Christopher Nolan’s 2010 smash Inception, and its advertising strategy can be seen as instructive for how to market an original film. Though Inception featured a fleet of stars just as impressive as the crew for The Avengers, its marketing campaign focused not on the familiar face of Leonardo DiCaprio, but on the concept of the film itself. The poster placed DiCaprio’s name above the title, but his face is nowhere to be found. Instead, the image on the poster is one from the film—the memorable image of Paris streets folding over on themselves. Trailers followed a similar strategy. It’s the film, not the stars, that audiences are being encouraged to think about. It’s also worth noting that these glimpses of the film came out long before its creative team began doing press, making their appearances the last in a long chain of attractions….
Full story here at The Daily Beast.