August 21, 2006
advertising movies via blogs
Salient point from Robert Scoble:
I’ll tell you what executives from big companies (like Kraft, Procter and Gamble, GM, and others) who were at MSN’s OWN ADVERTISING CONFERENCE told me. An influencer is worth THOUSANDS of times more than a non-influencer (influencer is someone who tells other people stuff, which is why blogging is getting so much advertising attention lately). That’s why Google is charging more per click than MSN is (Google has more influential users). That’s why Federated Media is closing advertising deals left and right.
I’m still up in Glasgow, about to go have a lunch meeting with the producer of “Hallam Foe”, the new movie coming out that was directed by my old friend, David Mackenzie [I’m actually staying at Colin Kennedy’s flat, the guy who writes most of the blog].
I’m trying to turn the production company on to advertising via Federated Media, Weblogs Inc and Blogads.com, once the movie is released, for the same reasons Robert mentions above.
Normally in this postition I think, “They’ll either get it or they won’t. If they don’t, no worries, it’s not my problem.” And then move on.
But this time its different. David’s a dear friend of mine, and I want the movie to be a hit. My ambitions here are more personal than professional.
However, one good thing we’ve got going for us is, the rough edit has just come out, and the concensus seems to be: it’s a good movie. I plan to see the film for the first time in the next couple of days, so I’ll let you know what I think, as well. All very exciting.
Will it fly at the box office? I have no idea, but at least we now know that the final product shouldn’t be too shabby. Watch this space.
[Bonus Link] From Colin:
We have a very important question to answer, how do we describe this film?
It doesn’t sound like a particularly important question but it is, how else do we tell people about the film? The other aspect of this is that some strategies to get bums on seats can be misleading, they might work for an opening weekend but good word-of-mouth is widely recognised as being the best marketing you can have, so if you’re audience is cued up for an inevitable disappointment then word-of-mouth will be your downfall.
I’d say the other important question is; how do we want other people to describe the film? Yeah, I know, the two are closely related.
Why “once the movie is released” ? If snakes on a plane taught us anything, it’s that you need the buzz early to influence the key element in all this (the exhibitors) to actually give the moviue a chance. I think that will be particularly salient in the case of Hallam Foe.
There’s a lot stuff we’re hoping to do “in time for the movie’s release”, as well, John. Fret not
Too much movie marketing is too little, too late. A mere, unwelcome appendage to the rest of the production.
I think Snakes On A Plane was rel wake-up call for a lot of people in the biz. The movie was mentioned in conversation more than once over lunch today.
Hey Hugh , [out of context]..What is the relation between Web 2.0 and Terrorosim 2.0 ? Just seriously curious.
I think Colin makes a very good point — not least because I blogged the same point about SOAP at the weekend.
Hey Hugh–
Send me an email in regards to Hallem Foe, we would love to run a campaign with them!
James
Federated Media
> I think Snakes On A Plane was rel wake-up call for a lot of people in the biz.
Unfortunately, I think you’re right. But SOaP was a one-time thing, like The Blair Witch Project. I doubt that a film like “Hallam Foe”, which doesn’t have a high concept (snakes on a plane! lost footage of terrorized youth filmmakers!) is going to have much traction.
Play up the indie angle, get the artsy crowd interested, and focus more on a few key influencers. Don’t expect or worry about getting the massive SOaP groundswell and you’ll do just fine.
hate to burst any bubbles here guys — but the folks at New Line Cinema are seriously disappointed over the returns from snakes on a plane.
snakes on a plane this, snakes on a plane that, everyone’s talking about snakes on a fucking plane, I’ve seen the movie and all I’ve done is here the title, I’m not going anywhere near a cinema to see it ‘cos I don’t have to and it sounds shit. I hope our audience has a bit more nous and guts and cool and balls.
ck