Tagline Thinking

Tagline Thinking is the start of a weekly Friday post dedicated to look at the movies coming out that weekend and noticing their taglines. Sometimes marketing teams focus on the poster and leave the tagline behind. Others have a boring poster and an eye catching line. The best seem to be able to combine both things and make the perfect pitch to the passerby. 

Movies coming out this weekend encompass some of  Hollywood's most used formats. We have a book adaptation, a horror film targeted to 18-25 males, a worned out franchise and the everlasting remake. 

ONE DAY : " Twenty one years, Two people...One Day"


The tagline works with numbers to make it catchy, 21+2+1. This movie is about time passing between two people and their lives together. The poster that accompanies it looks like a artsy instagram photograph, and reminds me of the 1940's photo " the kiss", romance and nostalgia. It could perfectly be the cover of the book,it certainly beats the one I bought at the airport.  Obviously they're going for a women target here and not even attempting to reach males. This is a film that girls will drag their boyfriends to and women will go to see together hoping ¨one day¨ they will have a moment nearly as good as the poster´s.

One Day movie poster

Veredict: They went for the full romance effect. The poster wasn't a romantic comedy, it sold love, as did the tagline. It´s appropiate but I would have liked something wittier to avoid the chesse.

FRIGHT NIGHT  " You can't run from the devil when it lives next door" 

This film has been previously described as Disturbia meets Vampires and this tagline couldn´t prove that better. Even Disturbia´s tagline was similar ¨ Every killer lives next door to someone¨.  While Disturbia´s makes you uneasy about your next door neighbors and ignites your inner voyeur, Fright Night´s takes itself less seriously. Obviously the devil is not going to live next door, but Colin Farrel gets close to it. 

Fright Night movie poster

Veredict: By itself, it´s nothing special, along with the poster it works. Shia La Boef´s lookalike grabs an ax in the middle of a suburbian background while Farrel´s ominous face hovers gigantically over him looking at us. I´m intimidated enough. 

SPY KIDS 4 : ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD " Small time spies, big time adventure" 
Lets look at the taglines from the previous movies:
Spy Kids 1: ¨Real Spies, only Smaller¨
Spy Kids 2: ¨ Huge new adventure * Slightly smaller spies¨
Spy Kids 3 in 3D: 3rd Mission 3rd Dimension

They´ve primarily focused on comparing the antonyms Big and Small. Hey, at least they´ve clearly been consistent with their marketing strategy throughout the years. Almost identical posters and taglines make the brand recognizable and familiar.The second movie and this last one are very similar on their taglines, except Spy Kids 4 starts with Small and Spy Kids 2 does it the other way around.

Spy Kids 4

Veredict: Out of all of them I still prefer the first one, simple and cute.

CONAN THE BARBARIAN   " Enter an age undreamed of " 


This tagline marks the beginning of an epic adventure, something apparently we´ve never seen before. A world of fantasy and pure movie escapism. The poster reminds me of Clash of the Titans: kinda comickbookie and emphasizing action while THOR decided to take another route and painted the town red with a close shot of Chris Hemsworth looking at us.

Conan the Barbarian

Veredict: It´s an ok tagline, nothing new, the poster has so much things going on that it almost doesn´t need it. The white and small typography doesn´t help it´s case either.

I personally will see One Day this weekend, but I have to admit I´ll probably watch Fright Night in Netflix... See you next weekend!

Movie Taglines: Or how to sell your movie in one sentence

¨A tagline is a succinct phrase, situated under or alongside your logo, that communicates a single but powerful brand message designed to resonate strongly with an intended audience.¨ 

And movies have it more difficult. Not only do they have to be memorable, they have to recreate the film´s essence in one line and be another element to persuade the audience to spend that extra 12.50, without the popcorn bucket and that delicious overexpensive Coke.

Adweek recently posted an article about their choice of the Best 66 movie taglines in the last 30 years. Take a trip through geeky movie memory lane and read the whole article here. My three personal favorites were:

 1. For Harry and Lloyd every day is a no brainer - Dumb and Dumber. Match it with Jim Carrey (and his bowl cut, another character in itself really) and Jeff Daniels on a motorcycle and    you´ve got gold. It´s funny, memorable and delivers the essence of the movie. 

2. Her life was in their hands, now her toe is in the mail- The Big Lebowski. It´s such an unusual and awkward line that it completely matches the Coen´s cult movie. It´s also memorable and quite unique, I´m sure you haven´t seen it before in another poster.

3. A romantic comedy, with zombies- Shaun of the Dead. And    that´s just what it is exactly, blunt but true. 

Lets take a look at the movies that are opening this week and their taglines

THOR: Courage is inmortal: They´re trying to keep the solemn look of their posters and the superhero feel to it, but, do they really have to take it that seriously? Not a fan of the tagline this time. It doesn´t bring anything new to the table and is quite forgetable.

SOMETHING BORROWED: It´s a thin line between love and friendship: This same tagline could have been use for the other zillion romantic comedies out there or just every Kate Hudson film.  I think having such a great repertoire of actors and A-listers they decided to give up on selling it, thinking it already sells itself. Fail

THE BEAVER: He´s here to save Walter´s life. It talks about the movie plot, it´s sentimental and it raises the stakes. I think it works, at least better than its counterparts. The poster works very well with it aswell, showing Mel Gibson falling apart but holding a stuffed beaver in one hand. It keeps us wondering and sparks the     audience´s curiosity.

And to end this list with a great guilty pleasure, rejoice with me and read this great tagline form the 90´s: One dream. Four Jamaicans. Twenty below zero. 

You gotta love it. For those who want to remember what I´m talking about here is the trailer: