Universal announces 'King Kong' Affinity MasterCard
According to the 'Kong is King' fan site, Universal is planning to issue a limited edition King Kong MasterCard on October 1st:
The new card, an illustration of Kong on the the front, depicting a poignant moment on Skull Island, is the ultimate design for fans eagerly awaiting the release of the movie. Consumers may pre-register for the card by visiting the official KING KONG movie website and clicking on 'Get the Card' - and in the months leading up to the film, have the opportunity to receive King Kong theatrical updates, sneak-peeks at Limited Edition Kong merchandise and much more.
Universal has had their branded card for several years now, but this is the first time an affinity credit card has been issued to promote a film. The card is part of a broader effort by Universal to cultivate long-term awareness for 'King Kong', and with over 300,000 monthly visitors and 65,000+ forum posts to the Kong is King site, they definitely seem on track. [Via Kong is King.net]
Scarlett Johansson Digitally Enhanced for 'The Island' Ads
 On a lighter Friday note, Scarlett Johansson was recently shocked to discover her digitally-enhanced cleavage on a billboard promoting 'The Island' in Los Angeles:
The Lost in Translation actress slammed on the brakes when confronted with a giant advert of herself in Hollywood, according to the Daily Record. And the 20-year-old hinted that the picture of her chest had been digitally altered to promote new movie, The Island.
he said: "I was driving through Los Angeles and I look up and see the biggest photo of me I have ever seen in my life on a massive ad space.
"I screamed and slammed on the brakes. I couldn't believe it.
"It's very strange to see my cleavage the size of a brontosaurus. My breasts were huge.
How many instances of this do we need before it officially becomes a movie marketing trend? After all, we do have the "Disney digitally reduced Lindsay Lohan's breasts" meme as well. One more instance, maybe?
[Via Ananova]
Fox makes a Major Marketing Push for the Christian Audience
According to a recent article on The Deadbolt, 20th Century Fox has pursued a number of initiatives to solidify it's position in the christian marketplace: According to Director of Marketing Jeff Yordy, Fox wants to expand its dominance of the DVD market by becoming the number one provider of filmed entertainment content that "blends entertainment with positive messages." To this end, they're joining forces with Word Distribution, a Warner/Curb company who "creates, markets, and distributes recorded, print and video products for Christian entertainment and edification," to get their family friendly products into as many stores as possible.
Here's a partial list of some of Fox's major movie marketing initiatives to date on this front:
- They had a heavy presence at this year's Christian Bookseller's Association conference, promoting the "family-friendly" film Midnight Clear.
- They've launched a website targeting the Christian market: Foxfaith.com
- They've relaunched the 'Strawberry Shortcake' line of DVDs to be Christian themed, and have packaged their DVDs with a Bible study packet in some retail outlets.
- The studio has committed to develop 13 "values-driven" movies, and are developing relationships with born-again actors to star in them.
Given the runaway success of 'Passion of the Christ' last year, these moves seem inevitable. But was that film's performance an anomaly? Mike Dunn, Fox's President of Home Entertainment, seems to think differently: According to Dunn the "faith based consumer is underserved" and represents a significant part of the 26.6 billion dollar DVD industry. If the opening of Joel Osteen's 16,000 capacity mega-church in Houston is any indication, the faith based market is also expanding exponentially.
While Fox now has an early lead among the big five, the others will undoubtedly be entering the fray soon enough.
[Via The Deadbolt]
VSDA Panel: DVD Marketing Goes Local
Movie Marketers are conducting more local DVD promotions with regional retailers, according to an article in Video Business:
A 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment exec said during the VSDA session that the studio is working with retailers in the Northeast to drive sales of a Boston version of upcoming DVD Fever Pitch, which includes more bonus Red Sox material than the standard version.
And Sony Pictures Home Entertainment marketing VP Marc Rashba said the studio is involving stores in some national DVD promos, such as the recent push for TV Land DVD titles. TV Land and Sony ran commercials about Sony TV product available at retail, with Sony providing retailers with special display cases to promote the product more prominently in stores.
