To celebrate the 55th BFI London Film Festival and Jameson’s third year as ‘Official Spirit’, the brand introduced The Jameson Apartment, a pop-up cinematic speakeasy in the heart of London’s Soho.
Synergy’s role was to maximise PR communication around the Jameson Apartment through different media, including print and social media channels. The ultimate aim of the campaign was to raise awareness of Jameson’s association with film through the BFI partnership and to recruit more consumers by driving awareness amongst target consumers.
To launch the Jameson Apartment Synergy held a press evening, inviting key journalists and bloggers from lifestyle, film and drink titles, not only to enjoy the concept of the 1920s speak-easy and new Jameson cocktails, but to help build key relationships and leverage coverage.
In addition, Synergy successfully negotiated media partnerships with Who’s Jack, Hey U Guys, Empire Magazine, Urban Junkies and Eat Sleep Live Film, who hosted individual nights at the Apartment to generate coverage and recruit key target consumers. Over the course of the festival, the Jameson Apartment was heaving with budding film-makers, actors, actresses, film buffs, drink experts, and general bar enthusiasts.
Throughout the festival, Synergy also ran a comprehensive press office, placing listings in London’s most influential titles, The Evening Standard and City AM, plus ticket competitions for screenings with influential film blogs like Hollywood News and Vue Cinema. Overall, Synergy delivered 76 pieces of coverage, reached over 3 million consumers and generated an ROI of 5:1.
Memorabilia. The ultimate demonstration of fully committed fandom, right? Now I’m not talking about the typical million-odd replica shirts sold each year by Manchester United; I don’t even mean the larger share of these that sell featuring a certain Wayne Rooney’s name and number on the back; no, I’m talking about the real up-close-and-personal stuff: Botham’s bat, Pele’s Pumas or Tiger’s tee-peg.
You name it, someone out there will probably try to buy it, sell it, or, in the case of OJ Simpson, nick it. Allegedly. So what’s the fascination with collectibles, and why will ordinarily sane people part with extraordinarily daft amounts of money to own them? To me it’s about either possessing a tangible part of your hero, a slice of sporting history…or, and this is where the big bucks come into play, both.
In terms of sporting collectibles, baseball rules the roost; from the $10,000 spent by chewing gum maker Curt Mueller on a piece of spent gum from Arizona Diamondbacks Luis Gonzalez, to the ball struck by Mark McGwire for his record-breaking 70th home run in 1998 – bought by comic book creator Todd McFarlane for a staggering $3.05m. Especially staggering when you consider the record was subsequently tainted by McGwire’s admission of steroid abuse during that season…the baseball shedding two-thirds of its auction value. Less home run, more own goal.
But if you think that sports fans have the market cornered (as well as signed, framed and independently authenticated) – think again. It’s the movie buffs that really know how to splash the cash to get their hands on a piece of Hollywood heroes or history.
In 2008, a miniature TIE Fighter model spaceship from the original Star Wars movie sold for over $400,000 and Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber made almost a quarter of a million dollars. Surprisingly though, in the memorabilia stakes, chic overcomes geek, with Audrey Hepburn’s Givenchy dress from Breakfast at Tiffany’s selling for just under $1million and James Bond’s gadget-filled Aston Martin DB5 going for $4.1million.
What, might you ask, has any of this got to do with marketing, per se? Well, if you need to ask, then you obviously haven’t seen the recent Nike Mag campaign.
For those of you not aware, Nike Mags were the futuristic sneakers worn in Back to the Future II by hero Marty McFly when visiting Hill Valley, year 2015. For a quick reminder…
The self-lacing, self-illuminating hi-tops went on to become the most sought-after movie footwear since Dorothy Gale’s ruby slippers, whilst creating veritable product placement lore for their creators, Nike.
Many have crudely tried to repeat the trick, most notably Will Smith’s Converse-obsessed lead in I, Robot and, subsequently, the Puma-wearing inhabitants of The Island. Given that each member of the latter’s identically-shod population is, in fact, an irretrievably doomed clone of a corporate paymaster, you have to think that Puma really should have read the script before involving themselves.
