Monkeys, Guns and Their Eventual Rise

When you see the preview for Rise of the Planet of the Apes, you likely think to yourself:

"Haha ya right. Stop with this nonsense, monkeys will never take over!"

In the end, you may find yourself interested to see the movie, perhaps due to the phenomenal CGI—or maybe you are just a huge James Franco fan. Whatever it may be, something likely drove you to go see the film.

For those who didn't bite on the initial urge to see the film, it was perhaps a viral marketing campaign that led a late surge to get out and see what all the fuss was about.

Viral marketing has been huge over the years, but it is real hit or miss if your campaign will actually spread as intended.

For Rise of the Planet of the Apes, it took four different campaigns to find one that actually worked.

All it took was a video of an ape holding an AK-47 to attract an entire new audience. The video has reached over 13 million viewers, which has allowed the film to attract an entire new audience outside of who had already planned on seeing the film.

The clip was simple and brilliant.

First of all, they made it seem like it was real footage. Something that has been huge in the movie industry. Even though this was stepping away from the actual format of the film, it is a brilliant way to tap into a market that is already doing extremely well.

All it showed was members of a group of military personell coming across an ape. Just for fun, one of the men gives it their gun. While they thought it would be just a hoot, they are shocked once the monkey opens fire on them.

All of a sudden, this seems like reality.