More Linkroll: Exploring the Depths of Film Marketing on the Web

In order to obtain more resources for my own analysis of film marketing, as well as provide my readers with further information to explore this subject, I have once again decided to add to my linkroll (located at the right) with websites and blogs that I have critiqued using the Webby Awards and IMSA criteria, respectively. Just as I started my last search with web-based versions of printed new sources, I found two additional sites that do just this. The first, Empire: Movie News, is a website based off of a popular magazine and offers the aesthetic polish that one would expect from such a publication. In addition, the site puts forth its information in a very straightforward and visually pleasing manner, although most of its articles are notably lacking in depth. The second source that has managed to make the conversion from print to screen is Guardian Unlimited: Film News. This resource can't boast the flashy appearance of the former site, but makes up for it by offering a substantial amount of substance in each of its articles. Another type of website I explored was one which serves as a resource for support rather than for articles. The first of these, Rotten Tomatoes, is an aggregator of film reviews from more than a hundred different critics. It has intuitive navigation and design and is visually pleasing but, more importantly, it is a valuable reference for determining the quality of a film being discussed. The second of these sites is called, Box Office Mojo, and gives listings from the latest box office numbers on released films. While it is poorly designed and difficult to navigate, the value of its content for supporting arguments over effective marketing makes it an important resource.

In my search for linkroll sources, I came across a number of blogs specifically dedicated to the topic of film marketing. Risky Biz Blog (pictured above) is a blog supported by The Hollywood Reporter trade magazine and, thus, gains authority by association. This is also true of the blog, Deadline Hollywood Daily, which is supported by LA Weekly and Thompson on Hollywood, which is powerd by Variety. All of these blogs, however, suffer from surprisingly low reader comments despite this authority and quality content. Movie Marketing Madness is a blog that looks simple but goes into a fair amount of depth into its topics, despite reading more like a news site than an opinionated blog. On the other hand, both Cinematical and Spout Blog offer highly opinionated, yet informative, posts on many of the same topics. Each of these is a valuable source, as all seem to have sufficient authority.

Film and Facebook: A Good Match?

Advertising, regardless of the product, is aimed at reaching the largest amount of people in the target demographic. Therefore, it is no surprise that the film industry, looking to market directly to college students and twenty-somethings, has begun shifting its campaigns to the fast-growing social networking site, Facebook (see below right). The site, which in January reported 101 million visitors, offers personal profiles to users and allows them to create social groups, participate in friends' groups, and join groups that are sponsored by third-party companies. It is through the latter that the film industry has been able to edge its way into the already hugely popular network in the hopes of boosting the box-office sales of films that might otherwise flop without college-aged fan word-of-mouth. While this tactic is not necessarily new, a recent campaign for the European release of Universal's crime thriller Untraceable (see left) has stirred up much interest in this type of advertising, specifically through a debate about what kind of content is acceptable on a social network such as Facebook. An extremely violent advertisement for the film was removed from the site after only five days, leading many to wonder what to criticize, the ad itself or Facebook for allowing it to be posted. What is lost in this debate, however, is that, unlike with television, it is the people inhabiting the network that choose whether to participate in the campaign or not. Edgier advertising seems to come with more selective customers, and this campaign is merely abiding by this pattern.

The campaign for Untraceable revolved around a Facebook fan group for the film which mirrored the premise of the film itself--the plot of which details the hunt for a serial killer who broadcasts his torturous killings over an untraceable internet site. Once the group, titled, "Kill With Me," was created, members of the networking site could then join as fans. The main attraction of the group was the beginning of a video from a torture sequence in the movie and more of this sequence was revealed as more fans joined the group. It was this video footage that raised eyebrows throughout the public and eventually led Facebook to shut down the group before the full video was revealed, citing it for breaking the network's ban on "pages that are hateful, threatening, or obscene." Film reviewer Eric D. Snider feels that by making a film that portrays internet "torture porn" as appalling and horrific and then producing an advertisement that "capitalizes on the same bloodlust," Universal and those involved in making and marketing the film have shown themselves as hypocrites. While this is a valid point, considering how closely the advertisement mirrors the premise of the film, it fails to address Facebook's response, as the violence of the video alone should not have warranted the group's removal. The film itself is undoubtedly violent and, in this case, those marketing it chose to use violence to attract its desired demographic. Since fans wittingly chose to join the group and were not subjected to the material through a television ad or a magazine picture, little distinction can be made between seeing the film and seeing this ad for the film in terms of the accountability of the viewer.

