See the movie, buy the comics

My latest AdAge piece is a look at some of the tactics comics publishers use to get the people who have just seen the big-screen adventures of their superheroes, adventures that are often marketed as straight-ahead action flicks, to also buy some comics. Yes, the comics are part of the marketing campaign for those movies … Continue reading See the movie, buy the comics

Marketing premium VOD

My latest contribution to AdAge is my long-gestating piece on how the introduction of so-called "Premium Video on Demand" by studios could impact movie marketing efforts. As usual I try to make some points, ask some questions and otherwise engage in a lot of thinking out loud. There are more specific write-ups about different aspects … Continue reading Marketing premium VOD

Don’t get blinded by social media metrics

My latest contribution over at AdAge is only peripherally about the Super Bowl and what commercials racked up lots of buzz before, during or after the game's broadcast over a week ago. What it's really about is how while counting YouTube views, Twitter followers or any other social media metric is great and should absolutely … Continue reading Don’t get blinded by social media metrics

What I hope happens this year

My latest AdAge column covers a handful of points that I hope come to fruition in 2011 when it comes to movie marketing. As I state at the outset, I really shied away from making predictions since they're not all the useful and instead just put together a wish list of what I'd like to … Continue reading What I hope happens this year

Awards advertising, Super Bowl spending and more

Every year I go on a rant between now and February about how marketing budgets for awards consideration ads and the ridiculous dollars spent on Super Bowl advertising could both be reallocated to making sure people see the movies that are being hyped for awards but which aren't going to get on a lot of … Continue reading Awards advertising, Super Bowl spending and more

Planning for disappointment

My latest AdAge column is my thinking-out-loud about the fascination the Hollywood trade press (and the blogs that riff off them) with writing postmortems on those movies that fail to live up to the expectations that have been set out for them. One point I didn't make in the column is that many of the … Continue reading Planning for disappointment

AdAge: Even Tom Cruise Couldn’t Beat This Summer’s Hollywood Memes

This article originally appeared on AdAge here. In case you didn't notice, Knight and Day, the new romantic action comedy starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, did not have a great opening weekend, grossing just over $20 million and coming in third place behind Toy Story 3 (which, as many have before it this year, … Continue reading AdAge: Even Tom Cruise Couldn’t Beat This Summer’s Hollywood Memes

AdAge: Is Hollywood’s Reliance on ‘Event’ Marketing Wearing Thin?

This article originally appeared on AdAge here. After the first weekend in June in 2009, 19 different movies scored the top spot on the box-office charts. In 2010, there have been only 11. Yes, the first six frames of 2010 were won by "Avatar" and it's tempting to attribute the discrepancy in the numbers to … Continue reading AdAge: Is Hollywood’s Reliance on ‘Event’ Marketing Wearing Thin?

AdAge: Is Hollywood Suffering From Clip Overload?

This article originally appeared on AdAge here. Have you seen the seven or eight extended clips from The Sorcerer’s Apprentice? Did you watch the seven or eight that were released in advance of Despicable Me? Will you watch the seven or eight that will likely be released in the weeks prior to Scott Pilgrim vs. … Continue reading AdAge: Is Hollywood Suffering From Clip Overload?

Summer’s indie movies

My latest contribution to AdAge is a reaction to seeing quite a few movies that have more than a little indie cred being scheduled for the summer. Thanks again to the guys over there that give me a chance to write the occasional opinion piece.