Paramount used the movie’s San Diego Comic-Con screening to test a new kind of Google ad, taking live video that was shot by the cast in attendance, editing it on the fly and serving it as an ad to the fans, using footage from the event they were at.
Don’t Think Twice
Like five minutes after I wrote that there wasn’t any online advertising done that I’d seen, a Facebook ad for the movie popped up in my feed. Likely a case of retargeting based on my browser history, but that still counts. There was also plenty of radio and podcast advertising done, particularly on NPR shows, not surprising given its target market.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Chef Boyardee is running a co-branded campaign to promote the movie’s home video release
Gunn is obviously the centerpiece of the push for a movie that’s being sold as half a female-empowerment story and half a tense Wall Street thriller about financial regulations and investigations. The former, though, is the part of the campaign, at least, that works best. The part of the movie that’s about women unabashedly being who they are – whether that’s a cutthroat banker or crusading, law-abiding regulator – is the one that appears much more intriguing than the story of potential corporate malfeasance. That’s largely because it’s a much more vital and original story and so presents the bigger value proposition to the audience.
It’s easy to take some issue with what’s on display here. The language is a bit crude and all that in what appears to be attempts at a few easy laughs. So I’m anxious to see if there’s something else going on in the story. But what I also notice is that the campaign shows the moms do indeed give into their urges to have a good time while not at all abandoning their kids. They still deal with them and everything else, it’s just that they shirk some of the societal expectations while still fulfilling the basic tenets of motherhood. Compare that to movies about bad dads, where even in comedies they often completely abandon their family, if only for a short time, to go get their head back on straight. (I’m looking at you, City Slickers.) That’s indicative of the role women are still expected to play, meaning the movie is actually about adding “crazy party girl” to the list of things they need to accomplish on any given day.
The central theme, in case it’s not obvious from all the materials, of the campaign is that Damon is back and we’re really kind of hoping you don’t hold that Renner-starring movie against us. That approach allows the studio to not really focus on the story – whatever there may be of one – since it’s not the attraction, Damon is. It’s all about how we’ve enjoyed his previous outings as the character and after a misguided attempt at contract negotiations went awry he’s returned and now you can enjoy another trip to the movies.
I can’t find any big problems with the campaign. It sells a good, dramatic movie that will appeal to a smaller demographic because of its tone and subject matter but it does so in a solid manner and in a way that should reach the target market. The press push in particular is really solid, playing up the unique artistic credentials on display here and selling it as an experience completely unlike what you’ll find in a super hero or other franchise movie.
The movie that’s on display here does seem very attractive. Again, Janney and Page are both ass-kickers and teaming them up is always a good idea, which is why people keep doing it. This is the rare occasion where I truly feel like there’s plenty to the movies story that hasn’t been revealed in the trailers and other materials, so I’m looking forward to seeing this and finding out what other areas the story explores.
Passive engagement is by far the most popular activity by adults on social media, with few actually creating original content. Subject matter of what’s created and engaged with varies by demographic group, but that overall trend is bad news for Twitter and Facebook, in particular. If people are creating less content then there isn’t as much to find on Facebook. And on Twitter it means continued problems with new user acquisition since I can read whatever I want but don’t need an active account to do so. If you’re wondering why Twitter and Facebook both keep doing whatever they can, including paying for original video content, to attract media companies to do more on their platforms, this is why.
This is not great news for Vine, which has been suffering for a while from the general perception that it’s losing some of its initial luster and buzz. Considering this follows a number of stories showing overall engagement is down and that brand publishing there is down, losing the community of talented creators that have kept propping it up for the last year could be the final straw.
Mixing up the form factor on stories is very much a good thing. What will be frustrating is seeing the next six months of stories about how this format will “save journalism” in the same way The New York Times’ Snowfall story’s look and feel was pegged a while ago.
There are a lot of factors that go into what circumstances a person finds themselves in at any given moment in life. What jobs are taken or turned down, who is dated or married or not, what kind of upbringing they had and countless other small, mundane things all have added up to bring you to this place at this time. That goes for both the fabulously successful and those under poorer, more unfortunate circumstances. It’s often – very often – the case that someone who’s suffering homelessness or other afflictions at any given time didn’t do anything wrong. It’s just that they made a couple decisions that didn’t pan out and now here they are
In the new movie Tallulah, Ellen Page plays the title character, a young woman who’s living out of her car and drifting from one place to the next. She’s made a bunch of bad decisions and is desperate for a way out. One day she tries to find out where her ex-boyfriend was by visiting his mother Margo (Allison Janney) but is rebuffed since Margo herself hasn’t seen him in years. When Tallulah is mistaken for cleaning staff at a hotel where she’s swiping food off trays she becomes the caretaker for the baby of a woman who doesn’t seem to care for the child. Sensing an opportunity, Tallulah takes the baby and convinces Margo her son was the father, seeing that as a way in to her good graces. Bonding and more take place from there but the lie, of course, can’t continue forever.
