Och, mon! Looks like M.T Carney has stepped in a big pile of steaming haggis. Jerry Bruckheimer says it wasn’t his idea, but Disney is putting marketing chief Carney in suspended animation and bringing in veteran marketeer Valerie Van Galder to steer the campaign for "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides."
Could this unfortunate turn of events have anything to do with the fact that our wee Scottish lass Miss Carney had nae previous experience in movie marketing?
Dear Edwina,
This poster might work in a theater, when you have the luxury of some closer inspection. On outdoor boards in traffic It took me multiple viewings to parse this thing... the copy line disappears, and the guns are barely visible. This looks like "Nuns on the Run."
Click on images to enlarge.
Yes, but on the bright side, this could signal the return of one of entertainment advertising's most beloved design elements: the all-star head shot gallery.
Sadly, we recently read about the passing of poster artist George Akimoto at age 87. There is an estate sale including some of his original artwork and movie posters to take place this weekend in Stockton, CA. Read more about it here.
(Note to those who click on the article: the accompany photo shows a man holding up The Hidenburg one sheet, however, on IMPAwards the art work is credited to John Berkey.)
Click on image to enlarge.
If you’re like us, rarely are you insulted when someone says that a monkey could do your job. After all, monkeys are adorable little poo flingers, just like we high-strung creative types.
However, when we hear that an app can do our job, well, that reeks of impertinence. Software is more like an account exec - a soulless tool that merely bends to will of its user.
Which is why we were so horrified to read this New York Times article sent in by one of our readers: Don’t Tell The Creative Department, But Software Can Produce Ads, Too
Dear Edwina,
Typing is not a title treatment.
Our readers know that journalistic integrity is the cornerstone of MonKeyArtAwards’ credibility. That's why we copy and pasted this from the NY Times:
A multimedia campaign to promote “Boardwalk Empire” is scheduled to begin on Monday. HBO plans to spend “a little north of $10 million” on the campaign, said Chris Spadaccini, vice president for advertising and promotions for HBO in New York.
“We want the campaign to feel big to reflect the scope and scale of the production,” Mr. Spadaccini said. “We want to position ‘Boardwalk Empire’ as an epic crime drama and make people feel it’s a must-see television event.”
The campaign reflects how ad spending by entertainment companies has become a mainstay — perhaps a godsend — for the media during the uncertain economy. Campaigns for TV shows, movies, DVDs, Blu-ray discs, video games and books are proliferating amid cutbacks by marketers in categories like luxury goods, retailing and travel.
The tune-in campaign from HBO — created internally and by BLT & Associates in Hollywood, Calif. — includes television, print, outdoor and online ads, as well as bus shelters in Chicago and New York that will be decorated with models of liquor barrels, bottles and cases.
Hi Edwina-
Love the site, although I'm in AV, not Print.
But for one shining moment, I was a client and involved with a cool movie called Barbershop (MGM 2002). Check out the one sheet and compare it to Lottery Ticket. Homage or theft?
Click on image to enlarge.
From The Boston Globe: Roberts the perfect poster child
One of the problems with current movie posters is that they’re terrible. They often sell movies I often want to see. The design appears to be following a lot of marketing directives that produce posters cobbled from kits. Oddly, the most imaginative posters now are for horror films. The art for the “Saw’’ franchise, for instance, outpaces the movies themselves. Occasionally — in the case of the posters for the third film, say — they verge on inspired. Someone appears not only to have watched the films but to have liked them.
The best poster of the summer is for “Eat Pray Love.’’ Julia Roberts sits on a marble bench holding a cup of gelato (presumably, it’s Rome). Holding a plastic spoon to her mouth, with her legs close together, it’s the most childish, expectant image of Roberts that I can recall. To her left, hanging out of the frame sits a nun, who’s also having a gelato. Even if you don’t like Roberts, this is an appealing image.
The poster tells a story: a movie star returns to starring in movies. She eats dessert. In Europe. Next to holiness. She’s a tourist. She’s happy. She’s back. What a wonderful poster. It relies almost solely on Roberts’s Robertsness. Sony Pictures is banking that, between the people who miss her and the people who adore Elizabeth Gilbert’s book, the poster is a cute, convincing, contagious selling point. - Wesley Morris
Dear Edwina,
Which Came First, The Chicken Or The Comp?
See attached for posters that were finished and then revamped with slight changes and called a "finish" by a different agency. Click here and here on IMPAwards for more info.
Sincerely, Dubious
Welcome to the new economy. This probably has to do with Paramount’s supposed arrangement with one of the agencies, an arrangement we can safely assume that works to Paramount’s advantage.
It’s clear that a great deal of tweakification went on between the comp and the finish, and while we’re never sure whether it’s god or the devil that’s in the details, these “slight changes” add up to a lot of hours. What’s changed in our world is what we can bill for those hours.
