Our Ad Campaign--Phase Two

[karind1]

RE:   I tried to create flash banner...but I don't know how to attach flash file here...  please go to the link bellow.

...I tried to gatter ideas from you...surely you can change the text...and for Brokeback font, I don't have the typeface previously used...tell my what you think...
My response:
http://img208.imageshack.us/my.php?image=test4vu.swf
whoa - i loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove this

[iwishicouldquit]

Enthusiasm is good!

Marketing to obvious sites is not a waste.  All marketing campaigns rely on the tired and true because they produce the most results.
While branching out to new or creative ideas is valuable, it's important to focus on what is reliable first.  Why do companies spend millions to advertise on the Oscars and Super Bowl?  Because it's the most cost effective way to reach the most people.

More important, gay themed websites and NOT a waste.  There are tons of closeted gays who use the internet to explore their identities.  Reaching them is HUGE!  These are people who would never go see Brokeback in a public theater but are willing to see it in the privacy of their own home.

I saw an interview with Anne Hathaway when the movie was released and she predicted the movie would be bigger on video and dvd simply for this reason.

Brokeback Mountain is a love story about 2 men - don't ignore the gay audience.

[Randman10]

To play Devil's Advocate for a moment, the whole "paid for by the fans" could also have a negative effect - making it sound like we're the "bunch of people who just can't let it go and get on with their lives."  (I've been asking non-BBM folks discretely about their thoughts on the situation - kinda an undercover cowboy! - and the reaction is usually negative even though they know NOTHING factually.)  Because we're blazing new territory here, might it be better if we "hook 'em" in by the BEST PICTURE ad and THEN let them know it was paid for by fans?

[TexRob]

This thread is asking people for their ideas and imput. 

People are responding, many with excellent ideas for the ad content (Sarah, brokebackbeauty, NWWaguy), but their ideas are getting lost.  I think the process as it stands is wasting good suggestions.  The forum contact page for the first ad was hurt this way, although it had to be done in four hours.  But with more time available for the Internet campaign, the organizers now should make an effort to utilize these suggestions and give feedback to the posters.

I'd like to suggest that if it's decided to take a certain suggestion offered on this thread, the organizers let us know immediately.  That way, the subsequent suggestions posters make can take this into account and build on it.  Otherwise, people will be posting ideas that have no chance of being considered.

Also, if a poster's idea isn't feasible or is irrelevant, or need tweaking, it would be helpful to tell that person so that everyone can move on to the ideas that actually are gaining traction in the minds of the ad organizers.  Otherwise, the useless ideas will draw the thread's attention off into pointless directions.

[karind1]

RE:
Brokeback Mountain is a love story about 2 men - don't ignore the gay audience.
My response:
fyi- what i know of - afterelton.com has a click thru to ultimatebrokebackmountain.com right there on it's site-perhaps more of those could be done-and the main money could be spent not preaching to the choir.  that way we could reach the gay community without the expense of a flash ad.  and you would have to be in a closet in newfoundland at the artic circle not to have heard about brokeback if you are not out, dontcha think?  check out after elton and see if you like that.

[PHD2007]

2. Consider getting a Flash banner instead of a static .gif or .jpg. It is 2006, not 1997.

Let me suggest once again that the banner needs to say "Brokeback Mountain" somewhere:

e.g., banner comes up -- it says "Brokeback Mountain" -- with the dozy embrace image on the right, then "Brokeback Mountain" fades and "Best Picture" comes into focus. Know what I mean? A little clarity and a little pizazz.

Banner ads are pretty smallish, you need to catch people's attention so a "little" dazzle goes a long way. Try to make the banner as beautiful and professional as the ad in Variety.

Pete!  Please don't let this suggestion get by you!  It is stellar.  Very simple & direct and not too "flashy".

I really like this idea, too.

[pvjohn]

    Open your mind
    Open your heart
    See the movie
    experience the transformation

I hope I have caught up to the correct thred to post this.

[TexRob]

Hi no-more-beans --

I like your idea for ads targeted to women and senior citizens, for the reasons you gave.

I thought I liked the idea about not advertising on gay sites, but in light of what iwishicouldquit said, I'm not so sure about this anymore.

[Randman10]

http://img208.imageshack.us/my.php?image=test4vu.swf

This is absolutely beautiful!  (Ain't technology cool?) 

[sadaka2006]

    Open your mind
    Open your heart
    See the movie
    experience the transformation

I hope I have caught up to the correct thred to post this.

nice

[luke]

It is beautiful, but the statement, I think, should not read:

See and judge it for yourself.

BUT RATHER

See it and judge for yourself.

[Texas_Girl]

http://img208.imageshack.us/my.php?image=test4vu.swf

LOVE THIS! 

[Texas_Girl]

This thread is to talk about the second phase of our campaign! We appreciate all of your feedback and support and help on this.

Pete --

We're all thinking a little ethnocentrically, and the Internet may be a way to overcome that.

I think there should be a Spanish-language ad on the Univision site.  This site reaches Hispanics in the USA.  American Hispanics and immigrants, according to news reports I saw, were among the demographic least likely to have seen the film. 

The problem was partly language and partly cultural, but in the main this demographic was lost due to the focus on English here, which obscured to them how much a hit the movie has become in Spanish-speaking countries.  So there's a hole to be filled.

I think the movie will resonate because their largely rural, poor and western locations will give them a sense of familiar experience.   Caught between cultures, though, they may be missing the emotional impact the movie is having elsewhere.  So such an add my give more bang for the buck.

Great point, Rob.

[brendisch]

I definitely hear what you're saying--we don't want to look like a pack of kooks.

But I also know people's eyes glaze over ads very easily (I work at a big commercial website so I know how hard it is to grab attention).

If we're going to create an ad that looks just like a corporate ad, with the same imagery and copy, we would seriously be better off donating the money to focus and let them use it--they have ad agencies etc. who can do corporate ads way better than we do.

I'm not CRAZY about targeting consumers anyway (this has been discussed ad nauseum and i'm not rehashing it here), but if we are, we have to make our ad seem like something different than the zillions of other ads internet users get hit with every day.

PS--just want to add that if we do go with a corporate-looking ad that is not disinguishable to a viewer, I think we should show it to someone at focus features first. they really might object to other butting into their movie with a campaign that isn't clear that it's not coming from them.

To play Devil's Advocate for a moment, the whole "paid for by the fans" could also have a negative effect - making it sound like we're the "bunch of people who just can't let it go and get on with their lives."  (I've been asking non-BBM folks discretely about their thoughts on the situation - kinda an undercover cowboy! - and the reaction is usually negative even though they know NOTHING factually.)  Because we're blazing new territory here, might it be better if we "hook 'em" in by the BEST PICTURE ad and THEN let them know it was paid for by fans?

[karind1]

It is beautiful, but the statement, I think, should not read:

See and judge it for yourself.

BUT RATHER

See it and judge for yourself.

good or
See it and Decide for yourself   either or is good
or See the movie....Judge for yourself    or
See the movie....Decide for yourself      both great tag lines imho  with the subtlest of barbs at ampas as an added treat!