My Second Test for IMC

Act I. The Campaign

In attempting to market District 9 to American audiences, Sony Pictures had a difficult task. There were no big stars in the film, save for the producer-attachment of Lord of the Rings trilogy director Peter Jackson. Though the Sci-Fi element and the aliens that come with the genre intrigue people, the extraterrestrials in the film were grotesque-looking, labeled as “prawns” throughout the movie. District 9 was not based on a series of novels by a Philip Dick or a H.G. Wells; nor was the film shot and released in 3-D, an element of today’s movie market that contributed to a 10% year-over-year increase in domestic box office receipts, according to the MPAA. So, why did the movie end up grossing, according to Box Office Mojo, $115.6 million domestically? Sure the Oscar®-nominated product itself was a great film, but there had to be some strong marketing that generated buzz for its August 14, 2009 opening weekend. Let me take you through Sony’s campaign.

Schwepped off Your Feet: Selling Tonic Water with a Love Story Gone Viral

Another class assignment, this time for Integrated Marketing Communications. Basically, the class is just Seth's version of account planning without the brevity. Anyway, the title of the post says it all. Check out (under the fold) the beautiful vid and read the brilliant words that follow.



Though the piece I will be referring to for the next few paragraphs is not a US-based advertisement, it does provide for a strong example of the direction in which branded entertainment is going. And how effective it can be. When I think of branded entertainment, I think of the old sponsorship days when the announcer yelled, “‘This Game Show’ brought to you by ‘This Conglomerate’.” Now, branded entertainment seems to be, “let’s let some really creative people (you know, not us) make something that will go viral (how hard can it be?) and stamp our name on it.” Seems lame, right? Well, in this example, Schweppes (part of Coca Cola) tried its best not to seem like the big, evil company making money off of someone else’s art.

Have These Gentlemen Intentionally Forgotten When Napoleon Dynamite Came Out?

It would appear so since director Jared Hess (responsible for this and this) and distributor Fox Searchlight (responsible for this and this) are still trying to build upon the success of the 5-year-old cult smash. Hess' "unique view of the world" presented in the aforementioned movies seems to be taken a step further in Gentlemen Broncos, which is coming out October 30. The trailer makes it very clear that the film will present a whole lot of quirkiness, weirdness, fantasy, or whatever buzzword the fat Hollywood producer signed the check to. The really bad-looking special effects work gels nicely with the clumsy way in which the reality-based portion is shot. The titles, however, do not communicate the movie's 3rd act very well; it seems that it is made up of some fantasy mind game when there is actually a movie-within-a-movie element.



I'm not going to see the damn thing, alright. Napoleon Dynamite was so bad that I needed a laugh track under the audio to figure out what was supposed to be funny. But I acknowledge that it is pushing the right buttons. I prefer comedies with characters, not just profiles based on some of your idiot slacker friends.

Even If It Means Killing And Eating Every Boy At Your School?

Yes. Because you need to be yourself. While reading SlashFilm, I caught this fake PSA for the new film Jennifer's Body. In the piece, Megan Fox tells kids to avoid the peer pressure that can crush your fragile high school self esteem. The catch is that she, although inexplicably introducing herself as herself instead of her character (though seriously what's the difference?), narrates the spot in the spirit of Jennifer Check, who in the movie is possessed and goes on a killing spree, yada, yada, yada. Look, there's only one reason people are interested in the movie and, despite Michael Bay's insanity, nobody is tired of Ms. Fox. Oh, and in case you "digital marketers" haven't figured it out: Megan Fox doing anything + The Internet = Great Success.




And when she says, "I say 'fuck em' cause they don't know shit," she almost isn't reading from a prompter. You're almost intrigued by her character; but not her acting (at least not yet). Whatever. It's called Jennifer's Body; you're going to watch because of Jennifer's body; 20th Century Fox is distributing this Megan Fox showcase. Sometimes things sell themselves and you just have to let nature take its course. Here's to the only person who kept me from protesting the Transformers movies.

Will Seeing Film Differently Lead People To See Volkswagen Positively?

I have never had any objections to building rapport. Even Michael Vick is working on it. If you try hard enough for a group of people and deliver on your promises, you should be okay. That's why VW's ongoing campaign called "See Film Differently" should warm cinephiles and film festival frequenters up to the idea of Jettas and Passats. The pieces aren't going to sell cars (does Obama even speak German?) but they can bring movie lovers together with stories of real emotion. My favorite new one centers around a man who moved by Rocky (hey, yo, who wasn't? ya know) became a content weightlifter.



There's also a piece about a kid into magic via Willy Wonka and one about a man practicing Dudeism via The Big Lebowski. See some older pieces on the Youtube channel. Now, no shit I'm in a bunch over the "Volkswagen supports independent cinema" tag since TBL is the only sort of independent flick. Haven't people been moved by Jim Jarmusch or David Lynch? Anyway, the efforts are very strong and are targeting areas that dumbass car companies have largely ignored. I wonder what the dude inspired by Caligula will talk about?

Microsoft Doing Some Good Marketing?

I know the Laptop Hunters campaign has been strong (though I would mostly credit Apple with being a little under competitor-orientated) but there is not a whole lot of amazing work being done by the struggling giant right now. But this fake action movie trailer with a decent budget and solid (read: cliched) writing actually represents.



Now, if this somehow got on TV, ad critics would start showing some love to Microsoft.