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After the Campaign, Movie Marketing

After the Campaign: Steve Jobs

steve-jobs-movie-2015-holding

In my campaign review for Steve Jobs I wrote:

There’s an emphasis in the campaign on the drama, particularly on Jobs’ denial of having a daughter. The marketing team is obviously hoping this connects with the kind of crowd that makes TV shows like “Scandal” and others a hit since it sets up the “is he or isn’t he” question in a way much like, as I mentioned above, a soap opera type show. The feeling seems to be that this plot point will be an entry point for the general audience who may not be interested in the story of a mogul with limited social skills and a penchant for pissing off his employees and friends.

Well, apparently it wasn’t enough. The movie tanked pretty badly, bringing in just $7.3 million despite great reviews and strong word of mouth. Having seen the movie, it’s hard to believe anyone thought it was going to make $19 million its opening weekend, which is what industry forecasts had predicted.

The campaign, as I said, played up the soap-opera elements of the movie. “She’s NOT my daughter” and such were elements in most facets of the marketing. The studio wanted people to come in and see whether or not she *was* his daughter and go on a journey with the characters.

But literally nothing happens in the film. Nothing. There are lots of conversations about things happening, but no action actually takes place within the confines of the core story. This isn’t a traditional biopic structure like 2013’s Jobs, starring Ashton Kutcher, where we follow the Apple founder from youth to adulthood and share in his travails in a more standard way. It’s a three act play that discusses things over and over again but there’s no character arc anyone goes on. The main players may be slightly different in demeanor in Act III than they were in Act I, but how they got there isn’t shown and it’s a matter of degrees, not any seismic shifts.

It’s not surprising to hear the movie is doing well in urban areas. This is an arthouse film that was gussied up for the mass market in a way it probably shouldn’t have been. It’s two hours of pure dialogue. PURE dialogue. If you’re like me and that’s exactly the kind of movie you want to see – it would make a great palate cleanser after any super-hero movie – you’ll love it. Especially if, like me, you’re a huge fan of Sorkin’s particular brand of dialogue. But the campaign sold this as a tense drama with stark revelations around each corner that it really wasn’t.

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