Both agencies show them as finishes in their respective portfolios and isn't that - and the money - what it's all about?
Here’s a NY Daily News article on the lengths taken to heighten Sylvester Stallone’s stature for The Expendables key art.
One of our readers is asking if anyone knows who did the artsy-fartsy Saul Bass-ish posters for Rolling Roadshow.
Click on image to enlarge.
As you may have noticed, the latest Yogi Bear poster is getting lots of attention this morning here: Cinematical
and here: SlashFilm
Dear Edwina,
There has been a lot of talk about rip-offs in this blog. I wanted to bring another to your attention. This is not a new phenomenon and it's not isolated to one vendor.
Sincerely, A Reader
Click on image to enlarge.
If you're like us, you like your clients to have the word "executive" in front of their titles. It somehow mitigates that whole screaming thing they do. Which is why we are delighted to hear that Lynne Frank has been named Executive Vice Presidente de la Internacional Marketing at Warner Brothers Pictures.
Frank's boss lady Sue Kroll says it's a "newly created position" and we aren't going to argue with that or anything else Sue says. Frank will be working with the studio’s international marketing division to create campaigns in all those silly little countries we don't care about. Unless we're invading them.
One of readers sent us the Up In The Air poster along with these images and no explanation - leaving us to assume they are the results of logging on to Getty Images and entering “George Clooney carry-on luggage” in the search field.
Click on image to enlarge.
We recently received this email from one of our readers and, guessing right away by its length and lack of profanity that it was from a copywriter and not an art director, our initial response was to send it back for revisions (Make it shorter! Edgier!) instead we are posting here in its entirety:
OPEN LETTER: A Plea For Positivism
Hey, guys, can we stop cannibalizing ourselves?
Many of the comments from the past couple of weeks have been
real downers. In particular, the one calling for censorship of Mr./Ms.
Jiminy Kritic borders on fascism.
We all know things are tough; and when work is scarce and money is tight, fear always rears its ugly head and things can get awful nasty in a hurry (think of '30s Germany for an extreme example).
So, don't be an Internet Nazi. If you don't like someone's comment ignore it, call them out on it, disagree with it, but don't ask for the writer to be exiled to the blog gulag.
The most positive thing I've gotten out of this forum is a sense of community, i.e., that I'm not the only self-unemployed freelancer affected by the economic slowdown. That's helped tremendously. Constant carping/self-loathing/in-fighting does nothing but erode the spirit.
Look, we'll always have hacks. For very Da Vinci or Rembrandt there were hundreds of lesser lights. For every Chris Nolan there are a dozen Michael Bay's. No creative person exists in a vacuum - especially in the commercial sector.
Let's take the criticism of Ignition's painterly Precious poster. Obviously the client wanted arty art to make the film feel different. And while it would have been nice for anyone involved in the project to cop to the fact they borrowed heavily from that unsung the Polish poster artist, anyone who's been in a museum or taken an art history class knows that artist knows Francis Bacon's work. And while I too decry laziness in concept/design, we all know the job of marketing folks (like ourselves) is to attempt to come up with arresting commercial images (hopefully, while not be arrested for it).
Let's examine for a moment all the criticism directed at hack du jour, Michael Bay. As far as I know, Bay hasn't been holding a gun to film executives' heads. Yet, they seem to hire him constantly and throw millions his way, probably because his films bring in billions. And while I personally ignore his work, the zeitgeist demands escapism: silly romantic comedies, super-hero-laden /video game-based/ graphic novel-inspired flicks, heartwarming animated films, horror porn, franchise films, tent-poles productions and puerile teen humor/wasted weekends fluff to name a few popular genres.
The upside for is - we have product to work on. We have to hold our noses most times, but, look, it’s better than picking up road kill in summer in West Texas. If you don't get to work on the domestic campaign, there's still the International, or TV or DVD projects. It's work, folks; lets not bite the hand that grudgingly feeds us.
Plus, don't forget that not very long ago there were art-house divisions at all the majors. And while the pendulum will probably never swing back that far again, movies of substance and quality sneak in from time to time (think The Hurt Locker) and certain clients DO occasionally take risks on "outside-the-box" art. And if a project like that makes money, bar the door Katie, every studio will want a Juno!
In sum, let's be a bit more positive. May I humbly suggest that Edwina run a once-a-month item on the especially cool pieces of work that have hit the theatre lobbies, streets, airwaves or magazines? Not everyone will agree with the choices (like the Joan Rivers poster, for example) so feel free to send in your own suggestions - even if it's your own work.
It was pleasant to read the positive responses to A Piece of Work. It would be equally nice to see agencies, individuals, even (shudder) marketing suits singled out & praised for taking a chance and turning out clever, eye-catching work (not making a reference to Saw 3-D here :). Kudos are welcome by anyone, anytime. And hopefully, all of us will come away from this blog feeling less dirty.
I remain,
Cheery
