'Van Helsing' promotes Canadian Blood Drive

With an imminent DVD release, the marketing team behind Universal's 'Van Helsing has' come up with one of this year's most unique campaigns:

Canadian Blood Services and Universal Studios Home Video Canada are hoping to educate young people about the need to donate blood. As the Count says: "The blood is the life."

Under the joint promotion, a special advertisement will be included in a half-million video copies of Universal's horror movie Van Helsing, being released on VHS and DVD next Tuesday.

That coincides with a two-week Van Helsing blood drive at eight Canadian Blood Services locations in Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, Mississauga and Halifax. There's also a contest at each location to win one of 20 of the DVDs.

Talk about the perfect marketing partner. Besides the obvious press attention somthing like this will get, it also has a distinct community service component. Kudos, Universal!

CTV.ca | Vampire hunter Van Helsing to urge blood donations

Fox Pushes 'Alien vs. Predator' in U.K. via Mobile Phones

According to Digital Bulletin, Fox will partner with Mobile 365 in promoting the U.K. release of 'Alien vs. Predator':

The long-awaited film that pits cult movie monsters Alien and Predator against each other is to be promoted via a mobile marketing campaign that will let people vote on who they think will win the contest.

Twentieth Century Fox's 'Alien Vs Predator' movie is due to appear in cinemas on October 22. The new campaign, created by Mobile 365, will see fans of the film able to download wallpapers and "alien" ringtones for the phone.

There will also be the chance to vote for who will win the battle by texting either "ALIEN" or "PRED" to a short code number.

This seems to be a little late to the table -- since the movie's been out forever, won't most fans in the U.K. already know who won?

Whatever the case, mobile promotions are much more prevalent in overseas markets than in the U.S., but I expect that to change dramatically over the course of the next year. We're already seeing more interactive phone games (like the 'Manchurian Candidate' contest or the 'Grudge' SMS game currently underway) and we'll only see more. I would love to see a white paper or survey on the effectiveness of the technique.

Brand Republic

'Super Size Me' to Use Guerrilla Marketing Tactics in the U.K.

Brand Republic is reporting that Morgan Spurlock will take the lead of an integrated guerrilla marketing effort to coincide with the film's U.K. launch:

Distributor Tartan Films has developed a marketing strategy to target both a mass-market audience and obesity campaigners.

A nationwide consumer push will include guerrilla activity at shopping malls and an outdoor and radio campaign. TV commercials are also being considered.

The film is being co-promoted with the British Heart Foundation, the British Medical Association and Sustain, which lobbies for better food and farming.

The Department of Health has also been asked to put together a panel of experts to talk about the issues raised. This will be filmed and screened in cinemas showing advance previews of the film.

Let's see if they can top the German distributors in the controversy category...Brand Republic

Bollywood titles fill On Demand Niche

Seasonal and topical themed collections aren't anything new to VOD, but New York-based 212 Media and Schramm Sports & Entertainment have upped the ante with 'Bollywood on Demand.' Their special collection features Bollywood movies, series and other special events on the Comcast and Time Warner Systems. A quick survey of the MMB's own Time Warner box shows a nice selection currently available.

As VOD offerings increase, packaging offerings as niche collections will boost repeat purchases and drive program loyalty. If you look at the DVD business as an example, you'll notice that the companies with the greatest brand loyalty specialize in "enhanced collections. The fans of companies like The Criterion Collection will buy an unknown title purely on the strength of the brand. While they may not bring in huge sales figures like a Columbia/Tri-Star, their editorial expertise and emphasis on quality has helped Criterion build a sizable measure of trust with their consumer base. I guarantee you that when DVD growth drops from 44% this year to around 8% in 2008, Criterion will still show steady, stable growth with intense brand loyalty.

So what can VOD marketers learn from DVD niche marketing? If anything, the shift to a la carte offerings means that the studio brand will become increasingly important -- better to be the master of your genre (i.e. Dimension) than a broad-based player. We may see a mini 'balkanization' at the studios as branding grows in importance. Why? It's simple -- if you have to pick from thousands of unknown titles, genre signifiers will be truly important. And to all of you indie moguls-in-waiting, I say to you: pick an underserved niche, and ensure you lock up PPV and internet rights!

As an aside, I would also expect third-party information providers (like Muze or Rotten Tomatoes) to grow in importance as they will eventually become integrated into VOD menu systems. Look for a major deal in that space in the coming months...

'Bollywood on Demand' on US cable - Indiantelevision.com's Breaking News

Russian blockbuster 'Night Watch' slashes 'Spiderman II'

'Night Watch,' the Russian-made thriller with Hollywood quality special effects, has broken all Russian box-office records, according to MOS News. Described by many as a blend of 'Blade Runner' and 'Blade,' MOS News analyzes the marketing success of the film:

Many observers explain the movie's phenomenal success by an unprecedented marketing campaign that was carried out Channel One, the state-controlled television channel which acted as the film's producer. According to one of Channel One's officials as much as 50 percent of the film's $3 million budget was spent on publicity.