What sets Nike apart from the aforementioned brands is that the trainers worn by Michael J. Fox’s character were simply an ‘ain’t-it-cool’ vision of the future for the movie’s teenaged audience, appropriate to Nike’s own brand trajectory; they weren’t linked to part of a specific marketing campaign, and were categorically not made available for purchase by their makers.
Until now.
Hot on the heels of Total Film’s 2010 ‘Future Day’ hoax, forums were buzzing earlier this year with the rumour that Nike had taken out a patent on an ‘automatic lacing system’. Nike sneakers with power laces on their way? Not quite, but an ingeniously timely tease nonetheless.
In fact, the Oregon-based sporting superpower had finally chosen to make film buff dreams a reality, by producing a limited run of 1,500 pairs of ‘2011 Nike Mags’.
With illuminated LEDs that can be recharged after a long day switched on in their display cabinet (as though anyone is actually planning on wearing these) the 2011 models are, in fact, not of the self-lacing variety. This is rather unsubtly explained courtesy of the movie’s co-star, Christopher Lloyd – AKA Doc Brown – in the video below, where it becomes clear that said technology will only be available in 2015 (the year he and Marty visited in BTTF2), and that the DeLorean time machine has erroneously brought him to a point four years too early.
So, after all the hype and fervour, how can I get hold of a pair, you ask? Well, unfortunately you’ve already missed the boat: the entire lot were auctioned off over a 10-day period on eBay in early September. Although bidding started at $0.99, over-excited demand amongst collectors and scalpers alike saw standard prices kick off at around $4,000. Who pays $4k for a pair of slightly ugly-looking trainers? Well, no one, it would seem. The first pair actually sold for the princely sum of $37,000 to one Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu – that’s Tinie Tempah to you and me. His PR or Nike’s…it’s hard to tell.
But never fear: Nike’s ruse was all in a very good cause (besides fleecing a few overpaid musicians). It turns out that the brand had partnered with the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, all profits from the auctions going direct to the organisation.
Nike (with a little help from eBay) capitalised on the perfect storm of memorabilia-hungry Back to the Future fanboys, obsessive boxfresh sneakerheads and understandably fervent supporters of the Parkinson’s research projects – raising $5.7million in a mere 10 days. This was doubled to $11million by the ubiquitous Google, whose co-founder Sergey Brin has pledged to match donations to Fox’s foundation until 2012 to the tune of up to $50million.
Nike has demonstrated just how far ahead its thinking is from its competitors’ in respect of memorabilia, limited edition wares and product placement (even retrospectively). And who’s to say that the ‘2015 Nike Mags’ won’t be released to the general public in four years’ time anyway?
They’ve hit the sweet spot between collectible and commodity, and through the nostalgic lens of one of the most popular movie franchises of all time, have delivered a lesson in slow-burn brand marketing.
But coming back to the crux of the argument, people will do anything for their own part of an image, an icon, a moment or a man – heart over head, irrational and absurd. As Huey Lewis once put it: that’s the power of love.
Jameson did it in sixty seconds… Well almost. Just one weekend at least.
One weekend, two red carpets, twelve countries, nineteen Awards handed out and more celebrities and international press than you could shake a stick at.
The DISS competition saw twenty-four finalists from all over the world come together for the evening, where their short films were shown in front of four influential film industry specialists which included, Actor and Comedian, Chris O’Dowd and Director Neil Marshall, led by Empire Magazine Editor Mark Dinning. Even Oscar-winning Director of The King’s Speech, Tom Hooper, sent his regards via a video-link from LA, giving his own favourites to the judges for consideration.
The judges picked five films to take forward to the Jameson Empire Film Awards where the overall winner of the DISS competition was announced on Sunday night. The 2011 shortlist included two UK finalists, Michael Whaite from the UK (The Lion King), Lee Hardcastle from the UK (The Exorcist), plus, Valentina Kurochkina & Sergey Potapov from Russia (Avatar), Maeve Stam from The Netherlands (127 Hours) and Samuel Heiligers from Sweden (Indiana Jones) who all got the chance to rub shoulders with their movie icons from the world of film.