The Posters
The movie’s one poster doesn’t tell you a whole lot about the story but does strike quite an image, if only for the fact that it’s not just a static photo of the two leads but does try to be a bit more artistic.
It shows the silhouettes of Page and Janney, the former holding a baby as well, as they’re standing – or walking, it’s unclear – and talking. But they’re in the middle ground and shown in a washed out, faded image of what seems to be Madonna from what seems to be her “Who’s That Girl” phase. The movie’s Sundance credentials are on display above the title treatment and the only copy tells us that “Life can be a real mother,” which hints as to the relationship in the movie.
It’s a good one-sheet but I’m just not sure what’s going on here. There’s nothing in the rest of the campaign that tells us Madonna is a major thematic component of the story, so her prominent placement here is a bit confusing. Not that it’s bad, it’s just…confusing.
The Trailers
As the first trailer starts we see Tallulah is living out of her van and starting to get desperate. She goes to the mother of a guy she used to be with but who left her and take all her money, but that’s no help since the mother hasn’t seen him in years. When she goes to a hotel to get food she winds up in someone’s room, mistaken for housekeeping and asked to watch a baby. When the baby’s mother passes out after ranting about how hard being a parent is, Tallulah takes the child and decides to go back to Neal’s mom, claiming the child is his as a way to get sympathy and money. The two wind up bonding eventually, but the plan starts to unravel as the baby’s mother of course gets the police involved in the kidnapping.
It’s a pretty good trailer that sells the movie as a quiet, understated and emotional drama about the hardships of being alone as well as being part of a family. Page and Janney have great chemistry working together and the highlights here are of the two of them playing off each other, Page all twitchy and nervous and Janney the calm, stoic in the face of uncertainty and heartbreak. Yes, there’s a lot here that looks like familiar territory from other similar dramas, but there’s enough shading around the recognizable material to make it look worth checking out.
Online and Social
Netflix doesn’t create websites for its original movies so nothing on that front. The movie has received some support on Netflix’s brand social channels but that’s about it.
Advertising and Cross-Promotions
Some online ads have been run pushing people to Netflix to find out more about the movie and, if they’re already a user, add it to their queue. Nothing on TV, though.
Media and Publicity
The movie debuted at the Sundance Film Festival but before it had a chance to do so Netflix stepped in and snapped it up for distribution. Later, at the movie’s premiere, the cast talked about what drew them to the project and director Sian Heder admitted that with characters who were often unlikable she had to cast actors who could help make them more relatable.
Overall
As with most Netflix releases, the weight of the campaign mostly falls on the back of the trailer as the biggest and most obvious element. Thankfully it’s a pretty strong one, showing off the performances of both Page and Janney, two real powerhouses. There was a decent press push but it wasn’t all that robust, targeting just a few key outlets as opposed to going broad and trying to pull in a big audience to the movie and subsequently to Netflix as a whole.
The movie that’s on display here does seem very attractive. Again, Janney and Page are both ass-kickers and teaming them up is always a good idea, which is why people keep doing it. This is the rare occasion where I truly feel like there’s plenty to the movies story that hasn’t been revealed in the trailers and other materials, so I’m looking forward to seeing this and finding out what other areas the story explores.
Parents, as a general rule, want what’s best for their children. Sometimes, though, their view of what’s best can be very narrow. Look at the father in Dead Poet’s Society who wants his son to be a lawyer so badly he crushes his dream of acting, only to push him into such deep depression he commits suicide rather than live an unfulfilling life. That parental expectation, combined with the cultural norms of the time the story was set in, showed the world of the late 80s that the WASP ideal wasn’t all it was cracked up to be and that there were fissures just under what seemed to be a nicely ordered surface.
Based on the novel by Philip Roth, Indignation is about exposing the same sort of underlying faults. The story follows Marcus Messner (Logan Lerman) as he’s sent to a prestigious college by his father, a working-class butcher who’s sacrificed to give his son something better. But once there Marcus begins to struggle and rebel under the stricture of the university as he grapples with the anti-Semitism that was rampant (and largely acceptable) at the time, a repressive environment and a confrontational administration. Adding to his issues is that he becomes infatuated and involved with Olivia (Sarah Gadon), a troubled girl who does nothing to help Marcus settle in and stop bucking the system.
