3:35 of a Still Image is Not Marketing!
March 19th, 2008 by Alec McNayrPosted in Marketing | No Comments »
Oh man, did I love Mike Meyers. When I was 14, there was nothing more hilarious than Wayne and Garth “schwinging” to Claudia Schiffer. And when I was in college, there was no shortage of “Yeah, baby, yeah!” coming from my mouth. I still love So I Married an Axe Murderer (“Head! Pants! Now!”).
He’s kind of dropped off the map, after paving the way for Will Ferrell, Jack Black, and other overly-stylized comedians. Sure, he’s done Shrek(s), but those movies rest on the back of animators, not his trademark “smirk and eyebrow raise.”
But he’s about to be back on the scene this summer with a very Austin Powers-like movie, The Love Guru. I’m not sure how it will be, but after Cat in the Hat and View From the Top, he owes me.
And, with that said… commence the rant.
All that is a preface to what I saw today. A “viral marketing” campaign on YouTube starring one photograph and a Conan O’Brien-style super-imposed stranger’s mouth doing the talking. NOT EVEN MIKE MEYERS’ OWN MOUTH!
The video, which seems to be first of a series, is so incredibly lame. I couldn’t even make it through the first 20 seconds. A quick scan through the video and I found that it is literally one photo. No movement. Why all this effort for a major motion picture? I could have made this with $12 and a green cloth.
My question is this: Is it really marketing if I could do it myself?
What creativity or unique messaging are you selling me on? The fact that you can’t even get the star of your own movie to act in it is telling. And at that, you kept this going for 3:35? A lame audio monologue? Why not just post this to iTunes, because this doesn’t take advantage of the medium…
And why only one photograph of Mike Meyers in costume? Don’t they take hundreds of photos on a photo shoot like this? Why not do some simple animation like Tom Goes to the Mayor, which was hilarious.
So, Mike Meyers summer 2008 comeback is already 0-1 in my book. I really like him and wish the movie well, but if this is the strategy they’re employing to draw me in, then I’m going to spew chunks.