On Sunday, the Synergy girls glammed up to the max as celebrities from the world of film, TV and music sashayed up the red carpet. The film industry’s biggest and most respected stars turned out to celebrate in style .
Jameson and Empire magazine also acknowledged and honoured one of Britain’s most exceptional actors for his phenomenal body of work; Gary Oldman was bestowed the Empire Icon, which was presented to him by his Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy co-star Colin Firth.
Keira Knightley took home the Empire Hero Award (presented by Jameson), which was presented to her by her friend and Atonement co-star, James McAvoy. Unfortunately the two UK DISS finalists were pipped to the post by Maeve Stram from The Netherlands (127 Hours) for her interesting and unique interpretation of the Danny Boyle Oscar-nomiated movie.
Synergy also ran series of competitions giving ten enthusiastic lovers of film the chance to mingle with A-list celebrities for the night, socialising in the same room as Keira Knightly and Gary Oldman. The prize also included VIP tickets to the after show party so many of them were dancing until dawn at Aqua on Argyll Street. Embracing the opportunity, many of them were overwhelmed with meeting their idols and some of them even managed to grab a few sneak pictures, much to their delight.
It was a star-studded evening with more light bulb flashes, sparkly shoes and fake tan, than anyone could image (boys included). The whole weekend flew past in what felt like 60 seconds, but the Awards received and the memories gained will be timeless.
To all budding film directors; one day this could be you attending the Jameson Empire Film Awards. Keep your eyes peeled for the 2012 Done in 60 Seconds competition and in the meantime, log-on to the Jameson Empire Done In 60 Seconds Film Academy to learn top movie-making tips from the stars: www.jamesonwhiskey.com/DISS.
What happened? To coincide with the release of Limitless, the new thriller starring Bradley Cooper and Robert DeNiro, Relativity, the film’s production company, commissioned a smart and differentiated viral campaign encompassing digital, outdoor and, well, digital outdoor media.
Why we like it: As a movie whose premise revolves around NZT, a pill that allows anyone taking it access to the full 100% of their brainpower (and the consequences thereof), it is perhaps appropriate that the film company should have demonstrated a bit of lateral thinking in its marketing.
In the States, where the stakes were naturally highest for the movie, the tease began in earnest a month prior to its release with a video created and seeded by Thinkmodo, the New York-based viral marketing outfit. The team produced a piece of footage where a young tech-geek demonstrates how to hack the digital advertising media in Times Square.
Whilst this video hit the Internet hard, with over 2 million views, the execution was later criticised for its very casual link to the movie itself. Only at the very end of the clip do you see the hacker interrupting the official trailer for the movie, or by following the click-through discover that he managed to achieve such feats after taking NZT.
Subsequent to this, and arguably more importantly, the film company also created a faux campaign fronted by Bradley Cooper himself as the literal face of NZT. In a great pastiche of companies like Vitabiotics, whose Wellman advertising for herbal pick-me-ups is a global phenomenon, Mr Cooper stars in both print and TV creative.
The coup de grâce was media buy that placed the campaign’s print creative directly in the eye-line of those people used to seeing
The fact that its stated side-effects include “psychosis, amnesia, homicidal blackouts and death” is a cheeky nod to the film’s own plot trajectory.
Not only is it great to see the creative use of outdoor media – when did you last spot a movie poster on the inside of a Tube? – but it also showed a genuine consideration by the film’s marketing team as to the potential for their assets (namely the film’s star) to deliver into a content strategy beyond that of the typical Photoshopped poster.
What’s more, as a movie starring ‘That guy from The Hangover‘ and Robert ‘please let this not be another turkey’ DeNiro, this is also a campaign that drove a degree of critical reappraisal from the very quarters that might otherwise have ignored it. Having hit #1 at the US Box Office, and taken $80million to date, it looks as though the team at Relativity may have been on NZT from the start.
