The Greatest Movie Ever Sold
Marketing is a funny thing: we notice it, but we don't.
When we go to the movies I'm the annoying friend who notices all the brands everywhere. I remember seeing the first Spiderman movie when Toby McGuire shot a web and pulled a can of Dr. Pepper towards him, and noticing that it was a Dr. Pepper and wondering how much they'd paid to have that few seconds of can prominently featured in a huge blockbuster release. I don't know why, it's just something I've always picked up on.
It's weird to think about all the thought and effort that goes -literally- into controlling how we think and what we buy, and it was interesting to see which brands were interested in financing and being involved in the film, and which weren't.
Tonight Ty and I hit up the Globe Theatre and checked out Morgan Spurlock's documentary about product placement and marketing called "POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold", and I can't say enough good things about it. It was an honest (or, about as honest as you can get) look into what goes into finding financing for a film and how filmmakers and studios work with (or for) companies to push a particular brand or product through product placement and co-sponsorships.
For example, the official title of the film is "POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold" and even though I've never tried a POM drink I'm suddenly interested in their brand because of the way they approached the project, and the fact that they were confident enough in their brand to invest in a 'risky' project like the film. Obviously this totally buys into what the movie is trying to do, but somehow I feel less like a sucker if I'm being directly marketed to?
Morgan explains it all a bit better in his TED Talk "The Greatest TED Talk Ever Sold", which is a great precursor for the film, and an experiment in marketing in and of itself:
I think the thing I love most about Morgan Spurlock's documentaries is Morgan Spurlock himself; I love his narration and how he never seems to take himself seriously at all, and this is definitely the funniest piece of work he's done so far. I actually had to hit Ty to stop him from guffawing loudly in the theatre -you can't take that guy anywhere!
But don't take my word for it, check out the trailer and go see the film, and learn a thing or two about the world you live in, for chrissake!