The Posters
The first and only poster puts Lerman and Gadon together, having a lovely and chaste conversation on a window seat. That setting as well as their clothing makes it clear we’re dealing with a period piece here. Some positive critical quotes appear toward the top in one of the windows behind the stars and below the title we’re told this is both based on a Philip Roth novel and written and directed by Schamus.
The Trailers
The movie’sfirst trailer opens as Marcus is beginning his time at college. The interview with the dean that serves as the framing device for the trailer is used here to explain some of Marcus’ character traits, including his views in religion and more. He even asks about his romantic live, at which point we meet the girl he’s interested in, someone that no one else seems to think is good for him. She seems to have some sort of mental history that he doesn’t care about but everyone else is seriously concerned about. Something happens to her and he seems to be at the center of suspicion.
It’s a strong trailer that sells a stiff, formal movie. That’s not a bad thing, it’s in keeping with the tone of Roth’s book and the setting of the story as a whole. It looks like an emotional movie about someone who’s doing what he can to buck society’s norms while at the same time presenting to enter society. There’s also plenty of praise for the movie in the trailer itself, with quotes from festival reviews that talk about the film as a whole and Loman’s performance in particular.
Online and Social
The movie’sofficial website plays some lovely light orchestral music when you pull it up, the kind of stuff that used to be heard on the radio all the time via live broadcasts from NBC’s or another network’s New York studio. That plays over the key art that makes up the site’s background.
The first thing the site wants you to do is watch the “Trailer,” which you very much should. After that the “Synopsis” gives you a good, if brief, overview of the characters and their motivations, particularly Marcus’. Next up is the “Cast/Crew” section, which gives you headshots of the major players on both sides of the camera and offers a quick career overview of who they are and what else you’ve seen them in.
There’s a “Gallery” of four images from the movie and it all ends with “News,” which has quotes from early reviews of the movie along with links to go read the whole thing.
The movie’sFacebook andTwitter profiles share trailers, promotional images, short videos and more. Some made it to Twitter, but most of the press that was generated around the film is also linked to on Twitter, which shares those links or RTs them as appropriate.
Advertising and Cross-Promotions
Nope, nothing I’ve seen. There may be some online ads out there and are likely to be more as the movie expands from its initial limited release but I’ve come across nothing so far.
Media and Publicity
Shortly after its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this year the movie was bought by Lionsgate, at least partly because of the positive buzz that came out of the screenings.
Abig New York Times feature on Schamuscovered how he was transitioning to a new phase of his filmmaking career, the potential pitfalls inherent in adapting Roth books and lots more. It’s meant to be kind of a coming-into-his-own story on Schamus, who’s been an insider for decades but is now taking a more active role in actually making the movies he used to just write or produce. There were also storieslike thiswhere Schamus in particular talks about the travails of trying to adapt Roth’s story and create something new while also remaining true to the original.
The cast and Schamus did limited media tours as well.
Overall
I can’t find any big problems with the campaign. It sells a good, dramatic movie that will appeal to a smaller demographic because of its tone and subject matter but it does so in a solid manner and in a way that should reach the target market. The press push in particular is really solid, playing up the unique artistic credentials on display here and selling it as an experience completely unlike what you’ll find in a super hero or other franchise movie.
Instead it sells a serious, understated drama that’s going to rely greatly on characters and moments that drive the story forward. There’s nothing flashy here, but what’s promised is a movie that will rely on writing and performances to keep audiences hooked.
I have no commentary here. It’s a must-read, partly because this reads like the last gasp of an industry about to willfully and with absolute intent put itself out of business. Everything here is disheartening.
All I’m saying is that if you’re a 10 year old company and you still have to explain the basic premise of the brand to people, you may have bigger issues. Just assume that the rest of this is me once again stating my belief that Twitter doesn’t need explaining, that the core audience gets it and uses it heavily and maybe trying to appeal to those who don’t because Wall Street demands new user growth rates that are inconsistent with reality is a fool’s errand. The bigger, more immediate problem it’s facing is that it missed ad revenue targets again.
