How 'Sleepless' Became a 'Sleeper': Tri-Star Offering Prospered Amongst the Summer Behemoths

LOS ANGELES – Love tangled with the rules of Hollywood movie marketing last summer. In a season steeped in action-adventure films and marketing hype, an old-fashioned romance called Sleepless in Seattle sneaked in and set the heart of summer ad strategies aflutter.
Tri-Star Pictures’ subtly crafted ad campaign for Sleepless niched the film as the summer’s romantic alternative. That counter-marketing move contributed to a $118-million-and-still-growing box office for the film, and in the process uncovered a multi-generational audience clamoring for ‘feel-good’ entertainment.
And now Tri-Star marketing president Buffy Shutt and company are the talk of Hollywood marketing circles, as the studio team most responsible for lending an identity to movie marketing for summer ’93.
‘It is much harder to market a Sleepless in Seattle in the summer than it is to market a Jurassic Park,’ said Anthony Goldschmidt, president of Hollywood movie creative boutique Intra/Link.