"I'm as mad as hell"

ShadowCatcher Entertainment is breaking all the rules with how they will market their new indy film "Outsourced." Fed up with the middle man distributing his films, owner and manager David Skinner has decided to do all his own marketing and distribution for his new film "Outsourced." After talking with Miramax/Disney, he decided that it makes much more sense to do it this way (check seatlepi.com for the whole story) and it is looking like others will follow.

"The studio had a lucrative cable deal in place, but we wouldn't see any of those profits. Meanwhile, they would invest nothing in the ad campaign." Skinner says. "We would have to raise that capital ourselves. Welcome to the wonderful world of independent film distribution." Skinner thinks it was just like when Peter Finch screamed "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" in "Network."

Skinner is taking the power and profits away from the big distribution companies and putting them back into the hands of independent film makers. I like this for two big reasons, Number one is that this should breed more creative marketing strategies. When the same company does all the marketing campaigns for every movie, they all start looking the same. Just like how every movie trailer sounds the same cause the same guy writes all the scripts.

The second reason I like it is because this is going to mean more money going back into the pockets of indy film makers. With most of Skinners advertising based on word of mouth, his movie has to be good in order for more people to go see it. Indy film makers do not have the money to a lot of advertising, but the well done films will get noticed and the profits will go straight back to the creator. This means good movies will be rewarded, which hopefully means movies getting better and better.

So thanks ShadowCatcher Entertainment, I'm not as mad now.

Nothing beats pudding

If you are tired of getting lost in the advertising soup, perhaps its time to through your name into the pudding. The pudding is a new internet calling service like skype that you provides calls for free. Plus it comes with voice recognizers that will listen in and send advertisements to your computer for whatever you happen to be talking about. pcworld.com reports on the idea.



I love it. This is about as direct as you can get. Someone is talking about your movie, it is in their head, and BLAM! up pops your trailer. Now they can continue to get more excited about your film and ohh look at that, the movie poster for it with the opening dates.

And you are not just getting people talking about your film. Let's say Johny Student is reading Beowulf in class and is talking to a classmate about it. He might not know about the movie, or be unsure of when it comes out. But up comes the poster, trailer, and hopefully the spark notes.

The pudding will be starting their beta version that you can sign up for at their website thepudding.com I am curious to try it out and see if I get tired of having The Rock pop onto my screen every time I ask my friends what the game plan is for tonight.

Look for The Nines Trailer(s)

J.J. Abrams is not the only one that has some interesting marketing ideas this year. John August, writer and director of The Nines is letting his fans do his marketing for him, Literally.

August has launched a trailer making competition for his new film that stars Ryan Reynolds as three different characters interacting with each other as TV producer, actor and video game designer for what looks to be a horror film version of what it would be like if the Sims you controlled were real... and the ensuing drama and fright that would surely follow.

The competition is set up where contestants download clips from the website. They can then enter one of two competitions: Pure Trailer, using only the provided footage; Mash-up Trailer, using whichever clips from anywhere you want. But don't feel like you have to make a trailer that looks like the official trailer. August even says that they went in one direction with it but that contestants could do whatever they wanted.



I really like this idea. Not only does it get people involved and invested in the movie, but August does a great job of giving you just enough information to make you interested. The trailer doesn't give anything away, and it wasn't until I downloaded the footage that I feel like I have a general understanding of what the plot might maybe possibly be, maybe. I want to go see the movie now if for no other reason to see if Reynolds is the God of this world maliciously toying with himself, or if he is an oblivious avatar in a terrible game designed by him, or if that blond girl is the real one that is taking away the pool ladder. On the bright side, at least this one has a title for me.

SMS Marketing

Today's topic is brought to us from www.marketingvox.com as they talk about word of thumb and the dangers it brings to movie marketing. Basically, back in the olden days (before my dad could type a text message faster than a 16-year-old cheerleader after hearing Marissa cheated on Seth) it took at least a few days for the word to get out about a movie. Like when Die Hard came out. You didn't find out if your cousin thought the movie was awesome until you saw him at grandmas house Sunday afternoon.

Now, friends are texting their friends practically during the show with complete disregard for whatever corny jingle that particular theater decided to show about turning off your cell phones. So why is this killing movies? Two theories, the movie stinks OR it was advertised wrongly.

Like what would have happened if Sleepless in Seattle marketed itself as a horror movie. There would have been lots of horror movie fans watching it on opening night. Sleepless in Seattle is a terrible horror movie! And the people that like horror movies probably wont appriciate a good chick flick it they saw one.

Take a look at this trailer for Sleepless in Seattle

...a little misleading indeed. Check out more of these at http://dossing.blogspot.com

This is an extreme example, but good marketing could be the difference of getting people that like romantic comedies as opposed to people that like romantic mushy movies. Movie marketers are going to have be on top of their ads as technology advances. They need to make sure that they have the right people lining up at the box office Friday night. Or their movie is going to flop like the new Geico Caveman Show.

Why even go to the theater?

