Back to the Future Day Marketing

For some, today is just an ordinary Wednesday. For many others, it’s the day we’ve been waiting for since 1989.

Today is October 21, 2015 – it’s now the future.

Twenty-six years ago, Bob Gale, the screenwriter of Back to the Future Part II (BTTF II), predicted what the world would be like in 2015, the year Doc Brown and Marty McFly time-travelled to from 1989. As with any movie set in the future, Gale’s comical prediction of 2015 did get a few things wrong – for instance, Pepsi hasn’t created the Perfect flavor of soda (yet).

Pepsi isn’t the only brand that was featured in BTTF II, nor are they the only brand to use ‘Back to the Future’ Day as a marketing stunt. Here are a handful of brands that were either advertised in the film or are now using the film to advertise themselves.

Lexus

We’re all disappointed that our daily form of transportation is not a hoverboard. Mattel attempted to appease fans with their hoverboard in 2012, but sadly it was nothing more than a (mediocre) toy replica.

Lexus, though not featured in the film at all, has decided to join the BTTF II marketing trend and make our dreams come true. According to FastCo, they’ve been designing this for over 18 months – but were smart about releasing the video in the same year that BTTF II takes place.

Even if it’s not available for purchase, they still managed to make a working hoverboard, and that’s progress.

Nike

Since their cameo in BTTF II, Nike hasn’t been shy about using references from the beloved trilogy in their marketing. And they’ve even designed a non-functional replica of the sneakers Marty (played by Michael J. Fox) wears in the film as a fundraiser for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s research back in 2011. Based on the $4.7 million the replicas raised, it’s no surprise that there have been rumors that Nike will be designing a real self-lacing sneaker.

Today, Nike has (finally) confirmed that the “the first pair of self-lacing Nike Mag shoes is in New York City.” Although there’s still no official release date, this tweet from @realmikefox (Michael J. Fox) has our hopes high that the Nike Mags will be up for auction sometime in 2016:

Pepsi

In the 1980s, Pepsi had barely any experience in product placement. Its debut in Flashdance in 1983 left no question that the film industry would be a lucrative marketing strategy. An article in AdWeek states that with this new mentality, “Pepsi had given Brown a zero-base budget, allowing him to spend whatever he needed to spend” to create Pepsi Perfect for BTTF II. Today, Pepsi is maintaining the 26 year-old relationship with BTTF II by creating 6,500 bottles of Pepsi Perfect in honor of ‘Back to the Future’ Day. As seen in the above ad, they used the logo and packaging for Pepsi Perfect originally created for the film. It’s just a shame they didn’t ask Marty or Doc to help out with their futuristic commercial.

Toyota

For a BTTF II campaign, it doesn’t get much better than this. To promote the Mirai, a new fuel cell vehicle, they created the “Fueled by Everything” campaign centered around BTTF II. A week ago Toyota released a teaser trailer with Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd discussing the predictions of future technology seen in the BTTF II film – and that was just the beginning. A whole website was designed for the campaign, and each video leads up to the “full” video showing Fox and Lloyd the “Mr. Fushion” (fuel cell) technology used to power the new Mirai. Even if you’re not into cars, this campaign does a good job of getting everyone’s attention.

Ford

Some of the “futuristic” cars from the film were provided by Ford. Although Ford didn’t use this day to reveal a new model, we can appreciate the sarcasm in this video marketing a (not real) Flux Capacitor. ‘A’ for effort, Ford.

Miami Marlins

Among the predictions that screenwriter Gale got correct, we’re almost certain that the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series this year isn’t one of them. That being said, Gale wasn’t entirely wrong with the forecast. In 1989 Miami didn’t have a baseball team, yet today the Miami Marlins exist – and they have a fantastic marketer. Miami took to Twitter with the hashtag #RewriteTheFuture throughout the season, as well as created limited edition BTTF II-themed merchandise for their games. They’re even taking after Nike and will be donating part of the campaign profits to the Michael J. Fox Foundation. Kudos, Miami.

USA Today

Similar to Pepsi, USA Today was featured in the film when Marty and Doc arrive in the future and read the terrifying “YOUTH JAILED” headline.

In honor of the film, USA Today recreated the front-page just as it was seen in the movie – updated logo and all. Even though only the top half was redesigned in the film, the special edition issue is a full front-page of jokes and Easter Eggs from the BTF trilogy.

Honorable Mentions

Twitter is plastered with the #BackToTheFuture hashtag and there a plethora of other brands that deserve to make honorable mention for their cleverness.

Our Top Five:

1) The WWF using the hashtag to instill change.

2) Skype’s retro ad design.

3) We’re just impressed the White House chose to participate.

4) IKEA, teasing us with the hoverboard we wish we could build.

5) Target’s clever use of imagery.

Although Bob Gale wasn’t right about everything in 2015, we’re thoroughly impressed with the effort we’ve seen from all the brands who participated in ‘Back to the Future’ Day. And now, in the words of Doc Brown, “well, that’s all in the past.”