The stats here on when Fortune 500 brands are and aren’t seeing engagement on Instagram makes a lot of sense. Because there are few scheduling options there, most posting of photos and videos happens during business hours, but posts that fall outside that window see higher engagement because the audience itself isn’t also at work (or school), leaving them more time to scroll through. The B2B stats, though, really interest me. LinkedIn is where the audience for these companies is, but Instagram is once again positioned as a powerhouse because of engagement rates. What, though, is the value on engagement for a B2B company? What does that get them? Those companies need leads and action, not Likes. So it makes sense for them to stay active on the networks that provide that immediate business value, not one that is all about engagement, which is relatively worthless.
“…with your friends” seems to be an emerging theme when it comes to social networks and apps. Runkeeper wants you to run with your friends, Atom Tickets wants to help you organize group movie outings with your friends. And that’s just what’s been in the news lately. My guess is we’ll hear about more like this, either from new apps or existing ones looking to add new functionality, as they realize that owning the group experience is just as valuable, if not more, than owning the singular experience. Allowing groups to make plans in an owned environment brings a sense of focus and maybe even community that doing so through iMessage or GroupMe may not. This could fail due to lack of adoption by the larger group but it makes a lot of sense for this kind of consolidation to happen.
I get what the company is going for here, but I don’t see this doing much good to repair the issues that exist between Tumblr the platform and Tumblr the community. I don’t think the big problem has been that people can’t make money off ads, it’s that Tumblr has been trying to make money for itself off the user base for a few years now, certainly since the disastrous purchase by Yahoo. This will be welcome by some but just be another sign of selling out to many others.
Sequels, remakes, sidequels and reboots are beginning to lap each other. Hollywood is basically throwing everything against the wall as it alternatively tries to keep successful franchises going with the original stars, introduce new blood to keep things fresh, selectively acknowledge or ignore previous entries and pay homage to what’s come before even as it tries to tell new stories. Ghostbusters is a remake…kind of. Terminator Genisys picks what it wants from four previous movies and ignores the rest. Jurassic World shunts two movies to the side completely. The Force Awakens is a dance mix cover of the original, new but also completely familiar.
Now Matt Damon is back as Jason Bourne in…well…Jason Bourne, the cinematic equivalent of a band giving their third album the name of the band itself. Damon, who starred in three previous movies, was absent the fourth entry, The Bourne Legacy, when the studio tried to position Jeremy Renner in a new role as the keeper of the franchise flame. But that movie failed to excite anyone and so Damon, along with director Paul Greengrass, is back as the amnesiac super soldier who once again remembers everything about the super secret spy group he was part of, only to find out that he never really knew anything. The story, which is fairly thin, is basically an excuse to take Damon to foreign countries where he can ride motorcycles in dramatic chase sequences, which is the point of these movies.
The Posters
The teaser poster is pretty simple. It just shows Bourne stepping out of the shadows, gun in hand and looking ready to use it. We’re told “You know his name” by the copy, which is a nice way of acknowledging that Damon is back as the titular character.
The second poster kept the same idea, only this time the picture was a closeup of Bourne’s face, not the farther-away full body shot. So there’s not a whole lot that’s going on in the poster campaign, it’s just a big old reminder that Damon is back in the franchise and won’t you come see it please?
The Trailers
Thefirst full trailer starts out with Bourne still hiding out but narrating that he knows exactly who he is. But he’s told that while that’s true it doesn’t mean he doesn’t know everything. The Treadstone group finds out Bourne is back in civilization, which means he’s quickly on the run again and being tracked and hunted. It’s clear from his actions that he’s upset at being lied to about why he volunteered for the job and that’s why he’s looking for answers. Most of the trailer is just him running or driving into or out of various situations either after those who can help him or away from those who are after him.
It’s a tight trailer that sells the movie as one action sequence after another. Lots of rocket launchers, high-speed chases through subways and the Las Vegas strip are on display here along with Damon’s furrowed eyebrows. Not that it’s not good, but it definitely presents the story as unfolding mostly through a series of action set pieces, with breaks for Tommy Lee Jones to act as the latest heavy who tells Bourne he won’t be finding peace anytime soon.
Online and Social
After the official website finishes loading you’re greeted with Damon’s face as the key art serves as the background for the home page.
Moving to the content menu on the left, the first section there is “About,” which has a decent story synopsis that’s heavy on talking about Damon returning to the role and the other people involved and light on any actual discussion of the story, meaning it’s either super-secret or it’s barely there.
After that the “Gallery” has about a dozen stills from the movie, which unfortunately can’t be downloaded. The “Videos” section just has the trailer and the Super Bowl TV spot that’s shared below.
