The world can be divided into roughly two groups, those who love GEICO commercials and those who reach for the remote. Cavemen, lizards, Rod Sterling-sound-alikes…either your with ‘em or against ‘em. I was happy where I was in this all-important debate. Then they brought out the pig. I don’t know if it’s that cute look on his face, the look on Mrs. A’s face or the specific frequency of his gleeful shouts, but when that little piggy goes wee wee wee all the way home, I crank up the volume.
What I won’t do—and this is what matters—is switch my insurance. As adorable as he is (and he is) and as much as he make me laugh every time I see his little face with those pinwheels (and he does), he’s not a compelling argument for transferring my accounts to GEICO.
I know, the pig is just there to help remind me that I could save 15% or more on my car insurance, but every insurer makes claims about saving me money and I bet that they could all shave 15% or more off my payments, transferring that 15% and more to my deductible in the process. You have to give me more than a squealing pig to get me to act, at least when it comes to auto insurance.
A little over a year ago, I posted my first blog entry here—about an atypical comic book hero named Scott Pilgrim who was in the process of getting a movie. Now, today, that movie hits theaters. I feel like this is all coming full circle.
Scott Pilgrim attempting conversation with the girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers.
During my annual pilgrimage to the West Coast, I was fortunate (let’s not kid ourselves—I was beside-myself-excited) to see a special advance screening of the movie. San Diego’s Balboa Theater was packed, every level, every seat filled with someone who was already invested in this movie, one way or another. Seeing a movie you’ve been excited about for over a year, with a theater-full of other people who have also been that excited for the same movie? It’s unlike any other movie-going experience I’ve ever had. Especially when the director and cast are on hand to introduce and close out the experience. A surprise performance from Metric doesn’t hurt either.
Anyway, this is an advertising blog, right? I’ll bring this around, trust me. If there’s a marketing textbook out there looking for examples of fun, non-traditional approaches to marketing a movie—please pay attention to the following…
Scott Pilgrim dominated Comic Con. Dominated. I mean look at it… Scott is literally towering over the convention center.
Scott Pilgrim VS Comic Con (Via SpacePirateQueen @ Flickr.)
The Scott Pilgrim panel closed out the first full day of Comic Con, with the infamous Hall H filling with fans. Edgar Wright moderated his own panel, introducing his cast, fielding questions from the audience and showing new clips from the movie. Nearing the end of the panel, he asked the audience to look at the buttons they were handed at the start of the talk. If they had buttons with a 1UP on them—they were to follow him to the screening. And I mean it—follow him. Edgar jumped off the stage at that point and like the Pied Piper, led the lucky 1UP-ers 6 blocks up San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter to the Balboa. Those who couldn’t get into that first screening would be given two more chances over the following two days. I kid you not, as I passed the Balboa on my way to Day Two, there were already people in line at the theater. This was at 7:30 in the morning, the screening wouldn’t be until 6 that evening.
Across from the convention center, there was Pilgrim pandemonium in the courtyard of the Gaslamp Hilton where the Scott Pilgrim Experience was being staged.
The Scott Pilgrim Experience the day before Comic Con opens (via Rkbentley @ Flickr.)
This was your one-stop for all things SP. Like anything at Comic Con, there was a line to get in (for the Fire Marshal’s sake). The first stop in the Experience?
Pick your shirt, pick your design...
Custom Scott Pilgrim t-shirts. You pick your shirt size, color and the design you want screen printed on it while you wait. This was one of the coolest promotional ideas ever. And have I mentioned that everything in the experience was free? Yeah, all free.
My Ramona doodle shirt getting the once-over with a swipe of electric blue ink.
After that, you could star in your own flipbook. Act out a little scene for a few seconds in front of a camera, the video was turned into pages and this awesome little machine printed and trimmed your own flipbook with a Scott Pilgrim cover.
Another flipbook is brought into the world.
Ka-pow!
There were faux-sets from the movie to pose in front of, a kiosk to send a greeting to your friends on Facebook, a wall to sign or doodle on, live music and places to try out the new Scott Pilgrim video game (which is a must-have for any old-school gamer. River City Ransom, anyone?).
And then there were the chances to meet the cast. Not only were there signings…
Edgar Wright, Michael Cera and a mustachioed Jason Schwartzman.
