« Grinchy | Main | Straight Hair »
December 3, 2008
Marketing Movies
It’s a well established fact that I’m a terrible sleeper. I’ve spent many a night lying in bed with my mind going a million miles a minute, unable to stop thinking and go to sleep. Lately my anxiety levels may have been running a bit higher than usual, what with layoffs and the economy and the stupid stock market combining into an unstoppable force bent on keeping me awake.
Over the years I’ve learned to at least distract myself from going around in destructive circles like that. So instead, I think about something else. I have fake conversations with people – sometimes people I know, sometimes celebrities or public figures I find interesting. I write copy. I make up stories. Whatever it takes to eventually calm my mind down so I can fall asleep. Lately, perhaps because I’ve run out of ways to say “This is an unprecedented situation, fuck if we know what’s going to happen next. But don’t give up on stocks just yet!” I’ve taken to thinking about marketing challenges that don’t relate to my job. Specifically, how to market movies.
I got started thinking about this topic after seeing a trailer (twice!) for some new Nicholas Cage movie about numbers buried in a time capsule and then they are dug up and they seem to predict natural disasters or something. They did a terrible job with this preview. I still have no idea what the movie is about or why on earth I would want to go see it. Then I started thinking about what the website for the movie should have on it to convince people to give it a shot. The best I could come up with was some sort of interactive “punch in a date and see what disaster is going to happen” kind of widget. I think I need to know more about what the plot of the movie is.
So then I started thinking about how Summit Entertainment just announced that they are going to make New Moon, and how they will want to keep the momentum they’ve got from Twilight going and how there will probably be pressure to equal that $70 million opening.
Now that’s a movie I understand how to market. In my head, I have built these people – and I don’t know enough about the movie industry to know whether it is the producers or the distributors who would be responsible for a website – a site for New Moon that rocks. It is very web 2.0 and totally designed to build buzz and keep Twilight fans engaged and excited for however long it takes to get the next installment of the franchise ready. I’ve got it all mapped out in my head, and I have to say, I’ve done a pretty impressive job. Too bad it will never exist!
Now if only I could find a way to use my powers of insomnia for good, instead of plotting imaginary websites.
Posted by Bad Penguin at December 3, 2008 11:10 PM
Comments
Honestly, insomnia kinda blows so I don't know if there can ever be a good side to it.
Posted by: Chris at December 4, 2008 7:53 AM
I swear to you, the only thing that works for me is counting sheep. Or goats. Or penguins. Something that can't engage me in conversation because as you know, I'm a talker.
As for piss poor marketing, the list could go on and on. And I know if anyone could fix it... it's you!
Posted by: Average Jane at December 5, 2008 8:35 AM
Listen, you gotta learn to shut that stuff down or get a sleeping pill....lol...
While I'm here, can I hang my head low and ask you and your readers to come to my websites and play in the 12 Days of Christmas giveaways?
Please....I'm ducking in case you are throwing things at me...
www.momecentric.com
www.momisteaching.com
www.educationuncensored.com
Posted by: Jerri Ann at December 6, 2008 11:03 PM
LOL! I do pretty much the same thing to distract myself from my insomnia and trick myself into falling asleep. A method that usually works well for me is to just start daydreaming about something fantastic--something i'd like to dream about that night, my mind starts to wander and POOF! Next thing I know it is morning.
Posted by: Amy at December 7, 2008 10:23 PM