Reaction Negative to Paris Hilton's 'House of Wax' Promo Podcast
If the comments surrounding Paris Hilton's promotional podcasts for 'House of Wax' are any indicator, Warner Brothers' experiment with the format has been poorly received by members of the podcasting community.
According to the message boards on Podcast Alley, a leading source for podcasting shows and info, people are finding the rambling musings of Paris as she wanders around as "boring celeb-spam." Here's an example from one post written yesterday:
I started listening to podcasts in January, and I gotta say that, after hearing the first Paris Hilton "podcast", I am really impressed with how fast the whole thing appears to be going right down the tubes...The Paris Hilton "podcast" is exactly the kind of drivel that drove people to take broadcast content into their own hands in the first place. *This* is what the podcasting community should boycott, and if it is on Podcast Alley only because of the cash involved, P.A. is in real trouble..."
Backlash from insiders is one thing, but are these podcasts going to get anyone interested in the film? After having listened to the show, my verdict is a resounding no. The production values are embarrassing, Paris' unfettered ennui is tiresome, and the grating theme had me reaching for the mute button on my keyboard.
So what have we learned from this experiment?
1. Poor production values -- If you're going to do a commercial podcast, do it right. Hire professionals to record, edit and mix the audio.
2. Boring content -- They should have structured the content to complement the film and build interest in it. We're not talking hiring a crack team of writers or anything -- but even a little bit of structure would have been nice.
3. Wrong audience for the film's demographics -- podcasting is still in it's infancy, and is largely a tech-savvy audience catering to hip, literate men and women in their mid to late twenties. Paris Hilton, awash in disinterest and perpetually disengaged, is about the worst person you could pick to reach out to these people.
So what kind of film would have benefited from a podcast? I can think of two:
Seems like big-budget sci-fi fans are the perfect demo to consume podcasts -- for example, imagine how popular one for the upcoming 'War of the Worlds' film could be, especially if it was a 2005 version of the famed Orson Welles broadcast...
Or maybe a studio could use a podcast to cheaply add web value to a preexisting franchise -- think "Shrek" or "Napoleon Dynamite". Perhaps you could have Napoleon run a fictional Idaho radio station, playing his "flippin' sweet" tunes...
These are just off-the-cuff examples, but I can see something in line with these ideas having a greater impact and the potential for a "viral effect."
You can catch the first two 'House of Wax' podcasts here.
[Via Always On]
Napoleon Dynamite's Marketing? Sweet!
I have yet to see Napoleon Dynamite, but I am impressed with the creativity of the guys and gals at Fox Searchlight's marketing department. If you've been Reading the Movie Marketing Blog this year, you've seen lots of innovations in the marketplace. Well, Fox has followed some of their own best practices and added a few new and interesting marketing tactics to boot:
1. New scenes -- with this Friday's expansion, Fox has added a 5 minute epilogue to entice fans to come back for a second showing. Straight out of the DVD playbook, this technique worked well for Fox with last year’s '28 Days Later'. The difference? The scenes were shot just 4 weeks ago...
2. Fan Club Competition -- Fox has heavily promoted the "Napoleon Dynamite Fan Club," and now has 20,000 people competing in a contest to select the club's president. The competition winner gets a free screening and other perks, and helps the movie by virally spreading the word among the target demographic.
3. Napoleon Dynamite Mixers -- Special pre-film events held in "tastemaker" cities to turn out the fan club base.
4. Audience Participation Script -- Ever heard of the 'Rocky Horror Picture Show'?
5. Iron-On transfers -- Over 40 different designs that can be printed out and made into t-shirts. Branding, anyone? And no cost to the marketer?
All of this effort would be moot if the film was a dog, but the reviews have been pretty good. I did read somewhere (don't remember where) that the film is "like watching a Wes Anderson cover band" or something to that effect, but In my opinion, Fox Searchlight has done an incredible job of making the film into a unique viewer experience.
Related Links:
Official Site
Fan Club
Rotten Tomatoes Review Page
