The snake's out the bag (or is it?)
Warning: Watch out for loose puns ahead. Proceed at own risk.
After much venom in the social media land, soap opened to what is considered to be a rather toothless performance.
Will Waugh from the ANA Marketing Maestros Blog reminds me that I was rather bullish (snakish?) on the anticipated outcome of this movie:
- Across the Sound episode with Jackie Huba and Pete Blackshaw
I'm not sure I as much predicted it would be a smash as I hoped it would be, based on the exponential validation it would have lended to the still-young and oft misunderstood social media and new marketing worlds. THAT SAID...
1) The snakes not quite out the bag...it is early days and after a weekend of great weather and a long tail (with a rattle at the end of it) that has yet to wave, I'm reserving judgement on the binary "success"/"failure" of the movie and its marketing. Despite preliminery (or is it premature) judgement - even from the studio - it did come in number 1 (or very close to it) based on early box office estimates...
2) Ultimately this movie is highly specialized in terms of its genre and expected audience. That's not a cop-out, but it remains to be seen whether love = $$$. Did Jackie Huba sleep outside for 3 days to be at the first screening? Probably not
3) Ultimately we should be looking at very simple metrics.
- How much did it cost to make?
- How much did it cost to market?
- How much did it earn?
4) What did the studio learn in the process that they can use for future marketing of movies with much more risk at stake?
5) Arguably most importantly, was the movie so great that Sam Jackson already signed up for soap II or so bad that it will be destined for cult status immortality? If this movie was truly embraced by the people, then it will ultimately live and die by the hands, mice and wallets of those same people.
Early days my fellow reptilians, early days...
