Nobody knows about it.<\/p>\n
Yup, that’s what the bigwigs concluded when their market research came in.\u00c2\u00a0 The overhyped to the max "Borat" was seemingly unknown in the heartland of our country.<\/p>\n
It doesn’t square.\u00c2\u00a0 God, if I read one more Borat article, I’m gonna PUKE!<\/p>\n
Yes, I thought it was funny when Sascha Baron Cohen showed up in a green "thong" in Cannes.\u00c2\u00a0 Since then, the marketing roar has been deafening.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s been a veritable juggernaut.\u00c2\u00a0 Endless newspaper and magazine pieces.\u00c2\u00a0 The Toronto Film Festival buzz.\u00c2\u00a0 It ultimately TURNED ME OFF!\u00c2\u00a0 I wanted the movie to suck just so Fox would be out money.<\/p>\n
The nineties are over.\u00c2\u00a0 The mantra of the nineties was all exposure is good exposure.\u00c2\u00a0 With MTV declining in the number of videos shown, and it being a limited number\/few genres to begin with, labels started tying in with every corporation known to man.\u00c2\u00a0 Other TV shows.\u00c2\u00a0 "The Today Show" was suddenly seen as an avenue to break records.\u00c2\u00a0 Doing endorsements was a way not only to generate revenue but to break acts.\u00c2\u00a0 Both of these damaged what little credibility performers had, but what is truly fascinating is how it just doesn’t work anymore.\u00c2\u00a0 Not enough people are paying attention.<\/p>\n
In an era when NBC gives up at 8 o’clock, how many eyeballs do you think are watching?<\/p>\n
In OTHER WORDS, saturation marketing no longer works.<\/p>\n
That was the plan.\u00c2\u00a0 Cast a big net, open the lasso to capture the entire country.\u00c2\u00a0 We’re one big homogenous nation.\u00c2\u00a0 We’re all in it together.<\/p>\n
Wrong.<\/p>\n
We’re so niche, it’s hysterical.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t spend all those marketing dollars, for you’re burning out your core audience.\u00c2\u00a0 And your only hope is that this core audience will revere you, adopt you and spread the word to others.\u00c2\u00a0 Because you can’t REACH the others!!<\/p>\n
TV?\u00c2\u00a0 There are three hundred channels.<\/p>\n
Radio?\u00c2\u00a0 Ever-declining listenership.\u00c2\u00a0 And, as for satellite radio and the Web…there are a ZILLION options.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s no one station everybody’s tuning in to.\u00c2\u00a0 Actually, the OPPOSITE is occurring.\u00c2\u00a0 People are only listening to that which appeals directly to them, FUCK THE REST!<\/p>\n
We’ve come a long way from the sixties, when you endured "Hello Dolly" and other mainstream tracks on Top Forty because you had NO OTHER CHOICE!\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got TONS OF CHOICE today.\u00c2\u00a0 The choice not to pay attention to the usual suspects lying to you that something is great when you know it’s not.\u00c2\u00a0 And if it IS good, you know that word will filter down to you.<\/p>\n
The big opening weekend?\u00c2\u00a0 How many of those flicks even play a month?\u00c2\u00a0 They leave theatres soon not because everybody’s seen them, but because everybody knows they SUCK!\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, it’s topsy-turvy.\u00c2\u00a0 Marketing has eclipsed quality.\u00c2\u00a0 But those days are through.<\/p>\n
Doubt me?\u00c2\u00a0 Then explain the failure of Jessica Simpson’s CD.\u00c2\u00a0 She’s ALL OVER THE MEDIA!\u00c2\u00a0 But the public shrugs, if they’re paying attention at all, they know her music is lightweight pap.<\/p>\n
"Borat" is going to be a giant hit.\u00c2\u00a0 Because starting TODAY, with its opening, people are going to be texting, e-mailing, IM’ing and even PHONING everybody they know to tell them to see it.\u00c2\u00a0 It’ll take a while for the money to come in, because it’s a marathon again, not a sprint.<\/p>\n
I’m paying attention because the reviews are so damn good.\u00c2\u00a0 Kind of like "Jagged Little Pill".\u00c2\u00a0 Or even better, "Nevermind".\u00c2\u00a0 When EVERYBODY agrees, insiders lay down their money and take a chance.\u00c2\u00a0 If it turns out to be good, you don’t stop talking about it.\u00c2\u00a0 YOU sell it.\u00c2\u00a0 The marketing is FREE!<\/p>\n
If you want success today, create something good.\u00c2\u00a0 Seed the early adopters.\u00c2\u00a0 And then cease, or at least slow down, your marketing.\u00c2\u00a0 Because the more you beat people over the head, the less attention they’re going to pay.\u00c2\u00a0 THEY want to feel in control, THEY don’t want to feel tools of the system.\u00c2\u00a0 THEY want to embrace the project, just like you wanted to embrace and tell everybody about "Harold and Maude".<\/p>\n
This frightens the purveyors.\u00c2\u00a0 Because they can nail marketing, but QUALITY?\u00c2\u00a0 Look at the flicks, they truly suck.\u00c2\u00a0 Ask the man on the street, he thinks music sucks TOO!\u00c2\u00a0 To the point where most people have tuned out, and the only people who can bring them back are their buds, who have a RELATIONSHIP with them.\u00c2\u00a0 Believe me, the marketers at Fox don’t have a relationship with their audience.\u00c2\u00a0 They THINK they do, but they don’t.<\/p>\n
Everybody’s living in his own little world.\u00c2\u00a0 Since I was bombarded with "Borat" hype, I thought everybody was aware of the movie.\u00c2\u00a0 Because I don’t talk to every one of the 300 million Americans, I didn’t know I was wrong until the research came in.<\/p>\n
Hearing the movie’s good, I’m gonna give it a chance.\u00c2\u00a0 Then again, if Fox keeps trumpeting the story, they’re gonna kill MY word of mouth, I don’t want to work for the man.\u00c2\u00a0 And neither does the Net generation.\u00c2\u00a0 WE make the stars, not you.\u00c2\u00a0 Give us reasonable choices, WE’LL do the work.\u00c2\u00a0 It won’t happen instantly.\u00c2\u00a0 First week grosses, first week SoundScan numbers, are no longer important.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s about longevity.\u00c2\u00a0 It won’t take forever, because word of mouth happens so quickly on the Net, and we’re all in touch with SO many more people on a regular basis.\u00c2\u00a0 But it’s now our game, not yours, don’t ever forget it.<\/p>\n
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