What happened? The Orange BAFTAs took place took place on Sunday 13 February 2011. The sponsorship is well established and for 2011 the brand once again created an interesting and engaging sponsorship activation campaign. Below follows the brief highlights of the 2011 campaign.
1.The Flickometer
The Flickometer is a really visual adaptation of a Twitter Cloud to show real time content from the film nominees on the social media platform as they happen.
2. Orange Wednesdays
It’s now pretty well known and has been a major feature of the Orange Film strategy since 2009. It’s still a major asset and providing a major consistent connection for Orange customers throughout the year with the two-for-one offer every Wednesday – complemented by brand partnerships with likes of Pizza Express for an even more complete two-for-one experience. The concept is also integrated on the evening of the Orange BAFTAs including the Orange Wednesday’s red-carpet, hosted this year by the fabulous Rachel Stevens.
3. The night itself
How could you miss the night itself, with glamour and style by the bucket load, every film lover in the land was tuned in to watch a great evening of TV entertainment, which led to huge national media coverage.
Why we love it: The campaign was integrated with through the line activation across many different levels – from the top of the spectrum at the Orange BAFTAs themselves, right down to through consumer touch-points with two-for-one cinema tickets. The campaign is not new, but each year has been injected with an energy and vibrancy that is too often missing in long-lasting sponsorships (obviously this needn’t be the case). Orange has become a really credible brand in film.
Of course, a great brand platform needs to be backed up with fantastic activation and Orange did not let us down.
It’s that time of year again, when the ultimate red carpet is rolled out at the Kodak theatre, just as much gossip is spreading about the designer dresses as the statuettes, and agents are practically selling their children in order to get into the Vanity Fair after-party. It’s Oscars time.
I completely adore this night in the film calendar. Granted, us UK folk have to show some serious dedication in order to watch it live (a 1.30am start on Monday morning on Sky Premiere HD), but it’s worth it. And hopefully this year I might actually last past the red carpet interviews (but the dresses really are the best bit…).
So in celebration of Academy Award weekend, this week’s Synergy Twitter #FF special is dedicated to all things Oscars.
The Synergy team got a taste of silver screen excitement on Friday 21st January working with the Jameson’s latest film ambassador, Tom Hooper, Director of Brit film of the moment, The King’s Speech. Tom was being announced as Head Judge for the ‘Done in Sixty Seconds’ competition, sponsored by Jameson Irish Whiskey and part of the Jameson Empire Awards 2011.
The day took place at the Sanctum Hotel’s cinema room in Soho, crammed with photographers, film crews and the obligatory Hollywood ‘groomer’. Thinking of an opening line to a Director nominated for 14 BAFTA Awards and 12 Oscars was our first stumbling block, but thankfully there wasn’t much time for stuttering our words, as the Synergy Team had a precious four hour window in which to entertain the UK media – from the Telegraph to GQ, Bloomberg, BA Business Life, The Guardian and many more.
After some logistical room-changing fun, not dissimilar to a game of musical chairs (but without the music, chairs or fun but you get the idea…), Tom’s intellect and enthralling story-telling soon shone through during his interviews. He spoke eloquently about the phenomenal success of The King’s Speech, the rather overwhelming critical acclaim and Award nominations (which, with the Oscars announcement this week, continue to flood through the door) and his quite remarkable career to date. He was a fabulous ambassador for the competition, taking time to watch previous year’s entries in preparation for his role as judge in 2011, and hugely supportive of the amateur film-making community who enter the competition year-on-year.
Tom Hooper with Synergy's Fran and Lucie
Our goodbyes came as quickly as we stumbled over ‘hello’, and in a blink of an eye Tom Hooper had gone, but not without the essential picture with the Synergy girls!
On reflection the day was a huge success and we generated some top-line, credible content only amplified by having the man of the moment supporting the competition. Tom is a great ambassador for Jameson – not only his passion about film but he understands the need to expose up-and-coming film-makers to give them the opportunity to shine in the media spot light.
The sequel to Oliver Stone’s classic ’80s Wall Street opens this week in the UK. Subtitled with the proverbial words of greed and profit – Money Never Sleeps – it is, like its predecessor, a movie built on the (unpredictable) value of the dollar.
