The movie “Thank You For Smoking” which was produced in 2005, is considered one of the most important movies carefully made to address marketers in particular. The movie – besides its dramatic and comedic value – is packed with plenty of marketing rules that would benefit anyone with even the slightest interest in the business world.
In one of the distinctive scenes of the movie, members of the board of directors of a global cigarette company meet to discuss the crisis facing them due to a member of the Senate declaring war on smoking, and the necessity of forcing tobacco companies to put up scary warning labels for customers, which will inevitably work to gradually distract them from smoking.
This situation was worrying for the company because it would lead to a further decline in demand for cigarettes, and thus a collapse in sales. All the company members are silent during the meeting, feeling that hard days will soon confront them. Until the (marketing officer) raises his hand, asking for the floor during the meeting. He had the solution.
All eyes turned to him eagerly, so he got up and spoke to everyone: “In 1910, the United States produced 10 billion cigarettes. By 1930, the United States produced 110 billion cigarettes. Do you know what happened in that period? 3 Things… World War I, diets, and talking movies!
In talking movies, directors found it necessary for actors to do some activity while they were talking, so they used cigarettes. Therefore, everyone watching movies became affected by the actors who smoked, so the rate of cigarette smoking rose to a record.
This is what we will do to counter the campaign against smoking. We’ll connect with famous actors; get them to smoke in movies. At that time, no campaign could deter us or reduce our sales in the markets. In this case, it may even increase.”
The marketing official ended his speech with a wide smile on his face. Of course, this thinking was not innocent and has nothing to do with morals, but it was an “outside the box” solution to confront an existential crisis besetting the company in which he works. Perhaps this particular story explains to you why there are so many companies around you that are supposed to be fought all the time, yet they still exist.
How to market a Movie without a budget?
Like any other product, the success or failure of any movie depends on many things, the most important of which is the way of marketing it. Therefore, all the movie companies put huge sums of money in the promotions and advertising of the movies, because it is the main key to profits. When you find yourself in front of a successful movie that made huge profits, you should know that the promotion of this movie in the first place was excellent.
The American Company “Artisan Entertainment” has produced quite a bit good horror movie in 1999, with very slim budget, where the movie did not exceed the work of $ 50 thousand budget. A very absurd number when compared to the millions spent on any other movies. With such a crumbling budget, it was impossible for the movie to be promoted and publicized in the same way as other usual movies. There was no other solution, either (Marketing outside the box) or the inevitable failure.
Here the company launched one of the best marketing projects in the world of cinema ever. Strange posters began to spread virally among American youth, bearing the name “Blair Witch Project”, being distributed everywhere. The poster carries the story of the disappearance of 3 young men who went out into the woods in search of a witch and did not return. At the end of the poster, the website address was placed for more information, which made millions of visits flooded into the site, trying to find out more details, only to discover that there was a documentary movie left by these disappeared youths, which will be shown in the cinema soon, containing the last recordings before their disappearance.
Of course, a clip from the documentary was included, showing a terrifying clip movieed with an ordinary camera and seemingly devoid of any cinematic effects, depicting young men running in terror in the middle of the forest. It also displays their personal photos, and some security reports about their disappearance. At the same time, the company that produced the movie stressed that the three movie stars disappear from view, and that they did not even talk to their families until the movie was released in cinemas. It continued to pump the marketing campaign through regular posters, without any promotion of the movie appearing in any single newspaper or television channel. Just a set of stickers and a website.
Finally, the movie was released in cinemas, achieving an unprecedented audience turnout, bringing in revenues of more than 248 million dollars (a quarter of a billion dollars). It was produced with a budget of only 50 Thousand Dollars! A creative marketing idea that managed to make hundreds of millions for a movie with a modest budget and was able to lead the movie to enter the Guinness Book of Records as the first documentary film to achieve such profits in the history of cinema.
