important.

The Viking Center may seem a long way away from your operation, but take a few moments to consider how you could turn your space into an experiential extravaganza. If you can become a destination in your own right, it may change your future considerably ..