(c) Twentieth Century Fox
Well, Wall Street’s dollar may have been built on eggshells, but the movie’s production budget was made of stronger stuff. Largely, it seems, brand marketing.
Long-standing has been my brand-geek habit of watching movies and lamely paying more attention to the product placement than the plot detail. And, while viewing a screening earlier this week, it became clear to me that brands from every sector must have been queuing up for a role. Some worked well, others (in my humble opinion) less so. Some were truly absurd.
But before naming and shaming, let’s look at all the brands in the movie. Based on my own experience – those I could recall without Google when writing this blog, versus those I had to look up – this handy Wordle shows how they fared:
The bigger the brand name, the stronger the impact it had on me (not necessarily reflecting good product placement of course, just the more blatant).
Of the 33 brands that secured screen time in the movie, I managed an unprompted recall of 7: Johnnie Walker, Toyota, Heineken, Lay’s, Bulgari, Ducati and Dunkin’ Donuts. But on seeing the official BrandCameo complete list, I bolstered the impact of Border’s and Cracker Jack as they were pretty striking during viewing. All the others you see in the word cloud had no impact on me at all. Even when told they were there, I couldn’t remember them.
So, without giving away any spoilers, my brand review:
The Good
- Cracker Jack: my favourite brand of the movie, and possibly the most credited. Plot-line inclusion was relevant and believable and the packaging placement on screen fit with the situation and characters. Even with an additional verbal reference, it never seemed forced or unnatural.
- Toyota: initially on my Bad list until I looked closer at the model featured. The boxy little red number driven by Winnie seemed an odd choice for the upwardly mobile couple, but appearances can be deceptive – it was of course the Prius which, with its uber green credentials suited ‘lefty’ [sic], anti-Wall Street Winnie down to the ground.
- Ducati: relevant role in its scenes and in building the character portrait of Jake, and not over-branded.
- Bulgari: natural plot fit (they needed a luxury jeweller, why not Bulgari?), screen shot of the store exterior was included without being too clunky…
The Bad
- Bulgari: …well, they were only good up to a point. Unfortunately, the sweeping close-ups of the bejewelled necks and earlobes of all the female guests during a black-tie fundraiser scene were too numerous and gratuitous to be deemed anything other than an advert for the brand.
- Dunkin’ Donuts: not bad exactly, just average. And pretty pointless. Only one shot that I remember – a colleague of Jake’s sits sipping it in the office as they watch the TV News together. I guess it was a natural fit, but to me it jumped out as obvious placement.
- Lay’s: as above, not bad exactly but certainly more in your face. It may have been that Frito Lay negotiated additional product shots in the Cracker Jack arrangement (which they also own). It formed part of a sequence that emphasised the mundane routine of a daily commute so did have a place, but again blatant placement.
The Ugly
- Johnnie Walker (Blue): this almost scraped by in my Bad list but on reflection, it was pretty awful. When presented as a gift to his Chinese clients, Jake announces the brand to room in order to seal the deal. Gifts may be part of Chinese business culture (as he tells us later, rather labouring the point frankly) but in what circumstances do you announce the brand name as you hand it over? Only in the movies, where the brand is paying a premium.
- Heineken: the worst offender. Oddly placed, flagrant and unnecessary. For an exchange between relative strangers, Gekko Sr. shows an uncanny prior knowledge of Jake’s drinks taste. Taking their seats at a restaurant table, Gekko offers Jake a drink – instead of the more natural ‘Can I get you a beer?’ (or even ‘drink’ if we were being picky), Gekko proffers the specific branded lager (“Heineken?”), which Jake accepts. Even more bizarre, given that they are attempting to hide any prior acquaintance from the third party at the table. If Winnie were just a touch smarter, the Heineken line could have blown the whole plot that follows pretty early doors.
(c) Twentieth Century Fox
For me, the really important factor is always the style of execution. As I’ve written here before, I firmly believe that brands with a role in the story will come up trumps, whereas those given a random and/or gratuitous mention will gain only fleeting recognition by the audience. Worse, they also run the risk of negative perception if they intrude on the make-believe world of the film.
