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“Holy dancing queen, Batman!”

Chances are, if you are over the age of 13, you went to see a movie this weekend. It’s not just that The Dark Knight broke the majority of box office earning records; Hollywood made history by having its most successful weekend of all time bringing in $253 million for the top twelve movies.

Not only can Hollywood appeal to younger (and probably masculine) audiences, the second place movie, Mamma Mia, successfully targeted everyone who didn’t care to see Dark Knight.

Sure Mia’s weekend earnings of $27.6 million is no where near Dark Knight’s $155.34 million, but that still makes it the #247 movie in opening weekend history. Not bad, considering the way the two films were marketed entirely differently.

The marketing of both films not only gives us clues to their success but how to advertise to dissimilar demographics.

The Dark Knight’s aggressive viral marketing campaign began over a year ago with the website IbelieveinHarveyDent.com. The fictional website was set up for Gotham City’s district attorney. The website, along with nine others that came along, let fans participate in the hype by working for clues by calling phone numbers, emailing, and completing puzzles, apparently given to them by the Joker.

The first website, IbelieveinHarveyDent.com, eventually was “vandalized” by the Joker, complete with blood stains, faces drawn all over pictures of Harvey Dent, and “Ha ha” being scribbled all over the homepage.

Scavenger hunts were also set up all over the United States for fans to uncover clues to reveal a new photograph and audio clip of the Joker on the third website, RorysDeathKiss.com. One of the clues was a phone number written in the sky during last year’s San Diego Comic Con.

In the months leading up to its release, Dark Knight advertising got even more frantic. The Gotham News, a four-page newspaper set in Gotham City, was produced and mailed to various websites and magazines two months before the movie began.

Then, one week before the film release, the producers of the film pulled out all the stops. On Wednesday, July 10^th the “Citizens for Batman” group (a fake citizen action group that supports Batman) shined a huge bat signal on the Woolworth Building in New York City and the Sears Tower in Chicago.

Of course, another movie was promoting its way all the way to the box office: 3 million packages of Athenos Hummus, Pita Chips, Neo Classic Hummus and Feta Cheese varieties featured codes for free music downloads from the Mamma Mia movie soundtrack.

Well, clearly the two movies aren’t on the same level, but if we can take a guess and say that Mamma Mia appealed to older audiences, then it isn’t strange to assume that they don’t know how to use a computer.

Or, was the marketing itself tied to the films’ content?

You see, yours truly is uniquely suited to judge both of these films. On Friday night, after months of eager anticipation (like probably a lot of other 25 year old men), I went to see The Dark Knight. Then, unlike most men my age, I was dragged to Mamma Mia with my mother the next night.

Laugh it up. Ok, now to my point.

The Dark Knight was one of the most complex movies I have ever seen. It had so many plots and subplots going on that even after a lifetime of reading comics, I didn’t even know what was going to happen. Without giving too much away, I just have to say the film probably ends unexpectedly for most people. Walking out of the theatre, I was speechless. I wasn’t even sure what I thought about the film until a few days after I had processed everything.

Then, I went to see Mamma Mia. The basic plot is this: a girl, Sophie, grows up not knowing who her father is. So, she invites the three men who MIGHT be her father to her wedding to find out who it is. It never gets any more complicated than that.

So, the lesson I contrive from this is that if you have a complex movie, or product, market it with complex and challenging promotions; your audience will reward you for it. But, if you are marketing something Mamma Mia-level simple, throw your logo on a box of feta cheese and call it a day.

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Here are some of the pages from this year’s political sticker book, which we call Polisticks. Click on the image to see a larger version. Hope you enjoy.

All images captured and uploaded with plasq’s Skitch!

What’s YOUR favorite sticker? We want to know. Any ideas you’d like to see in the book? Share them with us in the comments field. Hope you enjoyed this year’s book.

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If it weren’t sad, it might be funny. A brand in decline. Sales slipping.

“It must be the advertising. Fire the agency. Get a new tagline. Get a new ad.”

Yeah, how’s the working out for you, Miller Genuine Draft?

Four agencies and eight taglines since 1991, yet sales continue to decline. The problem isn’t the “creative.” It’s that you don’t know what you are, what niche you serve and how to pick one position and stick with it until it resonates.