…but cast members were also out in the Experience mingling with fans, helping to make t-shirts or guest starring in filpbooks.
Brandon Routh takes a break from screenprinting to take a pic with a Superman fan.
There was also a STUFF booth outside of the experience that gave away swag bags to passers by and was also the home-base for a special iPhone/Droid app promotion. For those who had downloaded and explored the recently released Scott Pilgrim Punch Out game for their mobile devices, they might have uncovered a special Comic Con section—instructing them to show a secret image to the folks at the STUFF booth for a special prize. Those who followed the instructions were rewarded with a full set of pins, featuring all the different characters in the story.
If there’s a better way of igniting excitement for a movie, I don’t want to know about it. Wait, maybe I do.
What about the folks not at Comic Con? Well, the SP crew has been on the road, hosting screenings in other cities, getting the word out via Twitter and Facebook. In Atlanta, stars Michael Cera and Jason Schwartzman did the weather (note Cera’s SP Experience shirt)
And then there’s the interactive trailer. It’s like if a video game and VH1’s Pop Up Video had a baby made of pixels and awesome— a trailer with it’s own DVD features built into it.
And the regular trailers are everywhere.
I want this movie to do well, I feel invested in it despite having nothing to do with it—which may be some side effect of all the stuff above this paragraph . It’s fast, fun, hilarious and above all, a love story. Like it has from the start, it pays tribute to all the things I love: music, video games and comic books. It breaks the comic book movie mold, from the story to the style in which it was shot. It’s a movie shot in Toronto where the city’s playing itself and not standing in for New York or some other metropolis (my music nerdiness went into overdrive seeing Clash at Demonhead play at Lee’s Palace). The soundtrack is killer with songs from Beck, Metric, Frank Black and Broken Social Scene to name a few. The creativity behind this movie, from the source material to the film is the only thing that dwarfs the innovative approach of the marketing that has gone out into the world to support it.
Go see Scott Pilgrim.
Other awesome Scott Pilgrim things in our universe not mentioned in this post (until now):
When walking through Wegmans recently I noticed more and more companies are joining the cause-related bandwagon. If there are two comparable products sitting on the shelf next to each other and one product supports a non-profit, without doubt I will select the product that backs a charity, no matter what the charity is. In my mind the company’s brand and reputation has just been elevated. Clearly the marketing team behind the campaign won me over, just like millions of other consumers.
If executed right, cause-related marketing can be a win-win situation with both the charity benefitting from donations and exposure and the corporation benefitting from increased brand loyalty and even a boost in employee morale.
In 1985, American Express was among the first noted companies to launch a cause-related marketing campaign to raise money for restoring the Statue of Liberty. American Express donated one cent to the restoration each time a card holder used their AMEX. As a result, the number of new cardholders grew by 45 percent, and card usage increased by 28 percent – pretty impressive for a campaign launched in the early 80’s before the use of the Internet and social media. If the campaign was rolled out today, just imagine how much more could be raised!
A more recent cause-related marketing campaign that has had great success is Tide Loads of Hope. Consumers who purchase a “yellow cap” laundry detergent bottle and enter the cap code online will help Tide donate $1 per bottle to disaster relief. A great marketing campaign, the packaging shows faces of real people Tide has helped, including those affected by Hurricane Katrina.
Other successful cause-related campaigns (yes, these companies have also influenced my purchasing decisions) include Yoplait and its long-running Save Lids to Save Lives campaign to raise money for Susan B. Komen for the Cure. The cause-related marketing program has raised more than $26 million. Wow! Impressive and a shinning example of a flourishing campaign, considering consumers have collected and mailed in millions of sticky lids. (Courtesy of www.i.timeinc.net)
Instead of partnering with an established non-profit, Dove’s Real Beauty campaign created a cause-related marketing discussion of beauty stereotypes helping to breakdown the barriers and raise money for the Dove Self-Esteem Fund.
To support their current campaign of “Food With Integrity” (based on its commitment to using premium-quality ingredients from sources that are more sustainable), Chipotle promises that there is no junk in their food. Now they’re asking for consumers help to get the junk out of school food, by getting rid of the junk in their email boxes.