The article also mentions how smaller mom and pop rentailers are getting shut out of the mix, particularly when it comes to screeners and advertising support. This speaks somewhat to the irony of the VSDA show itself, which has morphed from a huge trade show floor catering to independents to what it is now: a straight sales session in the suites for the retailers. All you have to do is look at the hot dog machines and tanning beds on the trade show floor to realize the shift away from rental is underway.
[Via Video Business Online]
McDonald's and DreamWorks Animation enter Marketing Pact
According to an announcement today, McDonald's is teaming up with DreamWorks Animation to promote upcoming films starting in 2007:
DreamWorks Animation SKG and McDonald's Corporation today announced a two-year worldwide marketing and promotional relationship. The first film associated with the tie-in will be Shrek 3, slated for release in 2007, and will include such signature promotions as McDonald's Happy Meals®.
The partnership, which gives McDonald's worldwide promotional rights to new DreamWorks animated properties, was announced today by Jeffrey Katzenberg, DreamWorks Animation Chief Executive Officer, and Mike Roberts, McDonald's President and Chief Operating Officer.
The agreement comes as McDonald's exclusive, ten-year deal comes to an end. On the other hand, the DreamWorks deal is non-exclusive, and the short duration gives both companies the opportunity to assess the success or failure of the partnership fairly quickly.
Given the uncertainty of the new release business for the foreseeable future, this is a smart marketing move for both parties. While Disney and McDonald's had some wild successes (in particular, with the Pixar releases) the ten-year exclusive deal is a relic of a slower, more stable period in the theatrical business.
[Via Yahoo! Finance]
DVD Sales For First Half of 2005 up 19% over Last Year
According to a report released today by the DVD Entertainment Group, In the first half of 2005, more than 770 million DVDs were shipped to retail outlets - a 19% increase over 2004. DEG further reported that the total number of units shipped since the launch of the DVD format has approached 4.7 billion discs, with over 47,000 different DVD titles now available on the market.
The report also detailed the penetration numbers for DVD players:
Since launch, more than 140 million DVD players, including set-top and portable DVD players, DVD recorders, Home-Theater-in-a-Box systems (HTIB), TV/DVD and DVD/VCR combination players, have sold to consumers, bringing the number of DVD households to 75 million (adjusting for households with more than one player).
Given the industry consensus that DVD is now in it's "mature" phase, these numbers are extremely impressive. However, as I've read recently, anyone who's waited more than seven years to buy a DVD player probably won't be buying a lot of discs, and the falling per-disc pricing may have trained consumers to wait for bargain pricing.
[Via the DVD Entertainment Group]
Vets Upset over 'Wedding Crashers' Purple Heart Promo
According to Adrants, a tongue-in-cheek viral game for 'The Wedding Crashers' urging the use of the Purple Heart medal to score chicks has angered Veterans' groups:
Part of the promotional website for the Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn movie Wedding Crashers and a scene within the movie makes reference to the Purple Heart, a military medal of honor. The movie, which, remember, is a movie and not real life, pokes fun at the medal by claiming it gets a guy attention if he wears one with the line, "Carrying a Purple Heart in your jacket guarantees you attention, admiration and plenty of free booze."
Update: The Washington Post is now reporting that New Line has pulled the offending section off of the film's web site. Apparently, the notion of impostors using fake medals to score favors is a sore point in D.C. right now:
Wearing, manufacturing, buying, selling or trading a Medal of Honor is a crime. [Congressman] Salazar's Stolen Valor Act, introduced Friday, would expand the law to include more medals and would allow prosecution of anyone who falsely claims to have earned a military medal or a Purple Heart.
His office drew attention to the Web site. On Monday, he claimed victory.
"If any movie-goers take the advice of the 'Wedding Crashers' and try to use fake Purple Hearts to get girls, they may wind up picking up an FBI agent instead."