In marketing the film, Universal contracted marketing firm Picture Production Co. (PPC), the company responsible for the advertising of last year's surprise hit 300, among many other projects, to execute this Facebook-based campaign. In an interesting move, after the ad was pulled from the site, neither Universal nor the firm apologized for its graphic nature or acknowledged any wrongdoing. Instead, PPC head of interactive, Dan Light, stated publicly, "I am surprised and disappointed that Facebook has taken this action," while going on to say that the firm was trying to push the boundaries of what was acceptable in the online community. Universal Pictures International Director of International Advertising Media, Neil Wirasinha, weighed in by saying, "We're disappointed to lose the many fans the page was starting to attract." This response does not suggest misguided defiance as much as an understanding of who was responsible for the viewing of the advertisements. The marketing heads realized, it seems, that since fans had to, in a sense, ask to see the video advertisement, it would not elicit the same backlash that a comparable television ad might have. Since Facebook's terms of service prohibit users under thirteen years of age, the audience that could access the video was much more limited as well. This shift of accountability from the advertiser to the viewer made posting the advertisement, at least in their opinion, a risk worth taking.

The question that must be asked regarding this use of advertising for Untraceable is, did it work? While box office numbers for the European releases are not currently available, the ad and its removal from Facebook have certainly generated the buzz that the film's producers were seeking. Said Light, "It is no longer enough to get on your soapbox and tell potential audiences that your movie is great. The key is to get people interested and talking about your movie." Although, through the ad's content and well-publicized ousting, they have succeeded, one might wonder whether there is a more innocuous way to accomplish this same goal. Indeed, a film released well over a year ago, titled Accepted, was faced with the challenge of having to market exclusively to the college student demographic. The film's innovative Facebook group created a yearbook photo out of each fan's profile picture and allowed them to declare their own made-up major, which could range anywhere from rocket science to beer-drinking. This approach arguably helped the film pull in good early box office numbers despite lackluster reviews. The group did not, however, generate the same type of media buzz that the recent Untraceable ad has--a fact that might direct future film marketers down the same controversial road.

In all likelihood, PPC's Facebook campaign was aborted because the film's premise, and by association, the advertisement's premise, hit too close to home with the social networking site. Since the site itself allows users to communicate in relative anonymity, an advertisement displaying the use of such anonymity in this manner must have been deemed inappropriate in this case. Yet, while the site prohibits material that is "hateful, threatening, or obscene," no mention is made of violence and Facebook's actions in this case do little to set a precedent in regards to whether violent material should be allowed on the social network or not. Since the site currently lacks a reputation for censorship, it would seemingly benefit the most by allowing film marketers to approach the online community in the same way that PPC demonstrated, albeit with material that does not so closely resemble reality. To be sure, with this type of marketing, the advertisements will become more controversial and unconventional, but unlike in other media, this group of consumers will be able to choose which ones to watch.

My Linkroll: Film Marketing Resources at a Glance

In an attempt to expand my research in this blog's area of emphasis, I decided to scour the internet for exceptional resources. To help me determine which of these would be the most helpful to me, I used the sets of criteria established by the Webby Awards and the IMSA, respectively. Using these as a guide, I was able to discover ten resources that offer unique and valuable perspectives in film, marketing, or a combination of the two. Links to all of these resources can be found in the Linkroll located to the right. I started my search for sources on the internet in the same way I might have conducted a similar search elsewhere: the newspapers. I found that The New York Times website has a section specifically for media and advertising and, while the resource seems to list valuable articles and obviously maintains a high amount of authority, it is lacking overall in interactivity, seeming to read and navigate more like a newspaper than a dynamic website. This problem has been addressed by another newspaper-turned-website that I explored, The Wall Street Journal: Media and Marketing Edition, as it boasts a significant amount of interactivity and can be easily navigated. The site's accessibility is severely limited, however, as a number of the articles require a subscription to be read at length. The third website version of a printed publication that I visited was the Hollywood Reporter: Marketing site and it seemed to succeed as a resource on all fronts. Originally a trade magazine for the film industry, the site surprising shows a great balance between accessibility and interactivity and demonstrates plenty of good content and high authority.

Another type of resource I explored was the "insider" website, which shares Hollywood insider information with the general public. Arguably, the most popular of these is called Ain't it Cool News, which offers easy navigation and an awesome combination of functionality and content. All of this comes at the price of visual design, as the sight looks only slightly better than simple text on a screen. This particular element is not a problem for JoBlo.com (see left), a similar site which posts the same type of articles yet displays a sharp visual component that manages to elevate the site's overall experience. Movie Marketing Update is another website that looks good and contains very good content, but its system of organization makes it a difficult site to navigate. Rounding up this type of "insider" website is Total Film, which trails behind the other resources in content and accessibility despite having a moderately pleasing visual design. In my search for valuable places from which to glean information, I came across a handful of blogs that stood out from the rest in terms of the IMSA criteria. SlashFilm: Movie Marketing is a blog devoted to exactly what the title would suggest: movie marketing. While the writing in the blog is neither sophisticated nor particularly opinionated and reads much like a "insider" website, it does serve as a hub for commenters, displaying its strong influence within the advertising an film communities. Although it cannot claim the number of commenters as SlashFilm, Adverblog, an advertising-themed blog, is nevertheless a valuable resource based on its timely postings and its huge archive of posts. Based on content and sophistication of the writing, however, a blog called Biz of ShowBiz has the clear advantage. Yet, despite also possessing an impressive archive, Biz of ShowBiz also lacks in comments, which casts doubt on its influence within the communities it serves.