Ferrell Is Semi Pro

In order to market his upcoming comedy, Semi-Pro, Will Ferrell has taken to using his character, Jackie Moon in very unorthodox ways. Instead of going the typical 30-second-trailers-on-TV-backed-up-by-a-website approach, New Line Cinema appears to have let Ferrell go crazy as Jackie Moon, acting as if the character were an actual person. Ferrell has remained in character for a series of Old Spice and Bud Light ads (Reuters).

Check the extremely funny Bud Light ad:



The fine folks over at JoBlo.com, have also reported that Ferrell will appear in a Sports Illustrated photo shoot with model Heidi Klum. Add that to the age-restricted red band trailer, and Ferrel's music video for Love Me Sexy...



And you can see that Ferrell is a movie promotional machine. I think it's a great marketing strategy for a comedic character driven film. The attraction here is not Semi-Pro, it's Will Ferrell as another one of his over the top, ridiculous characters, so it makes sense that New Line would promote the character more then the film. That said, this route only works if you have an actor as charismatic and well known as Ferrel. Ferrel commands the attention of his audience. When he's on, people stop to watch. That is the kind of talent that New Line would be stupid not to capitalize on. I wonder if Semi-Pro has any kind of success, if more studios will try to follow this path.