Earlier in January, New York residents caught glimpse of what appeared to be three humans flying through the air. These flying figures were RC planes created to emulate the teenage superheroes featured in 20th Century Fox's new movie Chronicle -- due to be released in the US and UK this week.

Inspired in part by the movie's poster, this marketing effort was staged by Thinkmodo over several weeks in New York City, New Jersey and Long Island. As part of the campaign's outreach efforts, YouTube talent company Big Frame worked with several popular YouTube personalities to share and promote commentary around this stunt and the resulting clip (source). With the increasing number of American teenagers turning to video-share platforms such as YouTube to access cultural cues from their peers (notably in humor, beauty/lifestyle and sports), this piece of content reached its target audience quickly. Currently, the official YouTube clip is sitting at 3.5 million views after only two days.

Leading up to this online initiative, the Chronicle marketing efforts included a strong push on more traditional platforms such as TV and through theater trailers — which allowed younger fans of the YouTube video to understand the tie between this stunt and the film. Additionally, the quality and gadget-friendly video of the flying figures has now attracted the attention of a wider and older demographic who up until this point may not have seen trailers or media around Chronicle. Just in time for the big launch date.

This post was originally written for DDB Canada blog.