bradley's media blog: American Gangster Marketing Campaign

Marketing Campaign- American Gangster

Release date: November 6th 2007

DVD release date: February 19th 2008

Universal made a widget on facebook that can be added to your homepage that allowed you to look at music from the soundtrack for the film, photos and more.

There were many interviews with Denzel Washington to talk about the film. Also, there is an interview with his co-star in the film, Russell Crowe.

There were 4 main posters released for American gangster. These were one with a picture of Denzel Washington’s character, one with Russell Crowe’s character, one with both of the characters and another with both of the characters but also including short reviews. The soundtrack of the film was released a week after the release of the film. Also, Jay-Z released his album American gangster inspired by the film in conjunction with its release. The New York Times speculated that the album's release in conjunction with the film would attract young moviegoers and help Universal Pictures generate profits to recover from the film's troubled development history. In November 2007 (the same month in which the film was released), gameloft released a mobile video based on the video game.

The marketing campaign for American Gangster started in 2006, with an article on Russell Crowe being shocked to know that the poilce officer who arrested him a few months before was appearing in the film. This gave the target audience an insight onto the film and would want to know what else was in store when filming American Gangster.

Jay Z was a huge influence on to who went to see the film. It was said that Jay Z would have the film playing in the background in the studio to keep him inpsired.

Jay Z said "that the movie had tremendous resonance for him and had sparked a burst of creative activity that even he found surprising."

ON the day of it's release, American Gangster made $43, 565, 135.

I felt that with the film, American Gangster, the audience saw a very sympathetic side to Frank Lucas. In the trailer, Frank Lucas is seen as the 'good guy' and the officer, the 'bad guy.' But more than anything else, the audience see that Frank Lucas is in fact African American and has accomplished more than any other Mafia.

THe shortest trailer for American Gangster is 1minute 55 seconds.