It's pretty unlikely we're going to get hard and fast numbers since the Russian film industry isn't as "open" with their figures as Hollywood. Nonetheless, the quality of the special effects and the fact that the film is trouncing both 'Spiderman II' and 'Lord of the Rings' introduces two big issues:

1. It may be increasingly difficult for Hollywood to compete in countries with consolidated national media and a technological prowess for special effects.

2. U.S. based digital effects animators, already facing stiff competition from India and China, have a new competitor.

The big question in the short term -- will this film translate to U.S. audiences, and if so, who has the best experience in marketing it? Given the intense level of blood and gore, the film may warrant an NC-17 rating in the U.S., which would limit the number of people willing to run with it. Based on that, I would expect either Lion's Gate or maybe Newmarket (with Palm Pictures a distant third) interested in something like this. Until we get our eagerly awaited review copy, it's difficult to know if the story translates.

You can see the trailer and TV promo clips here -- looks like quite an effective marketing campaign, if you ask me...

Related Links:
Channel 1 -- Production Company Dozorfilm (in Russian)
Channel 1 -- Russian TV<
Russian Blockbuster Breaks All Box Office Records - MONEY - MOSNEWS.COM

German 'Super Size Me' Promo Riles Advocacy Group

The German division of sandwich chain Subway has drawn the ire of U.S. based advocacy groups for using POP marketing materials that refer to Americans as "obese," according to Money Online.

As you can see from the image, the tray liners show a cartoonishly obese Statue of Liberty, and the headline above it reads "Why are the Americans so Fat?"

This has riled the Center for Individual Freedom , a D.C. based organization, who alleges that:

...the ad promoting the movie contains a German word "amis" that is a derogatory term for Americans. "It is appalling that Subway, a U.S. company, would attack Americans and the Statue of Liberty, our most recognizable symbol of freedom, in a time of war just to gain market share," the Center's executive director, Jeffrey Mazzella, said in a statement.

A spokesperson for the Subway-Germany denied the allegations -- in a nutshell, they believe that it's blown out of proportion.

My guess? Given the stereotypical perception of Americans as burger-chomping, white-socks-to-the-knees-wearing, NASCAR-worshipping warmongers, these marketing efforts were most likely intentional and probably effective from a regional marketing standpoint. This could come back to bite Subway in the U.S., much like the Heinz vs. 'W' Ketchup scenario. If this scenario were to play out, Subway's efforts will look about as prescient as Jaguar's participation in the marketing of 'Catwoman.'

Group calls Subway ad 'unpatriotic' - Jul. 30, 2004

China's Distributors Have a "Titillating" Approach to Marketing Art Films

Following today's "deceptive practices" theme, I found this interesting article about the repackaging and creative copywriting for art films released in China. Here's a nice little bit:

The cast and crew of "Maiden Work" waited six years for their underground film to surface in China. They never thought it would. On finally seeing the packaged product, they almost wish it hadn't. "The first to reveal the biggest controversy in Chinese film - homosexuality," blares the DVD cover hyped by distributors, depicting two women entwined in an embrace. The women do not appear in the film. In fact, it has no love scenes. "Maiden Work" is a perfect example of what Chinese tabloids have termed "art films repackaged as porn."

I haven't seen much of this in the states these days, except the occasional crusty 1960s exploitation flick repackaged with new cover art.

Utusan Malaysia Online - Art films are repackaged as porn to sell in China

Nollywood: a Peek at a Booming Film Industry

With all of the hype surrounding the Indian film Industry, I thought it would be interesting to take a peek at another high-growth film market -- Nigeria, otherwise known as "Nollywood." According to AFP, Nollywood is a high growth industry controlled by cutthroat moguls who would give Weinstein a run for his money. Rapidly growing throughout the nineties, Nollywood is now doing anywhere between $100-600 million dollars in business a year. With more than 2,500 films produced annually, Nigerian film companies release their films in scatter-shot fashion -- a rough mix of makeshift screening rooms and cheap, mass produced copies. Apparently, sales of 100,000 copies of a popular new release is par for the course in this country of 124 million.

This got me to thinking about the industry here in the good ol' USA. With the proliferation of high-quality prosumer cameras and cheap, full-featured desktop editing systems, are we in for the same kind of "content glut" as Nigeria? I think that Indie filmmakers here at home probably churn out at least as many films, and as the quality continues to increase, they're gonna go somewhere....

Related links:
Nollywood.com
Nollywood or bust Lock, Stock star
AFP Article on Nollywood's "Dwarf Movie" sub-genre
2002 Article from the New York Times