Click, released in 2006, followed the character Michael Newman and his escapades as he is given a remote control which gives him god-like powers. The film’s marketing website embraces the theme of the remote control – used as a constant motif throughout the movie and the DVD menus – to make this site different and outstanding. The aim of the website it to promote the film in the cinema, as well as its subsequent release on DVD, Blu-Ray and UMD. For audiences, websites like these have been designed to be fun and immersive to persuade and entice potential consumers to watch or buy the film. Therefore, they are made exciting and, in spite of the bombardment of marketing material, they mostly serve as entertaining websites to explore. For distributors like Sony Pictures, websites like this become an important cornerstone of their marketing strategy by enticing users into the website to be immersed in a marketing saturated experience which the audience should respond to favourably due to the exciting interactive features. They are seen as merely an addition to alternative methods of promotion like trailers and posters, with online marketing (including videos on sites like YouTube and social-networking profiles on sites like MySpace).
Like most marketing websites for blockbuster films, the Click website is multimedia enriched, using Flash technology to bring a dynamic animated experience for the user. In exploring “Michael Newman’s Universe”, the user is invited to explore his life as broken down by location. By clicking on the various locations, such as ‘Living Room’ or ‘Ammer’s Office’, one is taken to an interactive animated representation of that place. By clicking on certain key areas, such as people or objects, you can access a feature of the website. For 
instance, in the Living Room the user can click on the children to hear a quote from the film, click on the TV to watch the trailer or click on the computer to download an AIM icon. Moreover, the quote at the foot of the screen – in this case “Daddy! Do you have to work late again?” – helps the user learn more about the film’s plot as well as giving a contextual backdrop to the location they are currently looking at. Some of the links lead to behind the scenes video, including interviews and video diary-style excerpts which you would expect from the DVD.
For helpful navigation of the whole website, the Click remote is kept on screen in keeping with the film’s iconography. It allows the user to return to the Main Menu at any point, adjust the sound or move to the next location using the playback controls. Also on-screen at all times is a link to buy the DVD, Blu-Ray or UMD of the film. Having this at the top-left at all times means people can be instantly linked to an online shop so that as the website convinces them to buy it, they can buy it within seconds.
The website also has an element of personalisation. On the Main Menu, you can ‘Set Your Prefs’ by answering three questions: your age, gender and marital status. These results then change the functions of the 3 buttons on the top-right of the Main Menu to be ‘personalised’ to your profile. (I can’t say I fully understand the point in the buttons, as when you click on them you get a bizarre message from an eccentric-looking scientist guy… – each to their own I guess!). As with all personalisation, this makes the user feel more involved and immersed in the website and therefore more likely to identify with the film’s character and the plot as the preferences open up scenarios from within the film.
At the footer of each page of the site is the standard institutional information one would expect from a film website. This proves to be the distinction between a film information website – with factual information – and a marketing website – which tries to entice the potential audience. The basics on the footer include a trailer, photo gallery, brief synopsis, character biographies and the breakdown of the cast and crew. But there are also very clever marketing features found here which keep the users interacting with the website whilst being brainwashed with ‘Click’ iconography. The ‘Click Arcade’ links to an online game based around ‘controlling your universe’. ‘Custom Poster Art’ allows you to upload your own photo to replace Adam Sandler’s image in the film’s marketing posters. It then allows you to send it to friends, which helps to still promote the film as the film’s information and DVD release date are plastered all over it. The ‘Mailing Registration’, as with the ‘Custom Poster Art’, requires you to register your details including your e-mail address to receive marketing updates about Click. But it also signs you up to updates on all Sony Pictures films which opens your inbox up to a flood of marketing e-mails about new films. Finally, there is a hub for all of the downloads available from the site. As with all marketing websites these days, wallpapers, screensavers and AIM icons are available which promote the film by serving to decorate the user’s computer.
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