What’s really interesting though is consumer recall. Furthermore, whether unprompted recall is actually a sign of success or, conversely, that a failure to do so is a failure of the brand marketing to do its job. Perhaps my subconscious saw them all using Apple computers, drinking Perrier water, and took in the set props from Bed, Bath & Beyond, only to recall the relationship at a later date, increasing my propensity to purchase. Somehow I doubt it.
Of course all of this does rather overlook the fact that it’s a pretty decent movie. So go ahead and see it for yourself – and come back and tell me what you think. Although I do hope you spend more time following the plot than searching for a Dunkin’ Donuts logo. Because that would just be lame, wouldn’t it?
The weekend before Easter saw the Synergy team glamming it up and walking the red carpet for our friends at Jameson, in preparation for the 2010 Jameson Empire Awards ceremony in London.
Ray Winstone with daughters, Jamie and Lois who presented him with the Jameson Empire Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Cinema (c) Photo: Karwai Tang / Alpha Press
For those unfamiliar with the Awards, they are universally considered to be the most fun Awards in the British film calendar. Regularly attended by the top echelons of Hollywood glitterati, the 2010 ceremony was no exception with a guest list that included the casts of The Clash of Titans, Kick-Ass as well as Hollywood royalty Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, and legendary guest of honour, Sir Ian McKellen.
Synergy’s role was two-fold: international PR support enabling Jameson HQ in Dublin to successfully engage five international markets around the world to use the Jameson Empire Awards for local PR in their home nation, and creation and management of the Jameson guest hospitality programme, across 13 markets.
Central to the PR programme was the Jameson Done in 60 Seconds Award, inviting amateur film-makers to re-make 60-second versions of their favourite Hollywood blockbuster. Synergy created a central PR toolkit for each market to pick up and implement in their own region, encouraging entries from their nation and making the Done in 60 Seconds competition truly global for the first time.
As part of the Jameson guest hospitality programme, Done in 60 Seconds finalists from each market were then invited to London on Friday 26th March – two days prior to the full Awards ceremony – to attend the International Finals Party, held at 24:London. There, the panel of judges – including British directing talent Edgar Wright and Michael Bassett, Empire‘s editor, Mark Dinning and British actor Jason Isaacs (who was absent on the day but consulted remotely) – viewed the sixteen final films, heralding from Turkey, Russia, Sweden, Holland, Ireland and the UK. Five finalists were chosen, who then went on to attend the Jameson Empire Awards on the Sunday night, where the final winner was to be crowned victorious.
Jameson branded Routemaster buses were specially commissioned to transport guests around London on their Movie Mania Tour
Between this event and the Awards night, Synergy put together a full guest management programme for visiting markets: the Jameson Movie Mania Tour.
It began with a behind the scenes tour of St Paul’s with private access to the geometric staircase most recently used in Harry Potter and Sherlock Holmes. Guests were greeted by a Professor Dumbledore look-a-like running down the geometric staircase as he does in Harry Potter the Prisoner of Azkaban. The St Paul’s tour finished up in the Wren Suite were guests were treated to an exclusive performance by world famous illusionist Keith Barry.
Guests then re-boarded their Jameson Routemaster and were taken to the Bluebird Restaurant in Chelsea for a private three course lunch in the Gallery Room, before heading to Borough Market for the final part of their Jameson Movie Mania Tour. Simon Rodway and John Ashton movie experts from Silver Cane Tours guided guests through Borough Markets movie locations, ending at Bridget Jones’s flat door, where guests were met by a Hugh Grant look-a-like. Guests then got back on the bus and headed back to The Langham Hotel.
Our Experiential team did such a top job of entertaining all of Jameson’s international guests, that Event Magazine ran a feature on the weekend last week. Have a read here.
On the night of the Awards, Synergy managed the Jameson press room, ensuring all the global markets were equipped with full video and photographic assets from the night, enabling them to bring some of their own local talent to attend the event, creating greater relevancy and PR back home (such as Croatian actress Natasa Janjic, below).