Find The Noise
The site aimed to sell used products and tools in the American market, in exchange for fixed amounts set by the seller and the bidding or deduction is not accepted (communication sites)
In the late 90’s and with the advent of the Internet in the world extensively, a very modest website half.com was launched. The website aimed at selling used products in the American market for fixed amounts set by the seller with no biddings accepted, only buy now sales. The site deducts a small percentage of the profit for each purchase.
A simple, popular and well-known idea nowadays. However, at the end of the 90’s it wasn’t that popular and it was a really cool idea. The only problem the website had faced is that the site was not getting almost any encouraging visits. The owners of the site tried to practice all the means and methods of marketing available to them, but there was not any real change. Nobody pays enough attention to the site. Just some minor transactions that happen once in a while.
It was a big leap to make everyone know the name of the site and talk about it. It had to be a strong – and unconventional blow that would catch everyone’s attention. There had to be some noise that forces everyone to turn and look at the website.
One day, information reached the deputy director of marketing for the site that there is a small town in the US in the state of Oregon (in the American West) called Half Way. A very simple little town, like a village in the middle of the road already as its name indicates. Its population does not exceed several hundred only. Here, a distinctive marketing idea flashed in the head of the marketing manager, who decided to place his bets in it.
The Marketing Officer went to meet with the townspeople, and offered them an offer that they could not refuse, even though it was strange. The offer is to change the name of the town for one year only, from its name (Half Way) to the name of the website (Half.Com) In return, the residents of the town will be paid $100,000, and 20 modern computers will be donated to the small elementary school in the village. Unusual offer but it was not a bad offer for the surprised residents. The townspeople agreed to this deal, changing the name to (Half.com) for a period of one year.
This was the biggest promotional hit that the site’s marketers were after; because as soon as the deal was announced, the American media dealt with it extensively as amusing news that carries with it creative marketing intelligence and the news of the deal became widely spread for several days in various press sectors at that time.
In short, everyone was talking about Half.com, they got to know the story of that little site and they visited the site out of curiosity on one hand and for the admiration of the deal it made on the other.
Only 3 weeks after the completion of this deal and after all the spotlight was on the small site. The giant eBay bid to acquire the site ($350 million) which made it one of the most important deals in the late 1990s. And the site became called Half.eBay. com ( Half.ebay.com ) .
It is true that the site itself had great opportunities for online shopping in the United States – which made its price so high – but its distinguished marketing campaign, which cost the owner of ($100,000), certainly helped to raise his shares in the market and resulted in selling the website for $ 350 million.
Please. Buy the Magazine
Back in the sixties of the last century when paper press was almost the most important media products at all. A magazine called “Rolling Stone” appeared in the year 1967 with the beginning of a new wave of international news related to the radical changes in the music industry.
The start of the magazine was not promising, as its founder launched it with only $7,500, which is a good amount at that time but it would not have ensured the wide spread of a magazine of this type, which made him issue only 4 issues of the magazine in that year. As a result, sales were low, and the specter of a shutdown began to loom.
Here, the magazine’s marketing department took a different approach, as the editors began writing a short letter printed in the magazine’s copies, asking – very frankly – the subscribers to renew their annual subscriptions to the magazine, because this magazine is their only source of work and if it is closed, they will be expelled! In return, the magazine’s editors promised that the topics would be developed by them and that its readers would be entertained.
Surprisingly, this letter had a great impact on readers who had already started renewing their subscriptions, and dealt with this letter positively as a funny message through which the magazine communicates with its readers in a nice and different way, which later made it one of the most famous New Yorker magazines dealing mainly with music. In addition to various topics covering culture, politics and “lifestyle.”
The bottom line
In any area of life, there are irrefutable facts, there are hypotheses and theories that can be renewed and developed all the time. In the Business world, Marketing is an irrefutable “fact” for the success or failure of any enterprise.
Traditional marketing will give you traditional results. Poor marketing will give you poor results. Excellent marketing will give you excellent results. As for creative marketing, it brings ideas outside the box. It is the path that will give you unexpected results!
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