In the New York Times today:
Movie studios typically advertise on television and in newspapers in search of the biggest possible opening-weekend audience. For a new film, « The Constant Gardener, » Focus Features is intent on building its audience in a different way: by taking aim at readers of niche Web sites and blogs.
Focus, an art-house unit of Universal Pictures, has purchased ads for « The Constant Gardener » on the political blog Wonkette, as well as the Web sites of politically oriented publications like Harper’s, The Nation and National Review.
Ever since the release of « The Blair Witch Project » in 1999, movie studios have strived, and failed, to replicate the groundbreaking Internet campaign that made that film a marketing phenomenon. These new ad campaigns on the Web suggest that studios are becoming more determined to identify and reach niche audiences online.
Once the Mafiaboy movie gets the green light (if it ever does), the producers want me to publish a blog during the production process. It’s already integrated in the marketing plan. Makes a lot of sense, considering the subject matter of the movie. The people who spend time on the Web (and the people who love them…) will most likely be the first to develop an interest in this film. (As long as it doesn’t take 10 years to get made, in which case it will end up on the History Channel.)