Viral Vs. Traditional: The Chronicles of Narnia Showdown.
So how do you sell a movie these days? Do you take out a prime time television ad and some daily print full-pages and cross your fingers? Or is that the way of the past? Would it be better to assemble a shotgun blast of fancy, insane, viral, niche marketing techniques to seize the complete attention of several small groups? What gives you more return on your investment, dollar for dollar? One huge mass media campaign, or lots of little ones?
The answers to all of these questions will be settled once and for all when Disney releases the Chronicles of Narnia this month. They’ve got kids in juvenile detention centers acting out Narnia conflict resolution scenarios and Christian prayer groups pushing Narnia’s hidden theological themes. They’ve talked to the Coast Guard and the Ronald McDonald House. But they’ve skimped, big time, on their traditional media budget. If the box office returns pay off, the future may already be here.
