Da Vinci Code Marketing Madness
Kathleen Destino
Picture From: http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/first-bo-reports-on-da-vinci-code/
The Da Vinci Code was a hot commodity for a while there, and some of the marketing madness is lingering. I know there are reasons this marketing trend started, but I checked out the facts just to be sure.
The book http://www.danbrown.com/ has been on the New York Times best seller list for over 161 weeks. The movie http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/thedavincicode/ experienced the second biggest worldwide opening of all time, making $224 million in the first weekend (just behind Star Wars 3 at $254 million). And the Catholic Church could not debate the story enough, while the media outlets couldn’t possibly cover more of the debate.
The Major Madness
Some big time marketers are cashing in left and right, and taking a gamble at the same time. You can not only read the book, see the movie, and debate both, but you can go on the Da Vinci Code diet http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_4876.asp or buy the Da Vinci Code video game. You can even tune in to “Treasure Hunters,” http://www.nbc.com/nbc/Treasure_Hunters/ the Da Vinci Code inspired reality TV show from NBC.
The gamble comes in to play when we consider the sustainability of a trend such as movie hype. We’ve seen the major fast food chains do it for years. They promote movies on packaging and with toys, games, and promotions. It seemed to work for them as we saw it become a continuous pattern in their advertising and marketing campaigns. But can it work for everyone?
The Minor Madness
With the Da Vinci Code, the marketing trend didn’t end with the multi-million dollar marketers or fast food chains. It seemed to take off on a local level as well. I was driving home from work shortly after the release of the movie, and I passed my local liquor store where they were advertising Da Vinci wine specials on their sign. In the same block the local food store mentioned Da Vinci something or other.
I felt like I was so bombarded with Da Vinci Code marketing that I didn’t even know what they wanted me to do. Did they think just because they put the name of the book/movie on their signs that people will come flocking in cult like fashion as they did to the book?
Perhaps. Or perhaps they were just trying out this movie hype thing for themselves. Some might call it a test, others would call it jumping on the bandwagon.
So how long did the movie hype last and what did it mean for our major and minor players in the Da Vinci marketing game?
The Decline of the Madness
In the second week, the movie fell 40%, making $92 million. For our major players, the media hype fell away with the dwindling box office numbers - the NBC Da Vinci Code inspired reality series debut averaged 2.8 (18-49) ratings, and I have yet to hear of anyone trying the Da Vinci diet. But here they are, stuck with their big investment in a well-hyped and marketed movie that didn’t end up doing quite as well as these big companies had hoped.
Our minor players, on the other hand, don’t have quite as much invested as our major ones. The Da Vinci Code message may have struck the community as annoying, uninteresting or generic, but when the movie sales slowed and the audiences lost interest, they could easily take down their signs and reposition their message.
The Moral of the Madness
It’s okay to try new things, to take a risk and analyze the results. Just be sure not throw your annual budget into one movie, event or otherwise that may be well hyped, but is actually a stinker.