Seen and Heard at Star Power

Hollywood marketers gathered at The PMA’s annual Star Power conference in Universal City in May. For those who missed the networking fest and PROMO’s EMMA presentation, here are a few sound bites from the panels and roundtables convened over the two-day event.

Put it in writing: “Submit letters of intent early or as soon as you hear of a script. Write out how you can help us. No one is going to call you back if you don’t bring something to the table.”

Sponsor a premiere: “Offer tickets to key retailers. You can purchase one for $20 to $100,000.”

Think print: “Advertorials are very easy to pull together on a small budget, such as four to six pages of movie stills. It looks beautiful and people read it like it’s a story.”

Sample like crazy: Take advantage of movie theaters as a place to sample a partner’s product — or go into schools with them, Bousel-Cohen says.

You don’t need to spend millions of dollars for a successful movie promotion, says MGM’s VP-Promotions Helene Bousel-Cohen. Her advice:

Get on board early: “We live and die by opening weekend,” she says, after which 40% of box office sales go down. “So promotions must hit marketplace by the premiere.”

Be cheap: “If you have a small budget, don’t come in with tremendous demands. Don’t do the Bonds and X-Mens where you’re competing with QSRs and beer companies spending $10 million.”

Bring in the ads: “TV, print, outdoor and radio are all vital and online is becoming a very important piece of media as well.”

Get on-pack together: “We look for things we can’t get involved in on our own — on-pack at retail, tapping into databases,” she says. “If you’re targeting the same demographic as us, we are interested in talking to you.”

“Many pictures no longer have traditional partners such as QSRs,” says Rita Prosyak, VP-feature film promotions of 20th Century Fox. “Nontraditional categories are becoming traditional.”

“Viewers are fast forwarding through commercials, regardless of messages,” Michael Mohamad, VP-marketing at The History Channel says. “It’s the future of our industry and we need to recognize that.”

“DVR is going to put a lot of economic pressure on us,” says Jed Petrick, president and COO of The WB. “If we can’t afford to put the shows on, then where are we?”

“Product placement is not essential and is more needed on TV,” says Warner Home Video’s VP-Promotions Mimi Slavin.