If you haven’t heard about viral marketing movie sensation “Paranormal Activity,” take note: the horror movie, which was made for approximately $15,000, “scared up” more than $7.9 million in ticket sales as of last weekend, according to figures from Variety. The unusual roll-out of this movie is one model that studios are intently studying as distribution options for smaller to midsize movies continue to disappear.
The plot of the movie centers on a young day trader and his college student fiancée, who believes she is being haunted by a demon in their San Diego house. “Paranormal Activity” is not a traditional movie, and Paramount chose not to use traditional marketing to get the word out. Instead, Paramount sought to ignite a word-of-mouth campaign on the Web.
According to Advertising Age, the low budget horror hit teaches four valuable marketing lessons:
Let consumers be your guide. Paramont promised that once “Paranormal Activity” reached one million Demands on its Eventful page, it would release the movie within a reasonable radius of all the fans who demanded the movie by providing their age and zip code. “It totally transforms the brand into a benefactor,” said Eventful CEO Jordan Glazier. “You now have a self-identified list of participants who are passionate about entertainment, and the event brand has even more value to them.”
Talk directly to your fans. Paramont didn’t waste its marketing money on large-scale TV campaigns. It smartly used social media as the marketing vehicle and market research vehicle for the film.
Don’t believe the hype. More than a decade ago, “The Blair Witch Project” was viewed as the most successful viral movie marketing strategy to date because it attempted to pass itself off as a documentary rather than a fictional horror film. “Paranormal Activity” didn’t fall into the same trap, as the trailer and TV spots are focused more on marketing the audience’s horrified reactions to the movie.
Less money, fewer problems, more fun. “Paranormal Activity’s” costs were historically low to produce, with little spent thus far on traditional media. This is a boon for Paramount, as it stands to recoup any overhead costs many times over if the film catches on with a national audience. Despite the film’s phonomenal success, “If it all ended today we’d be very happy,” said Paul Greenstein, the Paramount’s co-president of marketing.
by Kristen L. Phiel, MS, Independent Medical Writer
The use of social media to market—well just about everything—is all the rage. Successful marketing plans now factor in all kinds of social media campaigns, from bulletin boards to blogs and YouTube to Twitter. With one major exception – healthcare marketing, especially for pharmaceutical and medical device prescription products.
Why no product tweets or YouTube videos from the makers of the latest cholesterol-lowering wonder drug or the product with the most staying power for sufferers of erectile dysfunction? Simple – fear.
Pharma and medical device companies have much to be wary of. These companies do not want to risk being caught in the wrong by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or any money-hungry lawyers.
Just how scared are these companies? One recent report stated that only 2 drug and device companies maintain blogs and a handful more tweet, compared to 16% of Fortune 500 companies who maintain public blogs.
But the proverbial social media silence may soon be coming to an end, as the FDA announced its first step to tackle the use of the web and social media to market pharmaceutical and medical device products – two days of public hearings. The hearings to be held Nov. 12-13 are intended to help guide the FDA in making policy decisions on how the Internet and social media tools can be used to promote these products.
The notice on the Federal Register reads, “The continually evolving nature of the internet, including Web 2.0 and social-media tools, as well as their expansion to applications such as mobile technology, have raised questions and concerns over how to apply existing regulations to promotion in these newer media. FDA is evaluating how the statutory provisions, regulations, and policies concerning advertising and promotional labeling should be applied to product-related information on the Internet and newer technologies. Although the agency believes that many issues can be addressed through existing FDA regulations, special characteristics of Web 2.0 and other emerging technologies may require the agency to provide additional guidance to the industry on how the regulations should be applied.”
And more parties than the pharmaceutical and medical device companies are jockeying to be heard. While social media is only one marketing tool, no ad agency or PR firm wants to be caught out. Physicians, consumer groups and search engine operations all have a vested interest as well in the outcome of this debate.
While it may still be some time before the latest and greatest prescription products are tweeting away, you can find out the outcome of this hearing by visiting: http://www.regulations.gov approximately 30 days after the hearing.
This week, I came across a must-see presentation on social media for non-profit organizations. It’s a realistic, manageable approach, excellent for beginners or organizations looking to enhance current social media strategy.
What’s your app? It’s becoming a common question as society embraces iPhones and Blackberry smart phones. But what will it take for one smart phone to dominate the other? That’s the question Columbus AMA President Nick Iannitto asked Berkshire Software’s Justin Munger at the E-Commerce/Internet SIG on Thursday, August 20th. Watch the video and tell us what you think it will take to make one smart phone superior.
There are two types of content on the Web: killer and filler. Killer content gets the vast majority of page views. Filler content tends to be stuff that was originally created for print material and never properly formatted for the Web. If you want to be a successful Web content writer, you must understand how to create your own killer content.
With a fear of spending firmly instilled, advertising pocket books have gone from being lined to being stitched closed. Hear how one media company is answering their clients’ demands — without breaking the bank.
A landing page is a page that displays specific content based on how the user is referred. For example, if you ran a newspaper campaign about a new product, you would direct them to a “landing page” that promoted that product specifically. Here are 5 crucial steps to getting the most value possible out of landing pages.
User-generated content has become the new authority in business, in networking, and in life. Blogs are some of the most popular sources for product research, ideas, or even a quick laugh!
I have a host of favorites, but here are my top 5 blogs of the moment:
AMA International Leadership Summit is this Weekend
This weekend, many of the Columbus AMA officers will be attending the AMA International Leadership Summit in Chicago, Illinois. The Summit, which is totally paid for by the chapter if you are an officer, will be held at the Westin O’Hare. AMA International expects 75 chapters across North America to be represented and 300 marketing professionals to attend. Check back here over the weekend to see their thoughts.
