In-Universe Marketing

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Main
  • Laconic
  • Wikipedia
  • All Subpages
  • Create New
    /wiki/In-Universe Marketingwork
    This page needs some cleaning up to be presentable.

    As per this discussion, this page has a misleading name and a confusing description. Work is needed, but needs to be discussed on the Talk page first.

    A particular form of Viral Marketing.

    You have a science fiction movie coming out. What can do you do to promote it that goes that extra mile?

    You do In-Universe Marketing, which is actually out-of-universe marketing - take something from in the universe and turn it into a Real Life thing. (If it's a physical thing, Defictionalization is required.) You post "found" documents from within the universe. A "NBS Nightly News" broadcast from 1972 in your world? Great. Advertising a drink from your setting? Yup. Showing a half hour of dull security camera footage with maybe thirty seconds of profoundly disturbing stuff going on? Perfect. The diary of one of the characters, with pages torn out? Synergylicious!

    Websites that use In-Universe Marketing are usually Logging Onto the Fourth Wall.

    Supertrope to Alternate Reality Game (in that there is no 'game' in most In-Universe Marketing, per se; rather, all there is is the advertising).

    Not all Viral Marketing qualifies as In-Universe Marketing; the product being advertised must be fictional, and the "found" document must be set in said universe.

    No examples, please; Examples should go under Viral Marketing instead. (Debatable, since "Not all Viral Marketing qualifies as In-Universe Marketing"... and the debate is taking place here.)