In this ingenious social media/web campaign, Chipotle is asking it’s customers and Facebook fans to forward their junk emails to nojunk@chipotlejunk.com. For every 100,000 junk emails Chipotle receives, it will donate $10,000 to a nonprofit organization called The Lunch Box—which in turn, will provide healthier lunch recipes for 100,000 schools across the USA.
The campaign will run until August, or until they hit their max-out of 500,00 junk emails ($50,000 in donations to The Lunch Box).
So if you ever needed a good reason to clean out your inbox, here you go.
Some of the most influential people in helping companies decide where to locate their next plant, R&D center or other project say New York State needs to do a better job of marketing itself to business.
“The bad stories are getting out there, the good stories aren’t,” said site selector George Tobjy, senior manager at KPMG. “You have to put more effort in it.”
Tobjy was one of three corporate site selectors who shared their views on the state as a location for business growth with dozens of economic developers at the New York State Economic Development Council’s annual meeting in Cooperstown on May 28.
Marketing communications — including branding, website development, public relations and the like — is critical in the fight to win their attention, the attention of the companies they work for, and attract businesses to New York State, the site selectors said. Communications with them and their colleagues should be consistent, on-message, and ongoing, at least once a month or more.
That’s not happening now and it needs to happen if New York State wants to grow its economy and create jobs, they added. Regional marketing efforts are OK, but the state must do more to ensure potential sites get on a company’s short list for expansion or relocation.
“This business is really driven by how the states go out,” Tobjy said. “If you’re not doing that, it’s really difficult to get your project on the list.”
If the state doesn’t promote its positive aspects — including its great workforce and proximity to market — the ongoing stream of negative news regarding high taxes, state budget battles, political corruption and so on will drive businesses to other states that consistently market themselves better, such as Texas, Georgia, or even Oklahoma, the site selectors said.
One example of how New York State’s brand may be losing out to other states is Terry Precision Cycling. The women’s bicycling company was based in Macedon, N.Y., for 25 years but moved to Burlington, Vt., last year in part due to the Vermont state brand.
“Vermont is a haven for cycling enthusiasts and the Vermont brand is something I really think we could use to leverage Terry,” new owner Elizabeth Robert told the Democrat and Chronicle when the company made its announcement in May 2009.
What do you think? How does New York State’s efforts rate compared to other states? What’s your impression of the state’s iconic brand, I Love New York?
We’d love to hear from you.
In the meantime, for more information, feel free to visit NYSEDC’s website. Presentations from the annual meeting should be posted within the next couple of weeks.
Who is Blake Mycoskie? Some may identify him as a former participant and almost champion of CBS’, The Amazing Race. Others might know him as the creator and CSG, or Chief Shoe Giver, of TOMS Shoes, Inc. If you’ve never heard of TOMS shoes, it is company founded in 2006 that uses a one-for-one business model and gives a pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair bought. In theory, this is a great idea; however, you need more than just a good idea and a big heart to start changing the world. How can a for-profit company survive while giving away a pair of shoes with each pair bought?
The answer is with a great marketing plan. With young adults, ages 17-28, as the target market, Mycoskie has been able to use social media to expand his business. On a limited budget, he was able to get his message out and spread his vision to millions through use of YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and word-of-mouth marketing. If you watch his story of how and why he created TOMS shoes, you can not help but be won over by his vision. The videos are done so well that not only will you be won over by what you saw and want to buy a pair of shoes, you will also feel compelled to tell all of your friends about the company.
Through casting the vision behind the business, Mycoskie has been able to promote his shoes while deflecting attention from the premium price charged for these canvas loafers. This is because people know that buying a pair of TOMS shoes is more than just buying shoes, it’s making a difference. All in all it can be stated that Blake Mycoskie is not only a former competitor on The Amazing Race and the founder of a socially responsible for-profit company, he is also a marketing genius.
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About Author: Liz Thrush is currently a Spring Public Relations Intern at Dixon Schwabl. “I am a senior Marketing and Spanish major at Roberts Wesleyan College. In addition to being an RA and the Vice President of our SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise) team, I love to travel, snowboard, and help others. After graduation I hope to be able to spend a year in a Spanish speaking country working in marketing or public relations.”
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