It is refreshing to hear of the current success of the non-traditional marketing campaign Paramount Pictures has pursued for the new Independent Movie release, “Paranormal Activity”. Rather than developing a standard movie trailer and advertising widespread across various broadcast mediums,  the marketing campaign has been made up of a grassroots campaign consisting of social media, limited showings and word-of-mouth fan buzz. It’s marketing slogan? “The first ever major film release demanded by you.” By engaging directly with the target viewers of this film, Paramount has broken box office records with the opening weekend, with approximately $7.1 million through the weekend, all for a film that cost roughly $11,000 to produce.

Fans hailed the film on Twitter, while other social media outlets urged consumers to visit www.paranormalmovie.com to have people urge their local theaters to showcase the film. You Tube was used to engage with the fans and to continue to encourage them to spread the word on the film.

The film has been sold as an “experience”, rather than just a movie. Paramount’s experience has ultimately led them to the bank. Another case in point that showcases the power of WOM and social media.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/10/12/paranormal.activity.movie/index.html

Facebook announced this week its partnership with Nielsen to provide ad measurement to advertisers. The product, Nielsen BrandLift, is expected to prove the performance of Facebook display ads. The information will be gathered using surveys that will ask users about their attitudes and purchase intent based on display ads that run throughout Facebook. The surveys will appear on Facebook’s homepage in the same space where sponsored messages currently are. The goal is to have a look and feel that fits within the existing Facebook experience. The frequency of the surveys will be closely monitored. Nielsen BrandLift will launch in the U.S. first with select advertisers and then roll out to all Facebook partners. According to comScore, Facebook pulled a 9.1% share of display ad views in the U.S. in July, landing behind Yahoo but ahead of AOL and Microsoft. I am very interested to see what sort of quantifiable results they report because it will allow me to better evaluate placements on Facebook. Social networking sites accounted for more than 20% of ads viewed online, with MySpace and Facebook accounting for 80% of them. We know there has been a shift in user behavior online and it is only fitting that we begin accurately measuring performance as we do with other leading content sites.

http://www.mediabuyerplanner.com/entry/45288/facebook-allies-with-nielsen-to-provide-ad-measurement

According to Nielsen, Microsoft’s Bing grew 22% in August, increasing it’s share of searches to 10.7%. To many critics surprise, it appears as though Microsoft has reinvented its search business. Taking advantage of the recent merger with Yahoo, the two search engines now provide close to 27% of all searches, pleading their case to be included into marketer’s campaigns. These finding indicate that Bing’s massive marketing campaign was successful by resulting in a boost. Will Bing’s novelty wear off, or has it become a real competitor in the space? I guess only time will tell. What are your predictions?

Coming later this year, Google Wave is an open-source communication and collaboration tool that pushes the limits of what is possible in a web browser. After having recently received a developer account for Google Wave, I watched the Google Wave Developer Preview on YouTube again. At just over 80 minutes, the presentation is lengthy for the average user, so I created quick links below to jump right to some of the main points.
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YouTube began as a place where people could post home-made videos, but now it has become increasingly aggressive to promote more viewers and advertisers with striking deals to host movies and television shows.  YouTube is now emerging as a big competitor to entertainment companies such as Blockbuster Inc., Netflix, iTunes and Amazon.com Inc.  

Google Inc.’s YouTube is in the process of discussing with major movie studios ways they can stream movies on a rental basis.  YouTube is talking with Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, Sony Corp, Time Warner Inc. and a few others about charging for new titles on the YouTube site.  In some cases, these titles might be available on the site the same day that the movie comes out on DVD. 

For Hollywood, this move could represent a big step in attempt to offset its dwindling DVD sales with online revenue.  Movie studios have been pursing these kind of deals, as revenue from DVD sales has fallen more rapidly than they have anticipated.  Studio revenue from DVD sales would fall by about $850 million this year to $12.9 billion.  

YouTube and the studios are still debating how this whole process is going to work and how much revenue YouTube is going to give the studios.  Under current plans, 10,000 Google employees will test the service for a period of three months starting in September, but the trial has been postponed as negotiations drag on.  

Many consumers are not too trilled at watching a full-length movie on a computer screen, but if you think about it, it might be worth it.  The price would be about par with On-Demand movies from your TV and you could watch your computer screen anywhere at any time, not just from your home television.  This could be the next big online revenue center for advertisers and entertainment businesses.