I watched Twilight about a month ago On Demand Free from Showtime. It has been cold and I needed an excuse to stay in, but I otherwise had no strong desire to watch it. I have never watched Gossip Girl either if you see my point. In fact at one point I thought that Twilight was a Teen Drama series with vampires, only to discover that it was a popular movie, likewise I thought Hannah Montana was a real life pop singer (I know these comparisons are qualitatively different but it does relate). Twilight is one of those teen crazes that manages to be a craze for some adults as well (the kind of adults that eat ice cream when they are sad and use animals for internet avatars). It seems like pre-teens would brush their teeth with Twilight if they could, especially the girls, they love that lead guy because he is so handsome and borderline threatening. Vampire fiction is typically for girls, unless the lead is likable by men, which he almost never is because he is always created for naive female fantasy. True Blood is for women who don’t get laid (I liked watching it BTW), and the Interview With a Vampire books are so “single mom” its not even funny. Let the Right One In was a good contemporary vampire film but that is a different scenario, and also completely unable to generate the kind of hype that Twilight can.

When I watched Twilight, I did not love it, I never got swept up in it, and I do like Teen Drama. I didn’t really care for the baseball scene nor do I care for proms. However, the lead girl who I liked better in Into the Wild is pretty cute and girl-next-door-ish and I guess I could enjoy the sexual tension- which is the axis in which Teen Drama revolves on. The girl that I watched Twilight with said “it’s just one of those movies that is made for girls that want to believe that love really exists.” The fact that using vampires was perfect timing was a lucky break I think.

So…. how can we market this? Maybe we could just play up the guilty pleasure angle, get all “you know you like it.” Anyone I know who likes Twilight uses it as a semi-ironic guilty pleasure. They make these –v–v– on their facebook status updates and whatnot. They also like Gossip Girl and get really excited when one of those guys is at the Soho Grand or whatever. However, its a guilty pleasure for the people I know, and they act like liking Twilight is obviously beneath them but they “like it anyway.” It’s like watching Keeping up with the Kardashians or listening to Taylor Swift. It’s not something that they publicly appreciate on a legit level, but something that they like for the tabloidy-ness of it. Maybe you could get celebrities (or models like Agnyess Deyn or socialite DJ’s like Harley) to wear cheap plastic fangs and get them to admit how much they like Twilight. It seems lowbrow to use crappy fangs, but that might be the point. Have normal people wear the fangs and take pictures at house parties. There might be some sexual tension in the photos (cuz they are party pics) so people will look at them and post mean/offensive comments if you allow them to. Get teens to take pictures with fangs. I have noticed that teens spend a lot of time online looking at pictures of each other that they took of themselves. Is that too tacky? maybe, but young people love cheap sunglasses and that kinda stuff. People like a cheap prop for the party pic that says they are having fun (fake mustaches), and if the world is littered with the fangs it might catch on. Give them away at shops like American Apparel, skate shops, record stores, urban outfitters, bars, etc with a link to where to upload your photos. If the whole operation seems like a voluntary act of fandom it will be even more successful, so the site should be minimal.

I see the celebrity phenomena as the biggest part of the Twilight franchise after the recent vampire obsession. The mythology of “Young Hollywood” seems to be important to the obsession with the series. Maybe throw a bunch of parties with socialites and have bands play and DJ’s. Have them be exclusive and invite only and make them fabulous, but not too “hip,” like the blonde girl with big eyes from Mean Girls type of hip. I suppose it is obvious to me to market stuff with parties and music. Its kind of my realm, but really, Twilight might have the costumed convention center superfan/ fan fiction following, but I think its also the type of thing that can be glamorized as being trendy. I really have no idea how to market to the nerdy girls that boys don’t like, and I think they are probably the core fans, but perhaps this might appeal to the slightly more image conscious crowd as well as the gays who might be the second largest demographic.

What can I say that you don’t already know? Its hard to talk about this movie without seeming like I work at an ad agency, rather than be a focus group specimen, because I honestly have no genuine interest in it.  If you want people like me to think about it, throw some parties that focus on the guilty pleasure of Twilight, rather than pretending like its actually really exciting. I mean, I live in New York, and there are so many sponsored parties of this nature. They often hire my friend Sean to organize them and sometimes he pays me or one of my friends a nice sum of money to DJ them. The pictures look good and people in other places look at them, or so we presume. Maybe you could make a limited Twilight shirt for some trendy clothing store like Urban Outfitters that doesn’t say the name anywhere, but just has a still or a face. Commision a Twilight themed vampire-teen photo shoot for Vice or Nylon. Of course Vice will use naked breasts which is not exactly the wholesome campaign you want.

As far as places to advertise…  won’t Twilight be advertised everywhere? I think its pretty aboveground and will be blasted on ABC, so i son’t see the alternative press being too excited to run editorials etc. but perhaps you should show the ads on popular TV things like Pitchfork, XLR8R, The Fader, Dazed and Confused, Nylon. Run a preview before the segment. Its not high art, so it should stay to the commercial end of culture sites.

Oh and for the record I don’t go to movies more than once in the theaters. There is just too much going on to do that and more importantly they cost ten dollars or more!