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Oren Aviv Named CMO at 20th Century Fox, a Studio Seeking a Hit
LOS ANGELES (AdAge.com) -- Former Disney marketing chief Oren Aviv is joining 20th Century Fox as its chief marketing officer and co-president for theatrical marketing, effective Feb. 7.
The End-of-Year Movie-Marketing Dichotomy
Around this time of the year, Hollywood studios are breaking ads that are targeted to the very narrow audience of industry voters -- those indulgent "For Your Consideration" cammpaigns. But we're also about to see studios shell out somewhere in the neighborhood of $3 million for a 30-second Super Bowl spot in the hopes of reaching as many people as possible for upcoming tentpoles. That's a lot of money being spent -- and it could be spent better.
Karen Sortito, Entertainment Tie-in Specialist, Dies
LOS ANGELES (AdAge.com) -- Karen Sortito, an accomplished entertainment-marketing executive who worked on the James Bond franchise in the late '90s, died on Dec. 13 in New York. She was 49.
Book of Tens: Entertainment Marketing
Product placement, Twitter, comic books, tentpole marketing: Here's a recap of some notable entertainment-marketing lessons.
Oprah's Ultimate Awkward Product Placement
CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -- In a lead-up to her Ultimate Australian Adventure, Oprah Winfrey last week aired Oprah's Aussie Countdown, which featured a segment with a report by Australian TV personality Carrie Bickmore. Ms. Bickmore's report, meant to educate the audience on Australian culture, sparked an upset when she said that Australians like to spend time at "hip hangouts" called McDonald's.
Is That 'House Hunters,' or an Ad From Chevy?
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Fans of HGTV's flagship "House Hunters" program may have been surprised in recent weeks to see Chevrolet commercials that look a lot like the show itself. Chevrolet calls the commercials -- which form a miniature program all by themselves -- "Car Hunters." Get ready for more commercials that ape the shows you're watching.
How J&J, GE Have Overcome Branded Content Challenges
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Brands have been in the content business for more than 50 years, but some of the biggest marketers in the world -- including GE and Johnson & Johnson -- are today finding that emerging media and digital platforms are dramatically changing the game in terms of how that content is distributed and how consumer conversations can be controlled.
Who Will Have the Last Laugh for 'Cowboys & Aliens'?
Is all the laughter heard in theaters during the trailer for "Cowboys & Aliens" a bad thing for Universal and DreamWorks?
Trailers Battle It Out During 'Harry Potter' Showing
This past weekend when I took in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I" I got to the theater early enough to see the the first teaser trailers for "The Green Lantern" and "Cowboys & Aliens" on the big screen. I was also curious as to the audience reaction.
AmEx, Grey Goose Expand Branded-Entertainment Pacts
A roundup of the week's news in branded entertainment and entertainment marketing, plus what they're saying on the web.
Advertisers Join the Ranks of Undead for 'Walking Dead'
LOS ANGELES (AdAge.com) -- Are zombies the new ad men? Rainbow Media has scored its biggest hit yet with AMC's "The Walking Dead," which has already done more for the undead than "Mad Men" has accomplished for 1960s ad execs in terms of ratings. And today's advertisers are taking notice.
Movie Posters We Love
The web might be most moviegoers' source for coming attractions, extra-long previews or scene clips. But we still like looking at movie posters, especially when we show up too early at the multiplex and are gorging on Milk Duds. Here's some artwork for upcoming releases we're highlighting this week.
Keith Urban Takes to the Rails to Promote New Album
NORTHEAST CORRIDOR (AdAge.com) -- Country music superstar Keith Urban spent Tuesday on the rails, performing two pop-up shows -- one at New York's Penn Station and the other and Philadelphia 30th Street Station -- as part of his "Get Closer to Keith" promotion with Amtrak. Ad Age reporter Thomas Pardee rode along.
Hollywood's Superheroic Marketing Headache
Movies based on comic books, unlike, say, the latest crop of alien-invasion films, are here to stay. And for that reason the stakes are much higher as studios look to build out possible franchises around their properties. With all the competing heroes on the horizon, you could say Hollywood is facing a superheroic marketing problem.
Fox Takes a Break for Blu-Ray, and Paramount Without Partners?
"Fight Club" in a nursing home? "Office Space" as an Off Off Broadway musical? Fox Home Entertainment teamed up with Break Media for a series of spoofs of catalog cult classics now available on Blu-Ray, using each film's original dialogue in a hilarious new context. Plus other news from the week.
Rating the Ratings
Movie ratings are meant to convey to moviegoers reliable information that helps them make choices. But the system that assigns these ratings is always under fire, particularly by commentators who discover a movie they're championing is assigned a rating they're not happy with, something that's happened twice in the last couple months.
Walmart Hearts Justin Bieber
BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) -- There may not be a hot toy for 2010 on par with last year's Zhu Zhu pets, but Walmart might be able to make do this holiday season with a hot import from Canada rather than China: Justin Bieber.
To Hype 'Conan' on TV, Conan Takes to Web
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Before Conan O'Brien takes to TBS to launch his new program on Nov. 8, he'll appear online to hype the new effort, in a brief video feature sponsored by Coca-Cola's Diet Coke.
Does Hollywood Have a Plan for Negative Press?
So far we've been treated to postmortems for movies including "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," "Buried" and a handful of other films that have underperformed at the box office. Heck, even blockbuster "Iron Man 2" was eulogized in more than a few stories. There's such a fixation on why X movie failed that the question has to be asked whether the studios actually factor the likelihood of failure into their marketing plans.
'Twilight' Success Lifts Vampire Genre Among Horror Movies
LOS ANGELES (AdAge.com) -- It's official: Vampires are more powerful than aliens and zombies -- at least when it comes to the box office. This summer's "Twilight: Eclipse" solidified bloodsuckers' place in movie and box-office history as the second-highest-grossing horror genre, based on estimates of the top five horror-genre films compiled for Ad Age by Hollywood.com.
