Marketing blogger John Cass is pondering the “lost sales opportunities” from not having DVDs available for purchas as you leave the theater. Let me give John’s sentiments a hearty “Amen!”

The thing about it is that it doesn’t just have to be DVDs, though that’s certainly a large pile of money that’s being left on the table by studios. It could be t-shirts, soundtracks, postcards, business card holders – you name it. I constantly wonder why every movie doesn’t have free postcards of the poster that are given out by the employees as you exit the theater. Someone takes it, puts it up on their cubicle wall or something and all of a sudden they’ve become a marketing proxy for the studio. We’re not talking about high-tech know-how that’s required for doing some of the fancier online things. I’m saying some low-tech postcards distributed by minimum wage teenagers. It doesn’t get much simpler and the ROI has the potential to be tremendous.

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movie marketing

The other day I pointed out a newspaper insert Universal was using to promote The Black Dahlia. Well the retro-advertising keeps coming, this time in the form of a newsreel-esque video containing archival footage from the early part of this century, including that of the murder of Betty Short, who came to be known as the Black Dahlia. The reel ends with an image of the movie’s poster. Very cool.

[via Adrants]

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movie marketing, universal pictures

Keith Olberman slaps around Don Rumsfeld and others who would question the patriotism of those with the common sense to question leaders who claim they know better and then go on to demonstrate exactly the opposite. The only one I’m willing to follow with complete faith is God. Everyone else should be subject to as close a bit of scrutiny as the media and citizenry can bring to bear.

You can now watch the first three minutes of The Covenant at the film’s official website.

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movie marketing, sony pictures

The PointRoll-powered ads now populating online movie ticket service Fandango are every bit as much about the marketing of movies as they are about making ticket purchasing easier. Here’s why, straight from Dan Mohler of Fandango:

Mohler: It’s all about the consumer and making it easier for film fans to get access to the movies they want to see. As the nation’s largest movie ticketing site, with over 14,000 screens wired for online ticketing across the country, Fandango brings its brand equity and majority market share to the table, providing our theater and showtime content.

These special ads offer the most direct way to purchase a movie ticket online, and capture moviegoers at that point at which a moviegoer is most engaged and interested in a property. Advertising becomes a point of sale. The exhibitors and studios will benefit from the speed and ease of ticket execution.

That’s right, studios will benefit every bit as much as exhibitors. If they’re smart (and some are) they’ll make movie purchasing, downloading or just information research as easy as possible for everyone.

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movie marketing, fandango

There seems to be a seismic shift underway regarding the role of celebrities in the making and marketing of a variety of things, but specifically films. With people like Tom Cruise getting publicly spanked by a former corporate partner, high-cost comedies with stars like Jim Carrey getting pulled in pre-production and other such incidents, stars are less reliable than they once were. Combine that with the reality that people are making their own entertainment instead of going to the movies and you have a major roadblock in the path most movies get made and subsequently marketed. The uncertainty of box-office results and complex financial arrangements are also causing studios to look for outside partners to help finance a film’s production.

The bottom line is that studios rely to a great extent on the Pavlovian response a certain segment of the audience has to a particular celebrity, especially when it comes to the marketing of the movie. They need to count on some people having a “oh it’s them – I like them” reaction. When celebrities start acting like nutters or appear in a series of so-so films that audience instinct is degraded. That not only affects production but marketing since the studios don’t have as big a hook to hang the film on.

I wrote this piece, called simply “Budget Comparison” a while ago but haven’t known quite what to do with it. It’s basically a call for studios to “think small” when it comes to movie production and marketing, the logic being that there’s more profit to be made by making small films and marketing to that film’s niche than shooting for the stars with a big budget movie that *might* appeal to a large audience. Let me know what you think of it. I think it ties into what I’m trying to say here but sometimes I’m just not sure.

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movie marketing, sony pictures, warner bros., universal pictures, 20th century fox, buena vista, lionsgate, picturehouse, sony classics, weinstein, focus features, paramount pictures, new line, ifc films, pixar, disney

Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher, stars of the upcoming The Guardian, are visiting Coast Guard stations across the country to promote the film. The movie has the two starring as members of the Coast Guard, the grizzled veteran and the cocky newbie respectively. Be warned the Kutcher is atually quoted in the story.

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movie marketing, buena vista

iMediaConnection has a nice review of the “have Samuel L. Jackson call a friend” promotion from New Line and Veritalk for Snakes on a Plane.

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movie marketing, new line

Darren got a pitch from a studio that started off with what I call a “conversation killer,”

“Dear Webmaster,”

Darren then went about doing what I warn people all the time is going to happen when they send awful pitches that aren’t invitations to engage in an ongoing dialogue – he reprints the entire pitch email for all to see and marvel in its badness. The only restraint he shows is by redacting the names of those involved.

It’s kind of insulting when you put as much effort as some of us do into our blogs only to be addressed as “Dear Webmaster.” My name is Chris. I run Movie Marketing Madness, one of a very few blogs that discuss movie marketing efforts. Please call me by name and let me know you want to talk to me, not just show my you can add my email address to a distribution group in Outlook.

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movie marketing, sony pictures, warner bros., universal pictures, 20th century fox, buena vista, lionsgate, picturehouse, sony classics, weinstein, focus features, paramount pictures, new line, ifc films, pixar, disney