Bad Bunny Has Some Competition and Her Name is ‘M3gan’
It feels like the last year or so has given audiences a lot of horror movies propelled by intense viral marketing. Earlier this year, the low-budget horror movie “Smile” became a box office hit following months of covert marketing that had people wondering what the movie was long before it hit theaters.
“M3gan,” another horror film that is already becoming a much bigger financial and critical success than anyone anticipated, confirms that covert marketing is the new way to sell original genre movies. Especially ones that aren’t part of an existing franchise or universe.
Latinos + horror movies = $$$
However, it seems like a lot of marketing teams miss the fact that Latinos love horror movies. In fact, a 2015 report from NPR estimates that Latinos make up roughly 22% of moviegoing audiences overall. When it comes to horror, though, that number shoots up to nearly 50%.
Long story short: whoever came up with the idea of placing ads for “M3gan” before Bad Bunny videos, which happen to also mention Bad Bunny, is a genius. Yes, you heard us right. M3gan needs you, a Bad Bunny fan, to know “there’s only one bebesota” around and their name is not Benito.
Viral marketing is keeping original genre movies like “M3gan” alive
It’s one of those ads you almost don’t want to skip. Similarly, the “don’t skip it” ad promoting the 2013 remake of “Evil Dead” (directed by Uruguayan filmmaker Fede Alvarez) was so horrifying and sudden, you couldn’t help but go into lizard brain mode, paralyzed with fear.
The “M3gan” ad is different in that it’s mostly going for laughs instead of screams. But according to many of the reviews, the movie is more or less out to do the same. The already-infamous hallway dancing sequence is a phenomenon in its own right. Even still, the whole movie is already well on its way to cult classic status.
“OOO THE MARKETING TEAM ATE WITH THIS ONE,” wrote one commenter on the original TikTok, posted by user jleecr, which popularized the new ad. “Bad Bunny better have gotten that bag, for them to use his name to promote their movie,” another commenter wrote.
A lot of people thought they were straight-up hallucinating the ad, a testament to how effective the “M3gan” marketing campaign has really been. “Omg i thought my phone got hack or I was trippin hard,” wrote one commenter.
Of course, we can’t ignore the fact that the actress who voices M3gan had to actually read the lines used in the ad. One of the top comments on the TikTok pretty much sums it up. “The thought of jenna davis having to say ‘bebesota’ IS SENDING ME RN.”
