Artists marketing outside of the entertainment machine

By Chris Millichap

When I was 13 years old I had a dial-up modem, a Compaq desktop, and a copy of Napster. In the eyes of the record labels, I was public enemy #1. Labels hated me for making fewer trips to Best Buy, and major artists like Dr Dre and Metallica hated me for taking money out of their pockets.

That was 1999. Fast forward to 2011. Download speeds are faster, technology is better, and the 25-year-old version of me can now access an entire band’s discography on my cell phone while waiting for a bus in the same amount of time it took me in ‘99 to download the mp3 for Smashmouth’s “All Star” (a track I am not necessarily proud of owning).

More than a decade later and the record labels and movie studios still feel their worst enemy is the pirating consumer. But they may have a bigger issue on their hands: content producers jumping ship.

When it comes down to it, record labels and movie studios are nothing more than a means for distribution and marketing. But in the age of digital downloads and Facebook friends, the entertainment marketing techniques of old have been proven obsolete.

In 2000, while Metallica and those sub-par rockers from the Great North, Nickelback, were complaining about losing money on illegal downloads, other bands who never dreamed of a record contract were seeing unparalleled success. Dispatch, an independent jam band from Vermont, had failed to find much of an audience outside of Northeast college campuses. But thanks to Napster, word-of-mouth peer-to-peer downloads spread their music and opened up doors for nationwide tours. The band broke up in 2002, but held a reunion show in 2007 that managed to sell out Madison Square Garden… three nights in a row. All of this without a single track on Top 40 radio. They announced a tour this June that has already sold-out shows at Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Boston’s TD Garden, and Chicago’s Millennium Park. All from fans who received a presale code when they spread the word about the show on their Twitter feeds and Facebook updates. In addition to the presale code, they were also given free access to the band’s entire discography.

While a small band finding success on the Internet doesn’t turn many heads at the labels, the story is different when a major established act follows suit. In October of 2007, Radiohead ended their relationship with record giant EMI to release their new album In Rainbows independently online, allowing fans to pay whatever price they wanted for the material. Their reasoning: the record label was no longer necessary. While labels felt the distribution would prove a massive disaster, the album actually came out as number one in both UK and US Billboard charts upon release.

Much the same is beginning to be seen in movies. Director Kevin Smith (best known for his cult classics Mallrats, Clerks, and Dogma) made waves at Sundance Film Festival last week when he announced he would not be selling distribution rites for his newest release, Red State, to a movie studio. His rationale: he has more Twitter fans, podcast listeners, and social network friends than any studio in Hollywood – why would he pay someone else for marketing when he can do it better himself? Instead of a wide-release, Smith is taking his movie on a road show this March, hitting venues across the country. The event kicks off at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall March 5.

So while EMI and 20th Century Fox hire copyright lawyers to chase down every kid with a computer and WiFi, they may be missing the bigger threat to their future revenues. As social media influence increases, the strength of entertainment giants as an integral part of the process is subsiding quickly. In the near future we may see the end of labels and studios, not from lost profits on illegal pirating, but the departure of artists altogether. Because it does not matter how big your company is, you can’t market what you don’t own.

Chris Millichap is a student in the Masters in Integrated Marketing Communications program at Northwestern University’s Medill School and can be reached via Twitter @ChrisMillichap.

Avatar: a 'Titanic' exercise in marketing

By Jill Xiaojun Ni

The popularity of Avatar has been a major topic of discussion, both online and off, for the past six weeks. With long lines at the box office and endless tweets and comments on social networking sites, James Cameron’s epic story about justice, war and love has taken over worldwide media.

This past weekend, Avatar held on to the top U.S. box office spot for the sixth week in a row. This week, it surpassed Titanic in worldwide ticket sales.

What’s amazing is how much Fox invested in marketing the film. Avatar has become more than a movie blockbuster, it has become an achievement in entertainment marketing efforts.

Avatar cost Fox $350 million. Global marketing accounted for 30% of the budget, and the studio promoted the movie through synergistic approaches in new and traditional media.

Consumers got the first glimpse of Avatar in August through a16-minute IMAX trailer, which was later broadcast on television networks. The film generated global buzz through an official multi-lingual Web site that allowed participants to navigate through features and clips of the movie.

Avatar partnered with Coke Zero and McDonald’s to interact with consumers. Coke Zero launched the special “AVTR” package, which allowed consumers to simulate flying the helicopter that appeared in the movie by placing coke cans in front of their webcams with new technology called augmented reality.

McDonald’s similarly offered an Avatar themed “thrill card” with Big Mac purchases. With the card, consumers could log onto the McDonald’s vision website as an Avatar and explore Pandora with games. These innovative marketing strategies enhanced the consumer experience by seamlessly integrating into the movie’s online promotion campaign.

Did you participate with Avatar online? Did you like the film?

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Jill Xiaojun Ni is a blogger at Vitamin IMC and a student in the Masters in Integrated Marketing Communications program at Northwestern University’s Medill School. She loves watching actors do accents in movies. She can be reached at xiaojunni2010@u.northwestern.edu

Cable Networks Vying for Shelf Space

Search For the Amazon Headshrinkers? When Crocs Ate Dinosaurs?

The National Geographic Channel really worked it to get your attention with the Expedition Week line-up, which aired November 15-21, its answer to Discovery Channel’s annual hit, Shark Week. Now calling itself simply Nat Geo, the network underwent a major makeover. Last month, it debuted a new call-to-action tagline: “live curious.”

Targeting 25-to-54-year-olds, Nat Geo has been able to grow ratings for the past six years. With countless more tune-in choices to compete with every day, how does the network do it?

The answer can be found in the snack food aisle. Steve Schiffman, the National Geographic Channel’s General Manager and EVP, recently spoke at the Cable Mavericks Lecture Series at Northwestern. He drew parallels between consumer packaged goods marketing and entertainment marketing.

For instance, Nat Geo benefited from the cross-promotion of two seasoned labels – its #1 show The Dog Whisperer and PETCO, the retailer of show host Cesar Millan’s products.

In true brand-follower form, Nat Geo imitates Discovery, hence “reactivating” its image to keep up. But Nat Geo must be careful not to discard its historic pedigree, its true differentiator.

Today’s cable distribution model, much like a supermarket, allows a multitude of networks the chance to draw in consumers. The downside is both carry the threat of the private label. What’s the Safeway Select of cable? Look to the potential merger of Comcast and NBC Universal for a whole new type of station with a more efficient subscription-to-advertising revenue model.

What can Nat Geo learn from CPGs in this case to maintain its market share? Better, more nourishing ingredients. The Discovery Channel has infused its brand with its show hosts, characters who viewers can’t get enough of.

How will Nat Geo combat this threat?

--Susan Monahan