Gawker: defamer, annals of movie marketing

'Beowulf' Trailer: This! Is! Remarkably Similar To '300'!

Seth — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 21:00:47 EST

Perhaps you've taken notice of the Beowulf marketing siege currently coating area mini-storages and billboards, its cast of synthetic stars only slightly less off-putting than the dead-eyed, Christmas-train-riding childrenoids that populated Robert Zemeckis's last effort. The FXRant blog notes a number of striking similarities between its campaign and that of another CGI-heavy fantasy epic that's already proven its box office might:

[I]t's clear that they've been studying the ad campaign for "300" very carefully. Among many stylistic and clear similarities between each films' trailers, here are a few highlights:
· Both trailers have the lead, bearded, warrior hero, in closeup, loudly proclaiming that "THIS! IS! SPARTA!", or, "I! AM! BEOWULF!"

· Each trailer has an anachronistic guitar-riff-filled montage of violence, wrapped up with our warrior hero proclaiming something about "TONIGHT..." · And, most obviously, each trailer's graphics are rough, bold, blood red, and set against time-lapse clouds with lightning bursts.

Film marketers, of course, have never been above engaging in the sincerest form of flattery if it means drawing a few more fanboys and Spartan-lusting gays into the megaplex. And be prepared for yet more plagiarism in an upcoming spot aimed squarely at the female demo, craftily edited to K.T. Tunstall's "Suddenly I See" to make it seem as if the movie is about a gold-dipped Angelina Jolie having taken a job as the assistant to the haughty editor of a major fashion magazine.

Movie Marketing is Hard! "Beowulf" and "300" [FXRant]

Beowulf Marketing Team Deems Product Perfectly Suited for Public Storage Facility

ryanm — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:36:07 EST

Should we be surprised that the largest visual Beowulf marketing placement in Tinseltown is a customized gift-wrap of the Public Storage facility squatting at the corner of Santa Monica and Highland? Nay! The well-researched placement is simply Paramount's attempt to sequester a share of the eyeballs normally reserved for Apple's longstanding "We are fucking huge, and we are here to stay" tribute to dancing and antisocial behavior directly across the street.

It is unclear at press time whether the buyers were extended the facility's standard "$1/first month" contract afforded typical lessees. Pointless closeup follows; unfortunately in this case, the zoom further prevents a sidelong glimpse of a massive, Public Storage-prepared, naked, golden, compellingly lifelike Angelina Jolie.

The LA Times Is Doing Exciting Things In The Cake-Scented Movie Promotion Space

Mark — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 16:39:01 EDT

With the family-friendly nature of Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium probably precluding the possibility of a cutting-edge web campaign featuring clips of Dustin Hoffman trying to blow away the child patrons of his magical toy store with a gun made of enchanted Tinker Toys, the marketers at Fox Walden have decided to instead gently push the envelope of the print medium, bringing the first! ever! ad that uses scented ink to simulate the smell of cake for understimulated LAT readers. Adorable!

But now that we've mentioned Shoot 'Em Up's baby-blasting promotional innovations, we're already curious as to what New Line's marketers could do with this exciting new technology; maybe they're already planning an ad for their opening weekend that overwhelms a potential ticket-buyers with the stench of gunpowder and freshly spilled blood when they unfold the pages of the Calendar section.

The LAT press release trumpeting their groundbreaking, caketastic collaboration with Fox Walden follows:

The Los Angeles Times To Feature First-Ever Ad With Scented Ink For Fox Walden's "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" Distinctive and Original Frosted Cake-Scented Ad to Appear in The Times' Fall Movie "Sneak"s September 9th
LOS ANGELES, September 4, 2007 - The Los Angeles Times and Fox Walden today announced that the paper will feature the first ever ad using scented ink to uniquely tout the 20th Century Fox release of a Walden Media and Mandate Film, "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" opening nationwide on November 16th. Starring Academy Award® winner Dustin Hoffman and Academy Award® nominee Natalie Portman, "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" is the story of the strangest, most fantastic, most wonderful toy store in the world and the equally fantastic and wonderfully innovative ad will debut in the paper's annual Fall Movie Sneaks section on September 9th. The Times becomes the first major newspaper in the country to successfully present and implement the pioneering application which adds a rich, new dimension to the medium.

Fox Walden seized the opportunity to create new levels of involvement and connection with Southern California's readers and moviegoers and chose the universally beloved frosted cake scent to remind consumers of all ages to be young and have fun.

"The scented ink ad is yet the latest tool The Times is offering its advertisers as they continue to search for new ways to reach, excite and inform L.A.'s market of buzz," said Dave Murphy, executive vice president and general manager of the Los Angeles Times Media Group. "Fox Walden has been a terrific partner as we roll-out this bold concept and underscores our industry leading ability to create unique marketing solutions."

Times readers will be able to scratch designated areas of the "Mr. Magorium" ad, which will emit the frosted cake scent made from soy-based ink. Written and directed by Zach Helm, "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" (www.magorium.com ) centers around a magical toy store that only asks one thing of its customers; you must believe it to see it.

"'Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium' is about a magical toy store that comes to life," said Jeffrey Godsick, president of marketing at Fox Walden. "So when the Los Angeles Times came to us with the idea to create a magical scratch and sniff ad we felt it was the perfect fit since it brings the ad to life."

Previously: New Line Would Like To Help You Bullet Proof Your Baby [Defamer]

There is perhaps no more efficient way to...

Mark — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 14:31:13 EDT

There is perhaps no more efficient way to warn potential ticket-buyers that they will be disappointed by the humor content of your movie than by rendering its title in a red font on a one-sheet. [JTylerHelms.com]

Balls Are So Huge Right Now

Mark — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 12:52:23 EDT

As pointed out to us by a reader, the movie posters for this weekend's release Balls of Fury and mid-September's Mr. Woodcock demonstrate that there's no hotter trend in one-sheet design than testicular imagery that subtly reinforces the "ballsiness" of either a movie's concept or its characters. In the case of Mr. Woodcock, however, we assume that this was the studio's fallback version; while the MPAA let the Balls marketers go forward with their nonthreatening wooden phallus, they probably were never going to allow the public to see Billy Bob Thorton dangling a more conceptually appropriate, 34-inch Louisville Slugger between his legs.

[Images: Rogue Pictures/New Line]

Previously: Annals Of Subliminal Advertising: The 'License To Wed' Poster [Defamer]

Alan Arkin And The Amazing Technicolor Dream Ad

Mark — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 18:08:37 EDT

A reader angry over the unexpected eye-diddling he received from the seemingly crazed Alan Arkin, his gang of tiny pals, and a scrapie-afflicted sheep emerging from page 7 of today's Variety wrote in a little while ago to request that we share with the world "the ugliest, most confusing, bizarre movie ad I've ever seen. It looks like it was designed by a Bollywood crack-addict."

We might argue that it seems more like the work of a criminally insane graphic designing hopeful who procrastinated too long before getting started on the final project for his prison's occupational Photoshop-therapy class, but, really, that would be splitting hairs. Whatever your initial reaction, in the end we think that Lois Wadsworth of the Eugene Weekly's assessment of the film itself holds for its visually arresting ad, "Make time to see it...this one leaves you smiling."

Raising Flagg [raisingflagg.com]
Raising Flagg [IMDb]