Avatar as an examination of marketing

According to BoxOfficeMojo, Avatar has grossed more than $1.4 BILLION, and counting! There is no definitive answer at the time of writing this, but production costs for the movie appear to be close to $300 million, and marketing costs close to $200 million.

So, here's a question (for which there is probably no answer):

How much would the movie gross if they had spent less on marketing? Or more on marketing? How much would the movie gross if they had spent less on production (presumably weakening the quality of the product)?

This is a very common question - one that we grapple with all the time. Will more marketing lead to enough sales to earn our money back? Is the product good enough on its own to be successful without extensive marketing?

And here's another thing business owners and marketers need to keep in mind: It's possible that the movie would have grossed, say, $1.25 billion with no marketing, putting them $50 million ahead of where they are now (saving $200 million on marketing but earning $150 million less). Would that mean the marketing was a waste? It's tempting to say yes, but think of all the awareness for the movie and for James Cameron and for Fox that was generated!


All marketing has benefits beyond its direct impact on sales.


Remember that as you consider investing in marketing.


Your turn: What's your guess about the box office sales with more (or less) spending on the product or on the marketing?

Creativity counts - just look at this Mac ad

In my marketing seminars and engagements I preach the importance of creativity. Marketing ideas, and in particular advertising ideas, need to stand out and make you notice. They need memory glue. They need to be different.

There are lots of examples that work, and this Mac ad is a recent example.















Most online ads take up one location on a web page. Most have some kind of animation. Mac took it one step further by buying TWO prime locations on the page, but then also integrating the ads so they work together.

In this ad, PC leaves the right-hand, vertical spot to participate in what's going on in the horizontal spot, while Mac watches (I'd show it to you, but the ad rotates so if I sent you a link, you might not see it).

Genius.

That creative thinking about how to make people notice really works.

Most ads are noise. This ad is memorable.

And that's the whole point: how can you think creatively about how you advertise or market your brand that makes it truly stand out from the noise?

Think Diamond Shreddies

Think Bic razor billboards (click to view).


THINK CREATIVELY


Your turn: what are your favourite ads that truly stood out from the rest - that were truly creative?

From the "why bother?" category

Here is a photo I had to take when I came to a stop behind a truck recently.

You have to be completely stopped, and the car immediately behind the truck to be able to read it. So this marketing tactic will work on exactly ONE person.

Why bother?

What's worse, even if you happen to be the lucky one that has the chance to read it, you can't even tell whose truck it is!

Again, why bother?

If you have the opportunity (i.e. if you have a truck), post your brand name and your tag line. And by the way, your tag line should be somewhat descriptive or at least intriguing.

All it takes is some common sense and some attention to detail. It just upsets me a bit to see companies wasting marketing opportunities like this. Don't waste. Pay attention to how you position yourself in everything that you do.

Great golf, lousy marketing

Today I noticed, as I was traveling along the 401, a huge flag at Puslinch Lake Golf Course that read "GREAT GOLF"... and that's it. Now, I knew it was Puslinch Lake because I happened to play there two days ago. But they have raised that flag to advertise their course to all passers by. Great idea because it's a huge audience (more than 500,000 cars per day) and because a good potion of them will be potential golfers.

But what if someone was actually interested in golfing there based on the flag? Only a small handful of the potential audience would know which course that was! No phone number on the flag. No web address. Not even the name of the course! They're saying 'come golf here, but you have to guess where here is'.

What a waste.

We work so hard in marketing to convince people to try our products. You CAN'T make it hard for them to figure out how to get it! In fact, you have the burden of making it EASY.

Have your say: In an earlier post, I gave an example of how easy VISA made it for online shoppers to apply for a card. What are some other examples of companies making it easy to try a product?

This is just too darn clever

This is the first in what will certainly be many thoughts and ideas that come from friends. It's "Friends' Input Week" at Share Of Blog!

Kudos to you Bic. Thanks for passing it on TK!