A few weeks ago I started classes again at Ithaca College, NY. With that of course came a few expenses, including pens, pencils, paper, folders, and the grizzly bear of them all... books. But this time I tried something. Instead of buying a $180 book from the bookstore I jumped online and found it online. Not on eBay though. I bought the downloadable version off the publisher's website for less than half the cost the hardback copy. Probably the most intelligent thing I will do all semester. So what does this have to do with movies? variety.com

Movies are now available on-demand like never before. A panel of professionals at the Toronto Film Festival announced that this idea will revolutionize the business by taking money away from third parties and giving it straight back to the holder of the copywrite. Michael Burns (vice chair of Lionsgate) estimates that it will be by about 60 to 70 percent. It is also making the cost of watching a new movie cheaper for the consumer.

Perhaps this is the answer to the independent film question I posted earlier. Indies are going to be able to make more money off their films that more people will be watching because it wont take ten dollars to see a new movie. And with a new contract between Fortissimo and Jaman, we are seeing movies available for download. Movies might evetually become as on-demand as tv is supposed to. And this has advertisers worried because ads are going to getting skiped.

Josh Bernoff of Forrester.com reports on how on-demand advertising should work. He says that people are going to have to want to watch ads, and they are going to have to be more than 30 seconds. This is very encouraging to movie advertisers because they already have an audience lining up at apple trailers to view their ads. Ad video on-demand at the end of trailer, and who knows what could happen?

So when I decide to fork over the 10 dollars it takes to watch a movie in a theater, I am going to have many films to choose from. And since I have already seen all the new movies from the summer, the new Harry Potter doesn't come out for a while, and Ironman won't debute untill next summer, there isn't anything jumping out me.

Well the pros are saying that this is because there is a crap load of indies out and none of them are breaking the clutter (hollywoodreporter.com) Even with box offices turning in record highs this summer, the spin-off companies of the major studios that invest in independent movies (you know, the ones with olive branches framed around "first place at blah blah blah" and stuff in the trailers), aren't getting recognized because everyone is doing it now. Hollywood reporter says that Fox Searchlight was one of the first to get into the indies and when people saw they were making money off things like Warner Independents' March of the Penguins everyone wanted a piece of the pie.

So what is my theory on marketing indie films? Keep it cheap and easy. You can go the Micheal Moore way and throw your name around to get recognized like his new one Sicko but most indie directors don't have the clout to do that. So just keep it simple and easy. Make the movie cheap and market it modestly, if the product is good and thought-provoking and original, then it will find an audience. But right now there is definitely a feeling of, "it's not cool if everyone is doing it."

Learning About Consumers

If we are going to market to people through lots of different media, than we should probably know about how these crazy folks interact with these media. There are a few great articles from MediaPost that address this question well: On the Record: They aren't just like us ; Consumer 3.0 ; Calling all Pets ; Targeting Harried Commuters ; Portrait of a New Media Consumer.

The new media consumer is able to not just interact with multiple media at one time, but be creating and sharing ideas through these media as well. Marketers as being faced with smarter consumers that a little more difficult to figure out than the old tv-watching, radio-listening-to, newspaper-reading commuter.

Because of this, marketers are being forced to be much more creative in how they converse with their target audiences who are more like active members in a conversation than an audience. Take a look at "Consumer 3.0" and how they talk about social netwrking sites. Getting their info about how may kids have a social networking site from a study, marketers have to start using what consumers are in order to find out what their consumers want.

Lets continue using this idea of Social networking sites for an example: Some one does a study and reveals that kids are using facebook a lot. I mean A LOT. So now a marketer has to try and think like his client. Which after reading On the Record, you realize it is pretty hard. You can't say, "how do I interact with this site?" Cause are a weird media junkie and interact with everything a differently (especially media). Half the time consumers don't even realize they are being that engaging in the media they are using (New Media Consumer).

With TV, you are only guessing at how people are interacting with it. With the www, you need to find out what people are using, then go get some.

Podcasting??

Once you are tired of reading people's rants and would rather just listen to them, or maybe you are on the go and can't have your computer screen in front of you, podcasts are definitely your thing. Still relatively new (history of podcasting), we are still trying to figure out how to use this technology for something constructive instead of simply a distraction from my homework... umm, Ricky Gervais.

One of those new constructive ideas is to start using podcasts to inform professionals about their profession and all the new things going on with it. In the field of Marketing you already have a few. Across the Sound, and Marketing Edge are a couple good ones. Smart well-informed people telling the rest of what we should know through the magic of podcasting.

What do I think about the podcast? I am pro-podcast my friends. Spreading the news and trends in the advertising world via podcast is a great system. Podcasts can be made quickly and easily, making them more current than other media that takes a long time to produce and distribute. Plus, anyone can make a podcast (click here to make yours). This means you have a lot of people talking about current issues. That sounds like one fantastic conversation. I can load five or six opinions about a current issue into my iPod and then hit the road. Conversations with trade experts on my way to office. That is a better jump-start to my day than my favorite Starbucks mocha kappa latte.

Advertisers are not the only ones using podcasts for professionals. Here is one for educators. In this episode they are actually talking about why you too should podcast. Smart dudes.