Recently in Viral Marketing Category
Advertising Age - MediaWorks - Cingular Invades YouTube With Underground Contest
- In what is perhaps YouTube's biggest sponsorship deal to date, Cingular Wireless has agreed to back a search for the site's most talented unsigned bands. The promotion strikes at the core of rival MySpace, which was founded on the premise of exposing unsigned artists to large audiences online.
MySpace Screening Borat in Six Countries - ComingSoon.net
Excerpts:
"MySpace announced today that it has joined forces with to launch MySpace's first international film screening event, Black Carpet."
"On September 20, MySpace members in six countries will have the opportunity to attend an exclusive screening of http://comingsoon.net/films.php?id=12649 (MySpace.com/Borat), the first international event of the Black Carpet screening series (MySpace.com/BlackCarpet). The screening event will be the first time MySpace's global community has simultaneous access to an exclusive event hosted by the website."
"International expansion is one of the most important initiatives for the company and the Black Carpet series illustrates our response to users demanding local and relevant events in their market," said Travis Katz, VP of international development for MySpace. "As we continue our community expansion, this type of programming defines the intimate access and local experiences we'll continue to bring to MySpace users worldwide."
"For access to the MySpace Black Carpet screening events, users must join the Black Carpet profile (MySpace.com/BlackCarpet) as well as the profile of their favorite film to receive bulletins with details on locations and showtimes."
Advertising Age - MediaWorks - 'Snakes on a Plane' Rakes in Lackluster $15.25 Million
Excerpt:
The figure, which included $1.4 million from late-night screenings Thursday, was good enough to capture the top spot in an otherwise lackluster frame.
"There was so much inflated hype," David Tuckerman, New Line's president of distribution, said yesterday. "We thought we'd do better."
New Line had stoked the "Snakes" fever for months, throwing open the door for fans to create their own artwork, videos, music and more, using what's usually closely guarded intellectual property. Fans took the bait, starting a groundswell of interest in the movie long before it launched.
The film's website has attracted more than 3 million unique visitors, while fan-created Snakes on a Blog has attracted half a million.
The box office receipts for "Snakes" might confirm what some industry marketers already suspected: There's no real way to equate internet chatter with consumers' intent to see a movie.
"It was very risky and very audacious for New Line to let the audience become part of the filmmaking process, and I commend them for that," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations Co. "But just because people are very aware of the movie doesn't necessarily mean they have a desire to see it. It shows that there's no direct correlation between all that online buzz and ticket sales."
Box office revenues are up about 7% so far this year, Exhibitor Relations figures show, and attendance has increased 3.7% from 2005.
