Getting Smart

COMING THIS JUNE:  “Get Smart”

Summer is most definitely the most successful season when it comes to movies and entertainment, and for many summer blockbusters an instance promotions and marketing campaign is crucial.  One of the more publicized motion pictures coming out in a few months is “Get Smart” starring Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway.  This upcoming 2008 film adaptation of Mel Brooks and Buck Henry’s hit 1960s spy parody television show will also feature cameos from Bill Murray and Patrick Warburton.  One of the most relvant and successful parts of their promotions campaign is definitely all the online involvement and presence the film is establishing.

The movie is trying to generate a lot of buzz within younger online networking sites such as Facebook, by creating its own profile page where users can become fans of the movie and have it represented on their profiles.  This generates free impressions among the site’s users while also giving people the opportunity to download desktop wallpapers and AIM icons.  On their page you can also watch trailers and get upcoming news on the movie.  This seems quite a bit more successful than making a type of paid for application, which I talked about in a previous post.  Instead the movie is integrated into a person’s profile by them claiming to be a fan. 

 

Moreover, the team also put together a more interactive kind of game on the Web as well, where users are seemingly asked to pick a side and then create an agent profile and recruit their friends. A figure is then added to the virtual world and people can browse and search for other agents.  If users choose, they can also create little embeddable “badge” by uploading a picture that displays which side they choose to be on.  This Control Vs. KAOS game is a great opportunity for consumers to actually immerse, interact, and discuss with others their involvement with the movie’s applications.

Finally one of the most interactive audience involvement pieces of this online campaign is how the movie is utilizing YouTube.  Instead of simply just throwing up mindless trailers and movie clips without any follow-up, Warner Bros. created a consumer generated movie competition.  Based on a well known concept of the original television show, there is a part in the movie where Carell’s character uses a distinctive shoe phone.  “Entrants are asked to make a 15-second video involving them reaching to their right, grabbing a shoe from off-screen, uttering a line from the show/movie or something they themselves come up with and then passing the shoe off-screen to their left.”  This competition is a great idea to get audiences interacting and excited about the upcoming movie.

Origins of the Pig Skin

OPENING THIS WEEK: “Leatherheads”

Ever wonder how the phenomenon of football got its start in this country?  Back before players were paid millions upon millions of dollars through endorsement deals and ‘celebrity’ appearances, the game had a much more “rough around the edges” kind of feel.  The new movie “Leatherheads,” which stars George Clooney and Renee Zellweger, cost $58 million to produce but seeks to profit from that as the probable top movie opening this week.  This PG-13-rated Universal flick will be definitely trying to play the field and span two completely different segments as both a sports comedy and romantic comedy.  In order to get the full reaping from this film, the marketing team had to go above and beyond relying simply on star-power and get the movie out there.

 

 

Plenty of traditional advertising has been done in order to connect audiences with the film’s release, including billboards and tons of out-of-home advertising plastered with the shinning faces of the movie’s numerous stars.  In addition, the marketers have also really played up the football-field slapstick in much of their broadcast advertising in order to help pull in younger patrons.  Although, despite the rough and tough sports aspect of the flim, there is still plenty of romantic banter to be accounted for between the extremely compatible duo of Clooney and Zellweger.  Also not to be over looked though is the rising new star John Krasinski from “The Office.”  With an extremely loyal fan base to the hit show, it would only make sense for Krasinski to make short promotional spots to be shown on the movie’s behalf throughout “The Office” marathon shown last night on NBC.  What better way to get noticeable, effective prime time advertising than to have it promoted by one of the shows lead characters!

The star pair though on the other hand was busy with a whistle-stop tour last week to promote the film in such smaller markets as Duluth, Minn.; Maysville, Ky.; Salisbury, N.C.; and Greenville, S.C.  These small towns are the setting for which much of the movie takes place in.  (Source) Unfortunately, just recently the film faced a bit of controversy as George Clooney actually substantially downgraded his membership from the Writers Guild of America (WGA) after the union rejected his request for a writing credit on the movie.  He tells Variety.com, “When your own union doesn’t back what you’ve done, the only honorable thing to do is not participate.” (Source)  I feel it is important that credit is given where credit is due, especially for such a talented man that dabbles in multiple facets of the movie business including writing, producing, acting, and directing.  I would hope though none of this would come off to audiences as smug or arrogant, but something tells me the movie will end up doing just fine. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blackjack!