Below, courtesy of Ad Age, are the themelines for MGD for each year, followed first by the name of the agency that did the work, and then by the percentage market share MGD held that year. Strap in:

• 2001: “Never miss a genuine opportunity“–JWT–2.6%
• 2002: “Pure MGD“–JWT–2.2%
• 2003: “Keep what’s good“–Ogilvy–2.2%
• 2004: “Good call“–Ogilvy–2.0%
• 2005: Various themelines–Martin some, Ogilvy some)–1.8%
• 2006: “Beer. Grown up.“–Martin–1.6%
• 2007: “Experience is golden“–Y&R–1.5%

So shipments of MGD are down 41%. Guess what they’re doing to fix it in 2008? Testing two new themelines!

Yeah, that’ll work. Usually I would blame the product, but MGD isn’t that bad. In this case I think it’s the lack of any sort of brand identity. Calling it MGD was a horrible idea in the first place. And then failing to carve out a brand niche and stick with it is the kiss of death.

Good luck with your new themeline guys. I’ll look for the big turnaround…

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Remember Kobe Bryant, the alleged rapist? Did you follow the very public charges, counter-charges, the trial in Colorado? That’s over.

Remember Kobe Bryant, the whiner? Fighting with Shaq. Fighting with Coach Phil Jackson. Bygones.

You don’t hear about that Kobe these days. He seems to have put those issues behind him. His new signature show from Nike, the Zoom Kobe III is selling well. In fact, he sold it out, on his website, within hours.

And that, right there, is part of the key to Kobe’s rebirth. His new website, in which he appears in a series of videos designed to give you the appearance of a likable Kobe appearing in costumes, being involved in the director’s chair and more. His new website, where he controls the message, where he controls the product distribution.

It’s the first time an athlete’s personal website has been used as a retailer of Nike products.

This is big. It’s bigger than Kobe’s image. It’s a sign of how easy it is to bypass traditional everything in your marketing. It feels like he’s giving you a sneak peek behind the curtain, even though it’s oh so carefully managed.

Is it working for Kobe? It’s hard not to like him when you watch him dunking in all those costumes.

But beyond that, the ramifications for all of us in terms of marketing best practices are significant…

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An article today in Advertising Age http://adage.com/article?article_id=125794 reports that “the owner of Georgi vodka says that he is in talks to put the derriere of former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer’s call girl on the backside of every bus in New York.”  The company that owns the US rights to the Georgi vodka brand reports that it is close to making a deal with Ashley Dupre.  They want to feature her as this year’s Georgi “butt girl” pinup that the brand places on city buses and taxis.

Wow.  On one hand, I admire the marketing balls.  Taking a controversial and timely issue and mating it with one’s brand.  On the other hand, I cannot shake the image of Spitzer’s obviously anguished wife and I cannot help but empathize with the pain his family must be enduring.

I can only conclude:  I am SO not the target audience for the Georgi vodka brand.  What do you think?  Who is the audience?  What are they supposed to think if this campaign ever sees the light of day?  Is this a legitimate liaison of marketing and current events or is it something sordid?  Where do you stand on this issue?

Photo Credit: Ashley Alexandra Dupre/Entertainment Pictures

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I love great marketing, particularly when it’s someone who does something both new and elegant and creates an attention grabbing campaign. The marketing idea behind this is brilliant. Amnesty International must have considered (rightly, I suspect) that people would care more about things happening around the world if they could imagine them happening where they live.

The marketers then had a brilliant production idea. Make the billboards transparent, other than the central image. By doing that simple thing, it would look like the activity was happening right on the street in that neighborhood. Genius. Take a look at this campaign, called “It’s not happening here, but it is happening.”

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The New York Times is reporting today that Alka-Seltzer is bringing back good ole Speedy, which our older blog readers might remember from ads from 1951 to 1980.

Not a bad idea, I think. Can anyone recall an Alka-Seltzer ad since “Plop, plop, fizz fizz, oh what a relief it is,” came out of our 19″ console TVs with wood paneling and knobs? Not me. Even Pepto-Bismol ads, as rough as those are, are at least memorable.

The NY Times has posted two cute videos of a couple Speedy spots. (Link 1. Link 2.) Alas, the NY Times is greedy and doesn’t let me embed them into this post. But listen to Speedy in these spots. How can you not like that little guy?

