Insight Into the Studio's Online Marketing Processes

Chris Thilk has posted a great interview with Perry Wang over at his Movie Marketing Madness blog. Wang is from Media Revolution, a web design firm that does work for the majors.

If you've ever wondered how a the process works at that level, this is a must-read interview. One revealing segment explained why we see so little innovation in regards to special content like podcasts, blogs, webisodes, etc:

Another bottleneck for content is the budget for the film's site. Good content costs money to produce. The teams that support the web updates also need to be paid. Only the most organized, integrated studios are able to align their decision makers and budgets to create and post new content like webisodes and other featurettes prior to a film's release.

There's plenty of tidbits like that -- check it out...


[Via Movie Marketing Madness]

Guilty Pleasure: 20 Weeks to Oscar

Okay, so the staff at the Movie Marketing Blog are admitted Oscar junkies. We can't deny that we slog through the entire telecast year after year, stuffing our face with dainty cucumber sandwiches while our dog-eared copy of Oscar Fever lays an arm's reach away. In line with our obsession, David Poland of Movie City News has crafted a must read feature that disects the Oscar race with incredible wit and foresight. Here's a little sample nugget of Poland's Oscar marketing insight:

Harvey Weinstein is known for his relentless selling, no matter how good, bad or mediocre the product. Focus consultant Michelle Robertson is known for figuring out the keys to their films and just riding the wave of the movie in a very laid back way, slow and steady. Universal/Disney Animation's Tony Angellotti is known for his patter, selling journalists and everyone else on his idea of the big picture, which his films just happen to fit perfectly into. Some studios use big stars as cudgels. And many use rolled eyes and sharp knives to try to slow the competition.

Poland skillfilly ruminates on the intense date-jockeying by all the run-up awards (like the HFPA and Independent Spirit Awards.) Equally vital are his "handicapping" charts, which truly flesh out the emerging race in the Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay Categories.

MCN: 20 Weeks to Oscar

Necessary Reading: Video Business Magazine

If you don't read Video Business, you should start. Unlike parent magazine Variety, VB is ad supported and thus free to readers. You can register on their site for a free mailed subscription, or you can read it entirely online.

Here's the link to this week's "interactive issue," which is an exact copy of the print version:

Video Business

Today's Must Read: Why Does Hollywood Dominate US Cinemas?

Here's a must-read article from Yale Global Online about the shrinking foreign film market in the U.S. and the difficult time Hollywood's having in marketing them:

...few foreign films make it onto American screens. In 2001, imports represented less than 1 percent of all films shown in the USA. Free traders would argue that Americans simply prefer Hollywood movies, but the real reasons for this imbalance are more structural than cultural. The market for foreign films has contracted in the US over the past thirty years, due to the rise of American independent film, the decline in independent theaters, and the restored vertical integration of the US film industry. In such an environment, the gate-keeping role played by American distributors of foreign films becomes ever more crucial.

Why Does Hollywood Dominate US Cinemas?

Today's Must Read: "Grown-up Movies"

The USA Today has been a haven for excellent movie marketing articles lately, and this piece on the adult movie-going market continues this trend.

Think marketing to adults over 25 is a waste of time? Think again:

Moviegoers 50 and older accounted for nearly 25% of U.S. ticket sales in 2003, according to the Motion Picture Association of America. Attendance among 40- to 59-year-olds surged 7%. More than one in 10 moviegoers are over 60. Meanwhile, moviegoing among 12- to 24-year-olds is off 1% since 2001.

The article covers some of the major factors behind this trend including counter-programming, a renewed focus on genre titles (like romance), demographics and more.

USATODAY.com - Grown-up movies

Today's Must Read: Tracking and Influencing 'Consumer Generated Media'

I have a recommendation to make for all of you movie marketers out there -- Marketing Sherpa. I subscribe to at least a dozen of their newsletters, and I usually find several articles a week that give tips useful for movie marketers.

An article they released today gives six simple steps for tracking and influencing online buzz. As we all know, sites like AICN and Rotten Tomatoes can make or break a film. Just read a few posts on Defamer about the upcoming 'Catwoman' movie or spend a few minutes at Rotten Tomatoes and you'll see what I mean.

Having a system in place is even more essential for indies on the festival circuit, because negative buzz will directly affect the quality of festivals you get accepted into. Plus, you probably don't have hundreds of million dollars at your disposal for buying "mindshare."

How to Track (and Influence) Consumer Buzz Online About Your Brand - 6 Steps