“Remember Everything” is a stand-alone site that prompts you to login with either Facebook or Instagram and promises to test to see whether you remember the kinds of things you’ve shared because, as it says, the internet sure does.
On social platforms the movie had profiles on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, all of which shared the same kind of promotional images, though the first two also had some news and press about the movie scattered in there as well.
Advertising and Cross-Promotions
The first look at the movie came in aSuper Bowl TV commercial that starts off by showing Bourne in action, followed by a bunch of suits once again shocked that he’s still out there. He declares he remembers everything but is quickly told that doesn’t necessarily mean he knows everything.
It’s a slick, fast-paced spot that only hints at the story – another search for hidden secrets – but is primarily concerned with telling us that Damon is back to continue Jason Bourne’s story. Despite being the debut promo for the movie it only came in second in Cision’sranking of movie spots aired during the game. And it came in third among movies in a rankingof Facebook ad engagement.
More TV spots followed,some of which dropped serious hints as to what the conflict in this entry in the series was going to be.
There were plenty of online ads run as well, with banner ads on websites and videos, including the trailer and some TV spots, being used as promoted posts on Twitter and Facebook.
Media and Publicity
Aside from the news that the movie was happening and that Damon was coming back, the first real news about the movie came when producer Frank Marshall tweeted a photo of Damon on the first day of production. While details were still sparse on the story and plot, Damon offered a few more tidbits on where the movie finds Bourne along with a first look photo in EW toward the end of 2015.
Around the time of the Super Bowl spot debutDamon talked about where the movie would find his character and what was likely in Bourne’s future. A few months later a new trailer along with other details was shown off at Universal’s CinemaCon presentation.
The studio partnered with Omaze on a campaign benfitting Water.org and which had Damon freaking people out in a mall for charity.
Both Bourne and Greengrass talked about the movie andwhat drew them back to the franchise after each taking some time away. Damon was also the focus of a multipart GQ feature that covered his fashion, his reputation with filmmakers and costars, his career history and more.
Of course Damon made the late night talk show rounds, including visiting his nemesis Jimmy Kimmel, to promote the movie.
Overall
The central theme, in case it’s not obvious from all the materials, of the campaign is that Damon is back and we’re really kind of hoping you don’t hold that Renner-starring movie against us. That approach allows the studio to not really focus on the story – whatever there may be of one – since it’s not the attraction, Damon is. It’s all about how we’ve enjoyed his previous outings as the character and after a misguided attempt at contract negotiations went awry he’s returned and now you can enjoy another trip to the movies.
The movie itself does look fun from what’s on display here. I’ll be honest, I have a hard time keeping the three previous Damon-starring installments straight in my head since for the most part they all take place in some random gray Eastern European city and are differentiated mostly by the CIA honcho threatening Bourne and the level to which he remembers his past. So this looks like it might put a cap on the franchise by bringing it all home, though I’d be shocked if they actually wrap it up in any definitive manner. But the story is secondary: The marketing is selling Damon and its success will be determined based on whether that’s something people are looking for or not.
Every generation of parents thinks they have it harder than those that have come before. We, whoever we are, have more challenges and difficulties to overcome than previous generations when it comes to raising our kids and keeping them safe. It’s harder, we all complain, and there are more expectations about how we’re expected to act, what we’re expected to do as parents and how our lives are expected to be ordered in general. Our kids our more scheduled than ever, society seems to hold us to a higher standard that includes being chauffeurs, counselors, friends, coaches, nutritionists and everything else and do it all with a smile on our face and while working full time jobs.
Bad Moms is now here to throw cold water on all that and say “enough.” Mila Kunis plays Amy, a woman who on paper has it all, including good kids, a good job and everything else. But she’s pushed to her limits just in terms of how much any one person, man or woman, can be expected to handle. So when a PTA event is planned that pushes her over the edge she stages a revolt and decides to stop trying to damn hard. Rallying to her cause are Kiki (Kristen Bell) and Carla (Kathryn Hahn), who join her in bucking expectations and becoming bad moms, much to the consternation of Gwendolyn (Christina Applegate), the resident Alpha Mom who doesn’t understand why anyone wouldn’t keep running in the hamster wheel.
The Posters
The first poster shows the three main characters encouraging a huge crowd at an obviously out-of-control party. Everyone’s got a drink in hand – Bell as a whipped cream can – and it’s clear they’re leading some sort of cheer to get the partygoers going.
