Too logical to ever happen: combine social marketing with the movie-making process

We're used to the fact that every movie ad and trailer looks exactly the same. That's why we don't even notice that the entire process of movie marketing is pretty much back-asswards.

Or maybe filmmakers, even of the rich big-budget variety, are too sincere to even realize what they've got on their hands. They are too busy shaping their art to give thought, while the movie is being made, to the fact that the movie eventually has to be sold.

Imagine you're producing a potential blockbuster movie. You've got a few big-name actors attached. These people aren't just the biggest thing in movies; they're also the hottest commodity in advertising. They are worth millions just for a 30-second clip of them chugging a soft drink. They each have a million Twitter followers and a legion of fawning gossip junkies who will hang on their every word. They are on set for hundreds of hours, filming their scenes. Then... they go home.

Months later, a marketing department is looking at film footage, thinking, "How do we make a commercial out of this crap?" Meanwhile, the world's greatest attention-grabbers are long gone.

Just to pick a random celebrity endorsement, the first recent one that comes to my head is Salma Hayek for Burger King. Not a particularly great or horrible ad. But if fast food were marketed like movies, their commercials would be directionless. You'd simply film a celebrity eating a salad, then come back to the footage months later and say, "Huh. What do we do with this?"

With a little forethought, movie advertising might have more options than a montage of film clips accompanied by "Solsbury Hill" (even though that's an EXCELLENT freaking song).

In this video from the 2012 Florida Film festival, New Think's Janet Lyons and Mike Campbell detail some advertising strategies from the movie Insidious. Without big-time stars or a big-time budget, the movie received an enormous return from the use of B-roll, interviews, online storytelling, interaction with fans, and footage that was never intended to be part of the movie. The additional content was created as marketing content. Skip to around 38:28 for the most on-point section.

Your favorite movies are probably not something you enjoyed in isolation. You watched them with friends, discussed them, referred back to them. You may have dressed up as a character for Halloween. Maybe certain movies remind you of a poignant moment in your life.

As someone who likes to play poker, Rounders is one of my favorite movies. I enjoy watching it. But just as importantly, it's a great conversation-starter among poker players. It drives social interaction.

What makes Star Wars such an enduring film franchise? It's more than just a few hours of fossilized film from the '70s and '80s, followed more recently by universally-loathed CGI-fests. The series is kept alive by fans who still, to this day, debate the movies and create fan fiction.

Why simply make a movie and then hope for the social phenomenon to happen after its release? Why not create additional material simultaneously with filming, or at least before release? Give movie fans something to talk about. Give them a chance to interact with filmmakers or stars. Let them tell their own stories; after all, they want to be famous too.

Because the best hit movies are really social experiences, movies are the perfect material for social marketing!

But then, you could just make a montage trailer and hope for the best. Your choice.

Sweet new street sign to revolutionize social media?

At the risk of turning this into a sports blog, I have to point out a new favorite among "dumbest attempts to be social media-savvy."

This is the Cleveland Indians' "Social Suite." (Why not "social media suite?" Alliteration? Subtle guilt about the fact that the box adds almost nothing to the Indians' actual social media presence?)

I mean, check out this picture. Somebody in those seats is seriously gonna tweet something killer real soon. How about that lady with the red jacket giving the dirty look to the guys across from her? She's just warming up her fingers under her armpits. Once they unfreeze, she's gonna pull out her iPad and microblog. And it will be totally be Indians-related. Well, OK, how about the guy in front with the drink? Personally, my bet is on the guy creepily hanging out in the doorway. He's going to light up the internet real soon. Either that, or abduct somebody.

As far as I can tell, these are just regular fans sitting behind a sign. They didn't even take time to design a logo for "Social Suite." It's just regular block print under the usual Indians logo.

As far as I can tell, the main feature of the Social Suite is its wi-fi. But they can't call it the "Free Wi-fi Suite." So 2006. Calling it the "Social Media" hot spot is... well, pretty 2010. But that's still a lot closer to the present.

Two serious questions: (1) Why not provide free wi-fi to the whole damn stadium? Plenty of buildings have wi-fi throughout. I imagine it's financially feasible. (2) If your fans are tweeting from their phones, isn't wi-fi unnecessary?

Social media is a means to an end. It's something you use to communicate. What's being communicated here? If you fill out our online application, we might give you free wi-fi for one game? I think I'll pass.