Stylish Marketing for "Catching Fire"

The second movie in the Hunger Games trilogy, Catching Fire, opens on November 22nd. Like many sequels of hugely popular movies, this one is expected to be a major blockbuster because the brand franchise is solidly established.

The studio's marketing chief, Tim Palen, began a year in advance of the opening with a multidimensional campaign featuring tons of digital and social media. His focus: The super-stylish Capitol District, where Panem's officials are headquartered. He created a faux web-based Capitol Couture magazine with features and fashion photos of Katniss Everdeen and other characters.

The social media angle includes Google Plus, Instagram, Tumblr, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and (of course) YouTube. Three weeks before the movie opened, the Lionsgate Hunger Games YouTube channel already had more than 221,000 subscribers and many social media mentions.

A natural complement to this focus on style is Cover Girl's Capitol Beauty Studio, a new line of beauty products organized according to the 12 districts represented in the novel and movie. Shown here is the beauty look for District 1--luxury.

The studio is encouraging publicity about the movie's fashions, which are over-the-top. This is an interesting marketing approach that builds buzz based on the look of the movie and the characters. Of course, Hunger Games is such a global phenomenon that the movie is almost guaranteed to be an incredible hit. As a fan of the books, I'm looking forward to this second movie in the series.