After that the next posters were a form of character one-sheets that helped sell who all the characters are. So Kunis is “The Fed-Up Mom,” Bell is “The Stay-At-Home Mom,” Hahn is “The Single Mom” and so on. This is always a good way to sell the character attributes of an ensemble cast like this, especially one that’s so heavy with top-name talent.
The Trailers
Thefirst trailer was a red-band version that starts off by focusing on Kunis’ character as she tries to juggle kids, work, pets and more. When she’s at a PTA meeting and presented with a list of restrictions on what should be a simple bake sale she snaps and says she’s had enough with trying to do it all. Bell’s and Hahn’s characters quickly come around to her way of thinking and the three decide to revolt against the system, throwing off their responsibilities and the expectations of those around them, along with their unflattering bras.
It’s a good trailer that shows off the substantial comedic chops of the three leads. In an effort to be outrageous there are lots of swear words and a bit of controlled substance abuse but my guess is that the whole movie is less provocative than what’s on display here, meaning they’ve picked out the key moments to make a big impression on the audience.
A green-band trailer was released later on that starts out a bit differently, with introductions of the three leads that are a bit more explanatory of who they are, but then hits largely the same notes as the first one. A few scenes are different, but it’s the same basic concept.
Another red-band trailer, this one just a slightly expanded version of the green-band edition, hit shortly after that. It just has a few swear words and a bit more drug usage but is otherwise the same thing.
Online and Social
For a change the official website of a movie doesn’t open with the trailer playing in a pop-up. Instead we get a cropped version of the key art, the better to highlight the ensemble cast with apparently.
Scroll down – or use the menu at the top – and the first section of content here is “About the Film,” where you can read a decent Synopsis and view the names of the cast and filmmakers, though with no other details offered.
After that the site encourages you to plan a “Bad Moms Night Out,” basically a call to go out and see the movie with your girlfriends, blowing off the responsibilities of work and family and taking a night for yourself. There are steps for doing so, including the tip to call your local theater and arrange for a large group, and of course a button to buy tickets for you and those friends.
BAD MOMS
“Videos” has all the trailers as well as some of the TV spots and a special video featuring prominent “mommy bloggers” what their Bad Mother’s Day activities would include, which pretty consistently are made up of spa treatments, alone time and alcohol. That’s followed by promotion of a sweeps encouraging women to share their “#BadMomsMoment,” which is that moment where they effed up and weren’t the perfect mother, moments they’re encouraged to share on social media for a chance to win a trip to the red carpet premiere and other prizes.
The “Gallery” has just three stills from the movie in it. Moms can then “Take the Quiz” to find out what kind of mother they are, the options for which I’m guessing conform with the labels on the character posters. Those character posters are then featured in the “Meet the Moms” section, where you can download them or share them to the social network of your choice.
Finally, there’s a section listing the “Partners,” the companies that are helping to promote the film in some way, shape or form.
There don’t appear to be social networks specifically for the movie, so STX has been promoting it on their core studio brand channels.
Advertising and Cross-Promotions
Plenty of TV advertising was done that sold the movie in various ways, from presenting the “secret life of moms” to how these moms are going to “change the rules” and more. Most everything uses footage that we’ve already seen in the trailers and sells the movie as a wild night out with these moms, who both love and are kind of fed up with their kids.
Online ads used the key art of Kunis, Bell and Hahn in full party mode, encouraging people to buy tickets.
Promotional partners here included:
Match.com
Uber
Blushington
Buca di Peppo
Cosabella
Icelandic Glacial
Suja
Zeel
So a lot of lifestyle brands who are trying to reach a female decision-making audience. None of the links on the movie’s site go to anything specifically tied to the story, so it’s assumed most of these companies provided production support in some manner.
Media and Publicity
The cast appeared on stage as the first footage from the movie was shown to distributors at CinemaCon. A few weeks after that Bell and Kunis got the publicity tour really kicked off with an appearance on “Ellen” that included a “surprise” appearance by both their husbands. The cast, either individually or as a group, kept appearing on talk shows in late night and morning to sell the movie, talk about their own experiences and more. A bit of press activity was included as well but overall it doesn’t seem like this got a *huge* press push.
BAD MOMS
Overall
It’s super-interesting to me that this is coming out just a week after the Ghostbusters remake featuring a quartet of women. On a superficial level there’s little difference between this movie and that one since both feature primarily female casts in a comedy showing they’re just as good as men at either busting ghosts or, in this case, blowing off responsibilities and giving into the selfish urge to just have a good time. But this one, because it’s not touching a beloved franchise from the youths of a bunch of crybabies, isn’t being picked apart and criticized for basically being mean to their nostalgia.