Kinda harsh. New Line did the right thing by pulling the section though. Given the lack of vets working in private industry these days, its not hard to see how something like this could slip by without a proper vetting. Adrants does make a point that in a time of war, sensitivities are indeed higher, and an extra level of scrutiny needs to be applied to all things military-related.
[Via Adrants]
Did Excessive Product Placement Help Sink 'The Island'?
Jeff Greefield makes an interesting point over at Product Placement News today: As product placement becomes more ubiquitous, film critics are much more likely to seize on films that take it too far -- especially when they don't like a film anyways. They list many examples of this point in action -- here's an especially vicious attack:
Chris Hewitt at the Pioneer Press: Bay also goes along with perhaps the crassest product placement in movie history — a perfume commercial so blatant that it pulls you out of the movie — and follows that up with a love scene that makes no sense and a character reversal so unmotivated that it may make you want to pull yourself out of the movie.
That's just a sample -- visit Rotten Tomatoes and read a few of the reviews -- you'll see just how often the critics bash the product placement in the film.
Other recent films that have gorged on product placements recently include the Herbie flick and even Bad News Bears -- I would have expected an even greater backlash against these films given their positioning as family fare.
[Via Product Placement News]
Sony Pictures teams up with Maven Networks to promote 'Stealth' via Broadband
According to a joint press release issued today, Sony Pictures is teaming up with Maven Networks, a company that specializes in broadband content, to provide high quality streaming elements to promote the upcoming release of 'Stealth':
Sony Pictures Digital's video content will include a series of trailers, games, and exclusive behind-the-scenes video content directly to consumers who opt-in at the film's Web site. With Maven's technology, Sony can reach consumers directly online and build a powerful, ongoing, and measurable relationship with movie fans.
Entertainment companies are now able to offer full-screen, highest-quality video content to promote their films. With more than 58% of U.S. online households(1) now accessing the Internet via broadband connections, former barriers to receiving high-quality, full-screen videos -- such as download time and illegal sharing -- now can be surmounted technologically. Movie studios are among the first to embrace broadband video to showcase their products.
With all the debate surrounding the box office performance this year, there's little doubt in everyone's mind that actual attendance numbers are down. Because of the myriad of home entertainment choices and rising ticket prices, consumers are more apt to explore movie websites in order to choose what films to see -- providing the highest quality of marketing materials is part of this equation.
[Via Marketwire]
Fox Teams up with the USO for 'Patton' DVD Relaunch
According to a company press release, 20th Century Fox will donate a portion of their total sales from 'Patton' and 25 other upcoming war classics DVDs to the USO:
The DVDs will arrive in stores nationwide on July 26 with fifty cents of each DVD's purchase price donated to the USO, with the donation totaling up to $150,000. Each DVD will also carry a "Support Our Troops" sticker on package. In addition, copies of each movie will be distributed to the USO's 121 centers worldwide.
This initiative is a good example of social cause marketing that makes sense for both parties involved -- not only are they doing a great thing by aiding the USO, but Fox is also reaching a demographic that are huge consumers of military-themed DVDs. Prior to 2000, the USO was an aging institution, and usage of their centers had fallen off considerably. With the current tempo of military operations, however, thousands of soldiers will be exposed to these products. Looks like a win-win situation for both parties here.
[ Via Businesswire]
Netflix to Launch Advertising Program
According to a press release from online DVD renter Netflix, the company will begin selling advertising to those interested in reaching the company's three million subscribers:
Netflix said it will offer advertisers a range of options, from placements in emails to its members to presence on its trademark red mailers and positioning on its Web site.
This could be an great opportunity for movie marketers, especially if their advertising platform allows for precise segmentation of specific demographics. Imagine, for example, targeting all people who have rented 'Winged Migration' with ads for 'March of the Penguins.' Their media kit should have some interesting insights about the habits of online renters...
Via Yahoo! Finance
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