Borat - King of New Marketing

Sascha Baron Cohen, of the High Priest Cohens, is confusing the crap out of every conventional thinker or marketer right now. His movie, Borat, is a hit (to say the least) with (as of 11/15), $69million in box office receipts after just 2 x #1 weekends. With a production budget of $18 million, it's pretty safe to say that Will Ferrell has some competition on his hands.

Just after the (over)hype of Snakes on a Plane died down, this movie comes along and thankfully proves that word-of-mouth really does rock.

The Lefsetz Letter posts a great piece on Borat and relates it to the music business as well. What I love about it was that it was posted on the day of the release and it accurately predicts the movie being a hit!

Here are some (there are many) highlights:

If you want success today, create something good.  Seed the early adopters.  And then cease, or at least slow down, your marketing.  Because the more you beat people over the head, the less attention they’re going to pay.  THEY want to feel in control, THEY don’t want to feel tools of the system.  THEY want to embrace the project...

This frightens the purveyors.  Because they can nail marketing, but QUALITY?  Look at the flicks, they truly suck.  Ask the man on the street, he thinks music sucks TOO!  To the point where most people have tuned out, and the only people who can bring them back are their buds, who have a RELATIONSHIP with them.  Believe me, the marketers at Fox don’t have a relationship with their audience.  They THINK they do, but they don’t.

Hearing the movie’s good, I’m gonna give it a chance.  Then again, if Fox keeps trumpeting the story, they’re gonna kill MY word of mouth, I don’t want to work for the man.  And neither does the Net generation.  WE make the stars, not you.  Give us reasonable choices, WE’LL do the work.  It won’t happen instantly.  First week grosses, first week SoundScan numbers, are no longer important.  It’s about longevity.  It won’t take forever, because word of mouth happens so quickly on the Net, and we’re all in touch with SO many more people on a regular basis.  But it’s now our game, not yours, don’t ever forget it.