It’s easy to take some issue with what’s on display here. The language is a bit crude and all that in what appears to be attempts at a few easy laughs. So I’m anxious to see if there’s something else going on in the story. But what I also notice is that the campaign shows the moms do indeed give into their urges to have a good time while not at all abandoning their kids. They still deal with them and everything else, it’s just that they shirk some of the societal expectations while still fulfilling the basic tenets of motherhood. Compare that to movies about bad dads, where even in comedies they often completely abandon their family, if only for a short time, to go get their head back on straight. (I’m looking at you, City Slickers.) That’s indicative of the role women are still expected to play, meaning the movie is actually about adding “crazy party girl” to the list of things they need to accomplish on any given day.
The story here comes to exactly the right conclusion, which is that app readers are your most brand-loyal readers, the ones who have decided a specific outlet’s content has value, so they spend more time with that content. Otherwise people are just driving by as they click on random links from Facebook. So now extrapolate this out to off-site content like Medium and Facebook Instant Articles and you can see there’s low brand awareness or loyalty since there’s little to no care given to where those articles are coming from.
This could be a big, attractive option for newsrooms and publishers who are currently using other email providers. I don’t know if it’s better than something like MailChimp or Constant Contact, but it comes with the Post’s – and Amazon’s – credibility behind it and that’s a powerful motivation to at least try it out.
It’s super-interesting to me that podcasts, a more or less dormant, niche format just a couple years ago, is now being eyed by someone like Pandora as a low-cost form of attractive content for it to add. With so many players (literally) in this field, though, it comes down to the UX. Right now the only option that has *everything* is iTunes, so Pandora will have to publicize itself as a distribution platform for producers and innovate to make the user experience as attractive as possible.
A nice addition in functionality, but I wonder how much longer Periscope is going to keep the 24 hour limit in place. Right now that’s looking more like a handicap as they try to take on Facebook and YouTube for the live video audience than a key differentiating point, especially with the news that Facebook is increasing the limit for live streams to four hours.
Basically this is companies deciding they don’t care about their archives. Facebook, Snapchat and others are fine distribution options, but it’s not a zero sum game. Those native videos on social networks will get you a quick burst of viewers but then some kind of more permanent, searchable archive is needed for the videos to continue to be hosted on and that’s what YouTube is for. Yes, YouTube can change their TOS just like any other network and leave you high and dry, but shy of going back to the days of every company using native Quicktime videos on their sites, YouTube is the best long-tail option there is and ignoring it is short-sited, ensuring those videos have almost no relevance after the first 72 hours of their release.
This makes a lot of sense, despite the prevailing narrative across media that email is the primary way people want to keep up with things. The key phrase here is “keep up,” which now includes not just knowing what a candidate’s positions on issues are, which is good for email, but who they’re dissing, how they’re responding to the news of the day and more, which is what’s happening on social channels.
I have more than a little skepticism about this but if they can pull it off it would be immensely valuable to retailers as they seek to prove ROI on their marketing. Also continues to reinforce my notion that Foursquare’s real value is not as a stand-alone app of any sort but as a data company.
While interesting, note that it’s still subject to market blackout restrictions, so home team fans won’t be able to experiment with this new streaming option when that team is playing. That makes any option, including this one, a lot less attractive since it’s then only for those who have moved away from their favorite team or those who just want to try something out, which doesn’t speak to a whole lot of audience interest and therefore not a lot of ad revenue potential.
Tech and finance are two industries that, rightly or wrongly, are seen as being male-dominated in the worst possible ways. The technology sector is rife with examples of the “bro” culture that puts a premium on being one of the guys, while finance is seen as being particularly well-suited for a man’s take-no-prisoners approach. While men are lauded for these kinds of behaviors, women who either carve their own path or dive in deep and become just as ruthless as the guys are seen as “difficult” or “pushy,” which become code words for men feeling uncomfortable around women who don’t conform to old-fashioned cultural types.
The new movie Equity is about woman who is unapologetically ruthless. Anna Gunn plays Naomi Bishop, a senior investor at a major Wall Street firm. She’s risen to the peak of her career and is about to take a new company public in a big way. But while she’s enjoying all of this things begin to unravel as scandal creeps in around the IPO, threatening to derail her career and possibly send her to prison for misconduct. At the same time she has to put up with the antiquated notions evinced by some of the men around her, who are threatened by a woman coming and playing on their turf and using the same tactics they do.
