Avatar TV Spot: Selling Cameron To Kids

Fox won't stop with the marketing for Avatar — the studio has a huge investment to recoup, after all — and because the thing will have to be a hit with just about everyone to break even, Fox is selling the movie to just about everyone. We've had the movie geek marketing (Avatar Day) and the guy marketing (this World Series TV spot) and now there's some kid-specific material that has run on Nickelodeon to snare the young'uns.

I'd love to see some focus group results to see whether or not kids respond to stuff like this. Does the rich, friendly voiceover promising a land of easy action and adventure really work on kids these days? My impression is that kids are pretty perceptive and that they're a lot more likely to respond to the same materials adults are, at least when it comes to a movie like this.

It's probably more a question of standards and practices. I know that the Cartoon Network is very strict when it comes to promotional materials (I've been told by people in-house there that no guns could be shown in ads for The Clone Wars, for example) and I'd bet that Nickelodeon is no different. So while kids will probably respond to the same trailers adults will, a network geared for kids is going to require stuff that's nice and friendly.

Hence this ad, which sells a movie that is slightly different than the movies sold by the main trailer and the guy-friendly World Series spot. (And this will just add ammunition to the arguments made by people making Ferngully and Thundercats jokes at Avatar's expense.) Can't wait to see how Avatar is marketed on channels like Oxygen and Lifetime. If anyone spots more audience-specific marketing for this movie, definitely let us know. Or just cut your own spots.