OPENING THIS WEEK: “21″

This week marks the opening of the much anticipated movie “21” directed by Robert Luketic.  The film stars Jim Sturgess (Across the Universe) as Ben Campbell, a student facing some financial troubles.  The movie also showcases some other high-profile stars including Kevin Spacey, Laurence Fishburne, and Kate Bosworth.  The movie is also based upon a best-selling novel “Bringing Down the House” by Ben Mezrich about a student who attends MIT and learns to cheat the system in gambling in order to win enough money to pay his tuition.  To date the movie has received very good reviews, mainly because it is a story that is relatable to everyone, people who gamble and people who don’t.  It shows the struggle of the everyday man who is given an opportunity of power that comes with all the people that surround it, some good and some bad.  The real test is not letting the new fortune take control of the person one used to be.

 

The premiere took place a few weeks earlier in, where else, but Las Vegas.  This Sin City event was nothing shot of a spectacular show, so much more than a movie premiere.  It took place at the Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino right on the Vegas strip.  There was such an array of dresses, tuxedos, and even a trio of showgirls on the Hard Rock Casino floor.  All of the hype surrounding the movie is sure to make it a winner in the box office this weekend.  According to the reviews the film has received, it apparently stays very true to the book which pleased critics, but then has a grand Hollywood finish to wrap the film up in a less than realistic ending.  Either way, the star power, subject matter, and great promotional team is sure to help skyrocket this movie to the top.

Crisis Communications Post

Featured This Week: “I Know Who Killed Me”

This week we look back almost a year ago to take a look at the how a celebrity crisis can really affect the publicity of a movie.   Last summer the movie “I Know Who Killed Me” staring Lindsay Lohan and directed by Chris Sivertson came into theaters with little to no anticipation.   Already the actress’s reputation was on a downward spiral and the publicity of the movie left one to believe they were simply trying to just get by with what they could.  Although just went bad things couldn’t get any worse, literally the week of the grand nation-wide opening, Lohan is involved in a major crisis, severely drawing bad publicity around not only herself but the movie as well. 

On the early morning of Tuesday, July 24^th, 2007 the actress Lindsay Lohan, and also star of “I Know Who Killed Me”, was arrested on of driving under the influence of alcohol and driving on a suspended license and a felony charge of possession of cocaine, police said.  Less than two weeks out of her rehab cycle, and still with another drunken-driving case pending, she was stopped at the intersection of Pico and Main in Santa Monica. According to sources she was following recklessly a Cadillac Escalade, driven by the mother of Lindsay’s assistant, who had quit just hours earlier (Source).  Once stopped by the police officers, Lohan refused to submit to a PASD — Preliminary Alcohol Screening Device but it was later found her blood alcohol level to be between a 0.12 and a 0.13 (Source).  Lohan was taken into custody near the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, according to police, and was released several hours later after posting $25,000 bail (Source). 

The story was of course picked up only hours later by almost all of the major media sources in the country.  The main stream media, which included major print venues (LA Times, The Washington Post, The Seattle Times) broadcast networks (Fox, ABC) and celebrity news Web sites (TMZ.com) all dealt with the story in a very similar way.  Although trying to stay impartial, one can almost feel the under riding tone of disgust and annoyance as most of the stories focus around the multiple charges and pending arrests the celebrity possess.  Almost everyone was mainly quoting Lohan’s lawyer Blair Berk, who was stated as saying this shortly after the arrest regarding Lohan’s previous run in rehab, “Addiction is a terrible disease, throughout this period, I have received timely and accurate reports from the testing companies. Unfortunately, late yesterday, I was informed that Lindsay had relapsed. The bracelet has now been removed.”  Moreover, even though they were not quoted, many times the journalist referred to reports made by the police. By far everyone was portraying Lohan as a star gone bad and much of the focus was on how useless any sort of rehabilitation treatments were on the actress.  Finally it is also important to note that Every story being reported referred to the infamous mug shot of Lohan as shown below.  Even now, almost a year later, this photo is often used at the butt of numerous jokes and jabs at the actress.  

