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BREAKING NEWS
Entertainment Promotions: Adding Fireworks to Your Marketing Program!By Mitch Litvak, President, The L.A. Office Summer 2007 has been marked “the year of the three-quals” for more than a year. A great deal has been riding on this year’s crop of movies with the hope of a US box-office turnaround. Officially a month or so into the race now, and the box-office has been on a very high note and continues to gain momentum with each new release. More importantly for the marketing community is that the summer box-office heights are being felt by brands all over the world. Entertainment promotions both in the US and abroad are at an all-time high and there are no signs of slowing.
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TUNE UP Articles from MarketingProfs
Hollywood Tie-ins: How to Avoid a Horror ShowBy Stephen Denny Dear CMO:
Let me tell you a true story. I was having dinner with my boss back in my Iomega days, and we were talking about how you get more people to buy Zip disks. The industry just did rebates back then, so anything value-added was pretty bold stuff. My idea was to get more merchandising in stores by packaging disks preloaded with unique content from the film, and maybe with a movie ticket or a game. This was an unusual way of marketing data media at the time. His reaction was pretty unusual, too. Read More Five Rules for Better Marketing PartnershipsBy Robbie Baxter Marketing partnerships can be one of the cheapest, fastest and easiest ways to grow your business and test new market opportunities. It can also be a black hole for resources.
During the Internet heyday, it was enough to identify a potential partner and a cool idea, sign a contract and "see what happened." But we've begun to realize that although a partnership has no up-front costs... it can be expensive in terms of time, resources and mindshare.
Read More TUNE IN Cool Websites and Trends L.A. Roadshow: A sneak preview of new film, TV, games and music opportunities to connect with your consumer on September 18-20.
www.RoadShowHollywood.com
Ten By Ten: A ten by ten grid of the world's news, tracked hourly with 100 pictures and 100 words to describe the events of today.
www.tenbyten.org
Punch a Celeb: From politics to sports to music to film and television, this UK based website allows users to take out their aggressions on their least favorite ‘star.’
www.inboxjunkies.com/punchaceleb/
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FINE TUNE Cool Marketing Stuff We Have Found from Around the World
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| A Note from CEO Jim Holbrook: Engage Your Customers with Entertaining Promotions |  I’ve been well entertained this summer:
I’ve visited museums and seen everything from the Richard Serra sculpture at the MOMA to the fabulous “Bar at the Folies Bergere” by Eduard Manet at the Getty (on loan from London’s Courtald Gallery, one of my favorite places in the world).
I’ve frequented the movies and watched mediocre fare in the form of the march of the 3’s (Spidey, Shrek, Jack Sparrow) and excellent fare in the form of the ‘smaller’ films like Waitress and Knocked Up. I can’t wait to see what the Simpsons will be up to later this summer, as well as the fate of Mr. Potter.
I’ve read "Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him" (about the contemporary gallery scene), Harlan Cobin’s gripping "The Woods", and the very well done business book "The Definitive Drucker."
I’ve played too few rounds of golf, unfortunately!
I have to say none of the above compares to the entertainment I experienced from a little post-card size promotional piece I found while staying at a Thompson Hotel in LA. (See image below.) This one-sided card advertising the new The Smyth Hotel in Tribeca is ingenious. It represents the hotel’s 'creative brief’ in a collection of people and items – many of whom I didn’t know or recognize.
I paused as I read the copy -- Who is ‘Neal Cassady?’ I had no clue but felt compelled to find out. Via Wikipedia, I explored the life of Mr. Cassady – a man who started the ‘beat generation,’ who partied with Jack Kerouac, Ken Kesey, The Grateful Dead, Hunter S. Thompson and others, and who led an interesting life that did not end well. I was fascinated and found myself going back to the post-card for more. The name John Galt rang a bell, but I couldn’t place him. I couldn’t place Daisy Buchanan either. I found myself looking them up as well.
In fact, as I was doing so, I was mesmerized by the levels upon which this promotion worked. The whole list is an ingenious way to metaphorically describe a NYC hotel/condo because it made me think, engage, return, and even provoked me enough to drive by and check it out when I was in NYC. And, while there was no Triumph Bonneville motorcycle parked out front and no Holly Golightly in her little black dress in evidence either, the card engaged me enough to learn something; it called me to action and it forced me to smile. In fact, I’m still smiling about Domino Derval!
This promotion really got me and it got me thinking … Bravo to The Smyth Hotel and the clever marketers who teased me with some interesting people and objects from recent history.
We need more of this kind of marketing, by the way!
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