Movie Ads in the Wild: New York City Edition
In running a website about marketing, sometimes we forget that the online space is not the center of the marketing universe. After all, the online marketing budget for most films amounts to only 10-15% of the total marketing spend. Now granted, that number is rising every day, and you do get more bang for your online marketing buck, but other forms of advertising -- namely print, television and outdoor -- are still the single biggest percentage of the movie marketing spend.
In recognition of that fact, Movie Marketing Update is starting a new feature called "Movie Ads in the Wild." Several times a month we're going to show you what marketers are doing on the street, in theater lobbies, on billboards, and in the local newspapers. This week's installment comes to you from New York City -- more specifically, Park Avenue between 17th and 23rd streets in Midtown, with a little dash of Queens to boot.
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Starting out Broadway at 19th street, we pass a wall of "coming soon" posters outside of a six-plex. 'Casino Royale' seems to catch the eye the most out of the four we see here. |
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| Walking cross-town to Park avenue, we found a poster for 'The Guardian' hanging above a parking garage entrance. Not the greatest of placements -- you have to be looking up to notice it. It's also a shame that nearly a third of the poster is wasted with an illegible credit block (but we get it, its in the contract...) |
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| Still crossing over to Park, we noticed some great 2x2 wild postings at a construction site promoting 'American Hardcore'. Music releases and events are heavily promoted this way in New York, which makes this particular technique a good fit for this film. Its hard to see in this picture, but there is a mention of the "Vans Warped Tour," one of the film's promotional partners. |
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| Just a few feet away from the 'American Hardcore' posting, we see an old Jet Li ad from a few weeks ago peeling away. Sometimes the layers of old postings get so thick that they simply shear off of the plywood under the weight of glue and paper, and other environmental conditions like rain, wind, graffiti artists, and drunken fratboys can wreak havoc on your ads. In prime areas, your adverts will need to be re-posted weekly, otherwise they simply get posted over by competitors. |
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| Turning on to Park Avenue, we see a phone booth (which are less common than you think) with an ad for 'The Grudge 2.' Note how much better the ad works without a massive credit block? |
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| Looking up Park avenue, we see the massive, 60 foot noggins of DiCaprio, Damon and Nicholson in the distance. |
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| Here's a closer shot of the massive 'The Departed' ad at the corner of 23rd Street and Park avenue. You can barely see the workers affixing the ad from a gondola hanging just below DiCaprio's head. I didn't get a close enough look to see if they were painting or postering, but its a massive undertaking in any case. You can see the last vestiges of blue in the lower left from the 'Lady in the Water' ad that was there during the Summer. If my memory serves me well, this ad changes four to six times a year -- anyone have an idea how much this particular space goes for? If you do, or just want to guess, drop a note in the comments. |
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| On my way into the Subway I found yet another ad for 'The Departed.' . Nicholson looks like he aged in reverse by twenty years. And don't get me started on the quarter of the ad wasted on the credit block... |
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| Okay -- here we are in Long Island City, a 10 minute subway ride away from Midtown. Upon exiting the station, I found this jumbo-sized wild posting for 'Gridiron Gang.' This 4x6 foot poster is right on the corner of a very busy intersection with heavy car traffic. Unfortunately, whoever designed the poster made the release date illegible from any more than a few feet away. Note that the poster to the left is already partially covered with a competing music poster after a week. |
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| Just a little bit down the street we've got a big 6x6 wild posting for 'A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints.' This is a smart location right next to a bus stop, but the poster needs some help -- the key art is too small and the talent's names should have been arranged better. The actual neighborhood may be a bad placement, however, because the local demographic isn't likely to be interested in seeing this, in my opinion. |
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| And here's where my journey ends -- at the Sunnyside Cinemas, a neighborhood first-run theater. This 'Babel' poster is displayed under the Theater's marquee next to the box office window. I would be surprised if this particular film actually plays at this theater, since they mostly run genre and family fare. Note the ridiculously low ticket prices for New York City, by the way (and that's probably the last remaining matinee pricing in New York as well.) |
