June 20, 2005
"Crash" Beats the Odds
We finally saw "Crash" on Saturday. David Denby called it "brazenly alive and heartbreaking," and it certainly is. And it's very much a "lean forward" movie....you are involved and your mind is working as the multiple plot lines intertwine and separate. This is all in sync with the stuff Steven Johnson tells us is popular today in "Everything Bad...."
Surprisingly for summertime when screens are flooded with Batman, Star Wars, etc., the theater was pretty full.
That's, in part, because of the gutsy and focused marketing strategy that was followed for "Crash."
Typically, small budget, specialty movies like "Crash" are released in the fall. They start out in LA and New York, garner good press and word of mouth and spread out to the rest of the country until springtime when hopefully they get Academy Award attention.
Lions Gate took a gutsier path for "Crash." They didn't want the movie to get lost in what they called the crowded field of "highbrow quasi-commercial pictures" in the fall. So, they released the movie nationwide in May, spent a relatively modest $20 million to market it, and focused on four distinct demographics that they have successfully won over: college students, upscale adult audiences, urban market, and women.
As a result, "Crash" has probably grossed about $50 million already, which is a big success.
Interestingly, "Cinderella Man" opened in 2,820 theaters (vs. 1,864 for "Crash"), and has grossed just over $40 million...AND it cost $88 million to produce. Maybe they should have tried to be as gutsy as "Crash" with THEIR marketing.
Raising Money on the Net
Non-profits are increasingly turning to the web to raise money. How's it going? VERY well.
U.S. online donations in 2004 hit more than $3 billion, up 58% from $1.9 billion in 2003.
On average, online givers donate in total (both online and offline) more than 50% more than those donors who do not give online.
Development is marketing. And isn't it interesting how often non-profits keep development and marketing in their separate silos. Similarly, multi-unit retail operations often keep their real estate and marketing operations in separate silos, and that doesn't make any sense either!
Mac Envy - Part II
Bob LaBarge reminds me how successful Mac OS X is. Apple expected to deliver more than 2 million copies of Mac OS X version 10.4 "Tiger" by the end of last week, making Tiger Apple's fastest selling OS release ever. Great design, packaging, and marketing have a lot to do with it.
posted by David Rawle @ 6:00 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Apple marketing is so good that I've been agonizing for months about switching from being a lifetime PC user to a Mac. I use my computer mainly for writing and internet so it really doesn't make sense, except Macs appeal to my sense of aesthetics. A Mac is a pair of Manolos; a PC is Birkenstocks. And how did I ever live without an iPod? But the two designers in my office just bought new Mac laptops, the best and biggest, and both were defective right out of the box. That's far from a scientific sample, but if you're teetering on the verge of switching, it gives you pause. And try to find a repair person who specializes in Macs in this town who doesn't put you on a waiting list. So I'm still plodding around in Earth Shoes while all those hip young things in the creative class are doing wheelies in designer shoes. Which is just as well, because if I ever aspire to belong to something as pretentious as a creative class, I hope my friends will do an intervention.
opinion please....Disney decals.
i find this a TAD bit disturbing. why should kids be eating decals?!?
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