The Posters
The movie’s one poster takes the story’s four major players and arranges them on the one-sheet, all looking directly at or just to the side of the camera. In the background is a series of stock charts and ticker symbols, clearly telling the audience the drama will be unfolding in the world of financial markets in some manner. At the top the tagline tells us “On Wall Street, not all players are created equal,” which hints at the sexual politics that will drive some of the story along.
It’s a decent poster but kind of comes off like the cover to a second-rate John Grisham novel. There’s no verve or spark here. It just presents the cast and the basic premise in a flat, matter-of-fact kind of way and hopes that’s enough for the audience.
The Trailers
As thefirst trailer beings we meet Naomi, who explains that she just likes money, which leads into a voiceover about her credentials as a powerhouse mover and shaker. She’s working on taking a new company public but, as we see, there are complications. Someone has leaked details of the deal and it’s creating a problems with investors, regulators and others.
Gunn looks amazing in this as a woman who’s unapologetically successful in her world but who also sees enemies everywhere. This is a tight, energetic trailer that showcases her performance, which is the primary selling point.
The second trailer is almost identical to the first, save for a shot or two here and there. Same structure and flow, though, and the same stakes are presented.
Online and Social
The official website is surprisingly robust for a mid-level movie like this. The trailer plays in a pop-up when the site loads and there’s a big button at the top in case you’d like to watch it again. Next to that is a button saying “Buy out your city” that allows you to setup a screening in your area in case it’s not playing near you, which is pretty cool. It makes me wonder what sort of outreach and pitching the studio did to groups that might have been interested in doing that kind of thing since I imagine there’s a higher return on investment with that kind of effort as opposed to the random interest that might occur from *just* the right person seeing that button on the site.
Anyway, shifting over to the menu, the first section of material is the “Synopsis,” which takes you through pretty intense detail as to the story, the movie’s characters, what their motivations are and more.
The past and current credits for the main players can be found in the “Cast” section, which offers backgrounds on most of the top-line stars. Similar write-ups for those behind the scenes are in “Filmmakers.”
“Real Women of Wall Street” takes you into…well…just that. Two areas within this section explain how the producers and others decided to explore this world and shows statistics as to how women are or aren’t represented in the top financial companies, as well as the disparity in income they face and other interesting – and sometimes disheartening – facts about the challenges they face in this environment.
There’s a pretty robust “Gallery” that has a couple behind-the-scenes shots along with quite a few stills from the movie itself. “Reviews” will presumably have quotes from or links to critical feedback but now is still labeled as coming soon. Finally you can “Find a Theater” to see when the movie will be coming to a theater in your area.
The movie’s Facebook and Twitter profiles have information on showtimes, links to press stories, trailers and more.
Advertising and Cross-Promotions
Nothing that I’ve seen, but I’d be willing to bet there’s been some targeted online advertising done and that there will be more as the movie expands into markets beyond Los Angeles and New York City.
Media and Publicity
The movie debuted at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival, where it got alright buzz and word-of-mouth, particularly for Gunn’s performance.
Most of the publicity for the movie revolved equally around the movie itself and the real-life women of Wall Street who have to do their job in the a harsh, sometimes offensive environment. So there were features focusing on how rarely we see unapologetically successful women and the kind of sexist place Wall Street used to be, how producer Megan Smith Thomas put together a female-led picture like this, how she researched the topic and got the production green-light and much more.
Overall
There’s a solid campaign here, both for the movie itself and as a PSA for how women are either unrepresented in the financial world or harassed and held to different standards than their male counterparts. The formal marketing is selling the former while the press, with a bit of support on the website, is selling the latter. Both are worthwhile efforts and the one supports the other, particularly on a movie that features so many women both in front of and behind the camera. This plays like the campaign for a message-driven movie and works on both levels.
Gunn is obviously the centerpiece of the push for a movie that’s being sold as half a female-empowerment story and half a tense Wall Street thriller about financial regulations and investigations. The former, though, is the part of the campaign, at least, that works best. The part of the movie that’s about women unabashedly being who they are – whether that’s a cutthroat banker or crusading, law-abiding regulator – is the one that appears much more intriguing than the story of potential corporate malfeasance. That’s largely because it’s a much more vital and original story and so presents the bigger value proposition to the audience.
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The teaser poster is pretty simple. It just shows Bourne stepping out of the shadows, gun in hand and looking ready to use it. We’re told “You know his name” by the copy, which is a nice way of acknowledging that Damon is back as the titular character.
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