5 Tactics That Made Deadpool’s Marketing Strategy One Of The Greatest Ever

Deadpool, the unhinged, irreverent, and R-rated humorous character that took no time to be a fan favorite, with a movie that was loved before its release.

There is no doubt that Deadpool is hilarious, but so are other characters in the Marvel universe. What makes him so special? Well, Deadpool explores what you don’t see in the regular Marvel universe comedy, the power of breaking the fourth wall, which if you are unaware, is the act of separating yourself from the environment of the story to interact with the audience themselves. A character this fun needs a fun way of marketing for his movie and they didn’t disappoint.

Why was the Deadpool (2016) movie marketing such a genius move? Let’s understand this by diving deep into Deadpool’s marketing strategy.

Movie Marketing Done by Deadpool Himself

With the restriction of low budget for marketing, Ryan Reynolds, the actor who plays Deadpool decided to work closely with the marketing team. Ryan Reynolds is not some random pick, most definitely not. He is ‘The Actor’ to play Deadpool, someone you would pick without an audition.

If you see this obviously handsome, brilliant, and extremely humorous guy on screen, you will go “Oh that’s Deadpool!”

Apologies for the man crushing but could you blame me? Anyways, he decided to go through a cheap route with the internet as a tool with “Deadpool-based” methods of marketing. So it becomes obvious, there is definitely a wall being broken.

Here are the 5 ways Ryan Reynolds planned and promoted Deadpool

1. Comic Accurate Trailers And Humourous Teasers

Obviously the most basic form of marketing but executed in a unique manner. Starting with the norm of playing the trailer on stage at the Comic-Con 2015 in San Diego with the cast members present, which received a standing ovation and requests for the trailer to be played again. This trailer was appreciated by many for capturing the character from the comics almost perfectly.

The next move of the trailer promotion was two teasers with the announcement of the upcoming new trailer.

The first teaser was Deadpool mentioning how Fox Studios was the one that “inexplicably sewed his ******* mouth shut the first time” which clearly indicates the character breaking the fourth wall which is just genius writing.

Deadpool | Trailer Trailer [HD] | 20th Century FOX

The second teaser was just an unpredictable appearance of Deadpool at the end of the Fox’s Fantastic Four (2015) trailer which, let’s be honest, most people would’ve forgotten if not for his appearance.

2. Promotional Videos That Make You Go “WTF!”

Starting with the most unhinged promotional video that was probably ever made, is the Halloween video of Ryan Reynolds in his Deadpool costume interacting with children dressed up as X-men characters. Aww but that is so wholesome, what do you mean by unhinged? I do not know, probably the fact that he asked the children questions like “How many of you have taken a human life?”

Deadpool VIRAL VIDEO – Halloween (2015) – Ryan Reynolds Movie HD

So yeah, when I say Ryan Reynolds is Deadpool himself, stuff like this starts to form a suspicion in my mind.

Deadpool also made an appearance in a public service announcement parody that was played during an episode of The Bachelor, where he instructs men on how to check for testicular cancer.

A hero in many different ways I’d say.

3. Arguably The Funniest Billboards and Posters

Well, knowing Deadpool and its marketing it is obvious these aren’t going to be normal posters or boards, and that’s just how it went. With the billboards promote it as a romantic film because of its close dates to Valentine’s Day. I wonder if I’d be disappointed if I went for the movie with a feeling of love.

There is also a poster that simply uses the emoji “ 💀 💩 L”, which I am truly embarrassed to admit, I laughed at.

Ryan Reynolds Is Deadpool’s Official Social Media

Ryan Reynolds took matters into his own hands this time to promote the movie on social media by fueling a fake rivalry between him and Hugh Jackman on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Why was this smart? Because of Hugh Jackman’s popular role as Wolverine who is the most well-known rival of Deadpool.

If you ask me, I think the whole promotional ‘fake’ rivalry was an excuse for Ryan to annoy Hugh Jackman. I will reiterate, that this man is Deadpool.

5. Last and Definitely The Least… The Forgotten Abomination

Early Marvel and X-Men fans have had a different run-in with Deadpool in a movie. A lot of you are lost because you have totally erased that image from your mind and a lot of you are trying not to remember. The cruel man that I am, here to remind you of the nightmare that was unfairly introduced in a PG-13 movie. Behold…

Pool Dead!!!

Oh dear God!!

A character design so horrendous, that it made fans pray for a fix or the movie to be removed from existence. Why do I think this is promotional? It created a mistake so bad that a new and accurate design seemed greater than ever to fans worldwide. What was meant to be good, became phenomenal.

It is made obvious how important genius marketing is for a movie. Blockbusters make great money with amazing marketing. Considering the deep understanding of the character and audience base by the marketing team and Ryan Reynolds himself, Deadpool’s marketing is the prime example of how it should be done.

Making a well-known character into a fan favorite way before the release of his movie, is no less than the work of a mastermind, just like this blog (self-proclaimed). Unfortunately, we have reached the end of the blog, but for more knowledge that keeps you delighted check out the rest of Kraftshala’s blogs. Have fun!!