Over at NIT, there was a discussion on those of use who decided to pimp our blogs out to the man in exchange for free movie tickets.
This got me to thinking about a few things (better watch out because it gets messy around here when I actually start to think).
It's definitely a new marketing tactic by Universal to court bloggers to come to a free screening of a movie. I think it's a little brave of them encouraging us to write reviews, particularly if the movie winds up stinking like The Island. Let's invite bloggers who probably reach about 20 people each (though some of the folks attending might reach more. Let's all be realistic about our sitemeter hits, m'kay?) and ask them to see our movie.
Now, I don't expect that y'all would see a movie just because I said it was good or said it was bad, but in my experience, if someone I know personally says, "PK, that movie was fantastic. You should see it," I'm inclined to at least consider seeing it---either in the theater or waiting until it comes out on DVD.
"PK, that movie is awful."---yeah....snowballs have better chances in stoves than that movie has with me.
Though if I say "You should really see [insert random movie title here]," you should see it. :)
So, in an effort to build word-on-the-street, Universal is trying this marketing scheme. I think they are banking A LOT on Joss Whedon's reputation with his successful TV series/fan base. Because I have no idea who's actually starring in it.
And I am not a fan of Buffy/Angel/Firefly. Never watched any of them. I've been told the latter was actually really good. I'm trying to decide if I want to read up on Firefly before seeing the movie Wednesday, or would it be good to go in cold? You can see The Mummy Returns and "get it" without having seen The Mummy. However, The Two Towers makes almost no sense unless you saw The Fellowship of the Ring.
Second, what about pimping out your blog? Mr. Roboto had a field day when he re-designed his blog to poke fun at News2 for the scrolling headlines several local bloggers have on their sites. Is this any different than wearing a radio station's T-shirt or having its bumper sticker on your car? Those with the high and mighty tone about placing the synopsis on a blog might want to consider exactly how and when they got sucked into the great marketing machine.
No one is immune. Resistance is futile.