The attendance of international movie stars such as Croatian Natasa Janjic helped Jameson's global markets secure local coverage of the event (c) Getty Images for Jameson
As for the Done in 60 Seconds Award, it was our favourite Top Gun that clinched the top prize, with Cambridge accountant Mark Wong – director and star of the re-make – taking to the stage, still in costume as Maverick, and collecting his much-deserved Jameson Empire Award. Watch the final masterpiece here.
Done in 60 Seconds winner Mark Wong clutches his Jameson Empire Award for his Top Gun re-make (c) Getty Images for Jameson
But if that hasn’t given you enough of a flavour of life on the red carpet, have a look at Empire‘s full videoblogisode of the event below. It certainly keeps some variety to what we do, swapping muddy rugby pitches for red carpet glamour.
Today I find myself feeling especially Irish, buoyed by the news that one of my favourite books, Round Ireland with a Fridge, has been made into a feature film with the author Tony Hawks in the main starring role. This is especially excellent having developed a teenage crush on the main character when I first read the book: India, November 2006 (I was not a teenager then, just the crush was).
I won’t tell you what happens in the book – needless to say it involves a fridge and Ireland.
But I can say this. I recommend the book highly especially if you find yourself relaxing on some faraway beach as I was in Kerala way back when. If the book doesn’t make you laugh out loud at least once then take a deep look at yourself. And again. And try and locate a sense of fun.
What is less funny is that currently, the team who created the film, don’t know if it will ever be seen by a wide audience. Which would be no less than a tragedy.
Incase you’re not familiar with the art of movie distribution, here’s a very quick lesson – and special thanks to Jeff at HowStuffWorks for the inspiration behind this list:
1. Someone has an idea for a movie – writes outline, uses it to try & get interest in the idea.
2. A studio or independent investor decides to purchase rights to the film.
3. Screenwriter, producer, director, cast, crew come together – to help make the film.
4. The film is completed and sent to the studio.
5. The studio makes a licensing agreement with a distribution company.
6. The distribution company determines how many copies to make.
7. The distribution company shows the movie to prospective buyers representing the theaters.
8. The buyers negotiate on which movies they wish to lease.
9. The theater shows the movie for a specified number of weeks.
10. You & I buy a ticket and watch the movie. And eat popcorn loudly if you’re one of those annoying cinema go-ers (I am not). Infact, don’t get me started on anti-social foods that are sold in movie houses…
Simple. In theory at least.
Obviously a lot of people in the world have ideas for movies (step 1) but few of them make it all the way seamlessly from 1-10. The film industry is ruthless. Money, more often than not, outweighs the creative process. The studios won’t commit without the big Hollywood names attached, the names won’t sign until the money is secured. Funding makes the movie world go round. Not excellent.
So the Round Ireland with A Fridge team, it appears, find themselves stuck at step 5,6 & 7 with no official distribution yet in place. Steps 8,9 and 10 probably seem somewhere over the rainbow right now.
Hawks (not to be confused with Tony Hawk, the pro American skateboarder), ever the quirky comedian, has instead opted to turn his back against the traditional model and is taking the film-making road less travelled. Planning to go on the road with the fridge and visit film festivals (“to see which doors open”), he plans to generate buzz around the film until it has a life of its own. And with the potential force that can be harnessed today using social media, digital PR and internet campaigners – power to the people – everyone loves an underdog (think Rage Against the Machine making Christmas Number one back in December, the successful digital campaign to get Cadbury to bring back the previously extinct Wispa bar…), I am confident he will succeed.
Whatever the movie release strategy that is ultimately deployed this autumn, watch this space. It almost certainly won’t be with a mainstream distributor. And it’ll likely be quirky, entertaining and highly innovative.
Back to today, happy St Patrick’s Day.
I’m off to have a pint of Guinness. And in true Irish fridge fashion, perhaps a second – “one for the road” whilst (and if you’ve read the book, you’ll get the reference here) being careful to avoid, in Tony’s words, ”granting the road too much respect”…
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