So is this a trend, should everyone return to their ads from the days of yore? That depends. Have times changed too much for your product to go backwards? This ad suggests that it certainly has for some folks. Now, it’s more like, “Blow in her face and she’ll kick your butt…”

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Because you get the same level of passion, without all the crazy…

And yes, of course, I’m joking. This is just a funny spoof called “A few good creative men” featuring Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise. Should be humorous to those in the advertising business… Hope you enjoyed.

It’s almost as fun as the ad agency spoof on It’s a Wonderful Life we had at the holidays.

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Remember the book we all read in high school that showed ice cubes spelling out subliminal messages in advertising? The theory was that subliminal advertising was so powerful, we were all being influenced subconsciously. Well, having worked at Brogan & Partners for quite some time, I can tell you that that sort of subliminal advertising simply doesn’t happen.

At the same time, most clients are so hung up on measurable ROI, focus group tests and other tools of science that they can often forget the psychology of advertising. The brand building that is done subliminally. The subtle messages that make you feel familiar with a brand you’ve never purchased before.

You need to watch this video. It’s a pretty incredible summary of the subtle power of advertising. It’s about 5 minutes long, but very worth it. Enjoy.

Credit to the Buzz, Balls & Hype blog for finding this one…

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Newspaper Next 2.0 is a research project sponsored by the American Press Institute.  They have released a broad vision for the revitalization and re-purposing of newspapers.  Read the report at www.newspapernext.org.  This report urges newspapers to go beyond the original premise that newspapers needed to add products for niche markets.   This report  encourages newspapers to aim higher and to actually rethink their view of themselves as “newspaper companies”.   The report advises newspapers to consider themselves a “local information and connection utility”.  This bold vision goes beyond adding products for niche markets, and challenges newspapers to broaden their offerings rather than narrowing them.    They ask newspapers to go beyond just providing news and information, to go to becoming the first choice for customers and non-customers to learn whatever it takes to live here.  To do that, newspapers must access a broad base of communication tools, such as social networking, databases, “knowledge repositories”, localized wikipedias and more.   The goal is for newspapers to become the premise that the newspaper is the source “to help me connect with anyone who lives here, in the most effective way possible.”  As newspapers step up to the challenge,  we will be able to gauge their success.  In two words: advertising revenue. 

What do you think?  Will newspapers revision themselves?  Personally, I think it is a bold challenge and will be boldly met.  Newspapers are filled with smart people, people with energy and devoted to the premise of communicating and connecting with their readers.   This vision is smart and I, for one, think newspapers are up to the challenge.

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It started with shows like Survivor, Big Brother and the Amazing Race.  Not just the reality TV business, but the lines between the TV season and the land of re-runs are getting, well, a bit dirty.

But now the recently settled writer’s strike may help further blur the line.  The NY Times is reporting that the giant ad agency holding companies are looking for a year-round television season.  The rationale is that September is full of hyped shows that usually don’t make it to Christmas.

The other system that the agencies would like to change (and the networks almost certainly would not) is called the “upfront“– a May period in which the advertisers pre-sell their new shows.  According to the article, the media buyers still want to buy ahead of time, but they don’t want to have to make all their bets during the same month.

A lot is changing in advertising and in television broadcasting.  In an era when college football is now on virtually every night of the week, all those weeks when there is “nothing on” represent lost opportunities.  You can safely bet that those opportunities won’t stay lost for long.

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We all know the Super Bowl is just as much about commercials as it is the game. And last night’s parade of marketing efforts had some hits (Tide “Talking Spot”) and some misses (SalesGenie….AGAIN!). But rarely does the big game serve up a treat like we got — a great game, and a spot that will be remember for years with the Coke “Parade Balloons!”

If you somehow missed it (what were you doing, laundry?), and if you haven’t seen it yet, then you must watch it right now!

There are so many amazing things about this spot I don’t know where to start, but here are just a few: 1) the great association with an iconic/emotional American event, 2) great music, 3) NO VOICE OVER!, 4) incredible “shots” — note the inside view of the balloons hitting the building 40 seconds in, 5) what the little girl is holding as she looks up at the sky, and 6) the lovable loser who finally get the prize.

Yes, the Giants won the game, but in my mind Coke and their agency Weiden + Kennedy scored the biggest victory. This one goes in the trophy case right along side the Mean Joe Greene spot and “Hilltop” (I’d like to teach the world to sing…).

Anyone and everyone who works in marketing should be inspired by this spot. I know I am!

What do you think? What was your favorite spot?

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