 

Along with mainstream media, there was a viral blowup on many celebrity blogging sites such as Perezhilton.com, Thesuperficial.com, Topcelebrityblog.com, and Pinkisthenewblog.com of the story, all sporting the same exact mug shot picture, though often with interesting editing and drawings to accompany it.  These sites were ruthless to Lohan, claiming she’s a lost caused, washed up, train wreck going no where.  Though completely irrelevant, this also brought a lot of negative comments about the acting abilities of the star, which obviously did not bode well for the movie she was staring in that was to be released that Friday.  Once again the main emphasis was not only the large wrap sheet Lohan was now compiling, but also the apparent ineffectiveness of the rehab program the actresses had just been discharged from.   Even though these sites thrive off the ill actions and mistakes made by celebrities, much of what these blogs had to say revolved around the fact that “This was too far.”   The story speaks for itself, and the only real difference evident between the stories in the mainstream media and the posts on various blog sites was the liberty at which the journalist could express his or her disgust in the situation.   In fact, some of the blogs were almost not as worse because the lacked on the logistics and mainly just ranted about the personality of Lohan, were as the long list of charges and brutal facts surrounding the arrest as reported by the MSM kind of made her look even worse.   It was like shocking that even big papers and broadcast news stations were taking the time out to shed light on the behavior of Lohan.  

As far as handling the crisis, Lohan’s publicity team did the best they could with a practically irreparable situation.  The movie tanked, and although winning eight Razzie Awards says something about the substance of the film itself, one can’t help but speculate that at least a little tiny part of the cynicism was directed at the recent behaviors of it’s lead character (especially when Lohan was awarded two Worst Actresses awards for both roles she played in the movie!).  As far as what I would have done in that situation, I would have taken lead with her personal assistant and find a new client!

Power of the Star

OPENING THIS WEEK: ”The Other Boleyn Girl”

People must never under estimate the power of throwing enough famous people into a movie to turn a semi-decent script into a film with some fire power.  Let me amend that, by using enough “good” famous people a film can revitalize a some what dull story into something audiences would want to go pay to see.  This week marks the opening of the well known novel-turned-movie “The Other Boleyn Girl” staring Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson and Eric Bana.  Although the film has a fairly narrowed target group, it isn’t trying to be something it is not, and utilized the power of casting to better appeal to a wider segment of the predominantly female audience.  Fans of the book will most definitely fall into a fairly older portion of the population, but by using two fairly trendy starlets of Hollywood, the movie’s creators were able to open the doors to a more youthful audience.

 

Definitely when you have two actresses with such strong fan bases, one of the most valuable things you could do for your movie is to tour them, and control everything in the press about them for the weeks leading up to the movie.  The promotions crew for this flick did a great job and Natalie and Scarlett have been super busy running around the globe trying to bring audience interested back into this movie.  The duo started their run at the Berlinale Film Festival, and have done everything from appear on the “Today Show” to grace the cover of “W” magazine.  Most importantly these stars realize the importance of controlling your press, and both still make an effort to engage their fans while still dodging the paparazzi, “”I don’t care how good the Cobb salad is.  These tabloid magazines, I think they’re hideous and the downfall of society.” (Scarlett Johansson on the Ivy restaurant)  The important thing to keep in mind is that even with two respectable, well established stars with a good control over their press, anybody could turn a tired period piece into a successful box office opening.

