Internet Marketing, Hollywood and Missed Opportunities

Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz are without question two of the worlds biggest box office draws.They have massive studio support in an age where studio productions are slowing down,and they continue to demand among the highest salaries in all of Hollywood.While the quality of the film is certainly something that can be debated,the advertising support did seem to be in place.All of the standard points of contact including,television,radio and print were addressed.The stars made themselves available for interviews and could be seen flashing warm smiles to the relentless paparazzi in the tabloids.With two of the worlds biggest mega-stars and seemingly all of their marketing bases covered,the movie seemed poised to make the studio a tidy profit.Despite this financial and professional support and backing,their movie Knight and Day had a miserable opening weekend at the box office and is now quickly falling off the charts.In this second and final part of this article we will examine some of the ways in which the marketing group behind the film Knight and Day could have reached an even wider audience through the use of Internet Marketing in general,and Search Engine Marketing in particular.Perhaps the studios are too preoccupied with learning the new technology to use the new technology.Going a bit further,it may be the case that the executives of 20th Century Fox believe that traditional advertising for a summer blockbuster can only be achieved by using the tried and proven methods of traditional media.It could also be the case that the heads of the studio believes spending millions during a recession on television ads is a more practical use of their dollars than targeted online marketing.Obviously the United States recession has hit everything from major car companies to local mom and pop shops.The movie industry has faced the same difficulties in its industry.Movies are down,commercials for movies are up,and thats never a good sign.The fact is that despite how effective traditional media has proven to be,online tactics such as Search Engine Optimization,Search Engine Marketing and PPC ads should have been implemented.Googling major keywords such as Tom Cruise or Cameron Diaz or Knight and Day should have resulted in targeted ads that linked to ticket purchasing sites,movie trailers and the official website for the film.Similarly,a YouTube search for the two stars names should be turning up the trailer for the film as well as promotional materials.Even paying for key ads of competitive or past similar hits such as Mr.and Mrs.Smith could have yielded some result and certainly would have been better than nothing.Internet marketing is not a new way of doing business,it has been around since the days of 56k modems,and the internet was leveraged as far back as the days of the original Blair Witch Project film.Granted,not every movie lends itself to an online presence and grassroots movement in the manner in which that film did,but to leave so much on the table in the digital space seems careless at least and downright foolish at worst.The stars of the film are two of the worlds brightest,but both have seen uneven box office returns for their last few films.The marketing efforts were in place,but were either lacking or poorly executed.In an age where most major Hollywood releases have budgets well over one hundred million dollars (with accompanying marketing budgets that typically come close to matching those production budgets),there must be efforts made to not only deliver marketing materials through all available channels,but to do so in effective,innovative and public involving ways.The days of sending the stars onto talk shows that are rapidly losing viewers,having them wave to the stalking paparazzi in an effort to have their smiling faces turn up in the tabloids,and relying on television commercials are all in the past.Todays digital landscape and tech savvy audiences demand more,and the failure of Knight and Day to attract an audience may finally help that reality sink into the minds of the decision makers who dropped the ball on the marketing of this film.