Big Screen meets Mobile Screen

OPENING THIS WEEK: ‘Vantage Point’

This week marks the opening of the anticipated movie ‘Vantage Point’.  This action-packed thriller stars the highly rising star Matthew Fox, made famous mostly by his television role on the hit drama ‘LOST’.  The plot of the movie is very intriguing as it takes places through the points of view of eight different strangers, all who witnessed the assassination of the president of the United States.  This film also stars Oscar winners Forest Whitaker and William Hurt as well as Dennis Quiad.  One would think with this kind of star studded premier, publicity would take care of it self.  Although even large scale movies like this need are taking new approaches to integrate their stories into the lives of viewers.  One such example actually took places over seas in the high-tech capital of the world, Japan.

 

Instead of just allowing Japanese viewers to simply watch the movie, marketers for Sony Pictures in Japan are allowing people to help solve the puzzle via their cell phones.  By logging onto Lamity, a 3D virtual world on cellular phones, much like Second Life online, participates can visit the public square in Salamanca, Spain, where ‘Vantage Point’ is set.  More than 400 movie enthusiast can now directly interact with each other in this virtual world, become secret service agents, and seek to resolve the presidential assassination case.  Not only do participates play the same plot of the story, but they actually act in cooperation with the other virtual players to solve the case together.  All of this leads up to the premier of the movie, and helps to generate buzz by also allowing participates to view movie trailers and clips in the virtual cinema located in the Lamity version of Salamanca square.  Although this interactive technology could exist in the United States, the demand is far behind that of the Japanese tech culture.  I suppose Americans will simply have to wait for the video game to come out on PS3.

Playing the “Game”

OPENING THIS WEEK: Jumper

 

This week is marks the Valentines Day opening of the much anticipated movie Jumper, staring Hayden Cristensen and Rachel Bilson.  The more traditional approaches to movie openings have been to have possibly big star-studded premieres or advanced screening to bring some hyper around the movie and give it some momentum going into the opening day.  Although unfortunately these events, especially for big budget movies such as Jumper, haven’t been enough to draw the crowds to the theaters in order to achieve that opening day record breaking cash flow.  Now more than ever PR and promotional teams for movies having been taking techniques and practices normally saved to ride the success of a blockbuster and using them to instead jump start that opening day madness they so desperately are striving for.  Because lets face it, after that initial two weeks for the vast majority of movies it’s simply down hill.  So what did the team working on the marketing and public relations for the movie Jumper do?  They released a game.  The Jumper: Griffin’s Story

  

Now although movies and video games seem to be synonymous at this point, it used to be rare you would see a video game released only days before the movie.  In the past it was either video games being produced from highly successful movies months after their opening or, as the recent trend is showing, movies adapted to the plots of already well established, existing video games.  Although with the explosion of popularity in the gaming industry and growth of variety in types of consoles and equipment used, more and more marketers are seeing this “virtual world” as potential to reach consumers with a message, and what better to reach engaged movie goers than with an even more engaging message vehicle.

Hollywood Interactive

OPENING THIS WEEK:  Fool’s Gold

This week in movies, Warner Bros.’ Kate Hudson-Matthew McConaughey starrer “Fool’s Gold” opens in theaters nationwide.  Despite lackluster reviews, the movie hopes to hit it big with a duo of big movie stars and a production studio giant to back its excess production and advertising budget.  Although the marketers for this movie knew it was going to take a little more than just repeatedly flashing Kate Hudson’s body on televisions across the nation to get people into theater seats.  The movie needed a more nontraditional campaign to really reach out to its target of younger movie goers.  Where are these people spending most of their time, well it isn’t watching television.  They spend on average over half their recreational time online, especially engaging with interactive social networking sites such as Myspace and Facebook.  Therefore instead of hosting promotional events on the streets or in malls, “Fool’s Gold” promotional team took it online with a variety of games and contests users could interact with and feel a bit more connection with the movie’s brand personality.

An example is the flourishing growth of Facebook applications users can now add and interact with on their accounts.  Now prior to seeing the movie people can add this game, and steal or horde their own precious booty from their friends across the country.

 

 -

Also multiple contests and local give-a-ways of course were part of the promotional campaign, but none made more sense with the brand than the partnership with Atlantis tropical resort and hotel.  Too often brands and their promotions rarely actually match up or make sense, but in my opinion this movie did a fair job of reaching out to their target audience in a nontraditional way with relevant content.