Scads of ads were fads
Studios now more conservative with consideration campaigns
It's that time of year when three little words make beautiful music all over town: "For Your Consideration." And even though the Academy may frown on them, studios are hard-pressed not to support their prestige releases and box office successes with pricey four-color homages.
It used to be that studios would take out ads for just about anyone who had ever made a hit movie for them -- or had FYC guarantees written into their deal memos.
A glance at back issues of Variety produced a number of Oscar hopefuls whose run for the gold never got further than these pages. How about "Cutthroat Island" as Best Picture? Or Best Actor candidates Jim Belushi in "Curly Sue," Neil Diamond in "The Jazz Singer," Sly Stallone as "Rambo?"
Nowadays many cost-conscious distribs are more discerning about who and what they campaign for. Box office returns have a lot to do with it, which may explain why 2002 films like "Windtalkers," "Hart's War" and "K-19: The Widowmaker" are among star vehicles that have been MIA as far as ads are concerned.
"It got to be another big ego thing," says one marketing vet. "I think some of the studios just decided it isn't cost-effective to take out a lot of pages for films that simply don't have a shot at anything."
Relationships can be a big factor in deciding which pictures are worth pushing for awards. In 1992 Clint Eastwood brought home an "Unforgiven" Best Pic Oscar for WB, which may be one reason the studio has never failed to support his films with FYC ads, even for disappointments like this year's "Blood Work."
Mel Gibson's early '02 release, "We Were Soldiers" may be a long shot but distrib Paramount remembers the Best Pic win for "Braveheart" in '95 and is backing Mel's movie with substantial ad spreads.
And then there's "Narc," the low-budget cop thriller which Par is supporting with a campaign equal to the highly-touted "The Hours." Of course it doesn't hurt that the film is championed (and exec produced) by studio golden boy, Tom Cruise.
Perhaps that is why New Line Cinema prexy of domestic marketing Russell Schwartz says he still sees great value in FYC ads -- up to a point.
"Part of their value is to make sure talent involved in a movie is represented," says Schwartz. "It's the feel-good-about-yourself factor and studios would feel guilty about not doing it. The problem is sometimes all of us get sucked into our own sense of excessiveness and self-importance."
That "excessiveness" can lead to over-the-top campaigns like that for Oscar '98 when Miramax and Dreamworks tried so hard to outspend each other for "Shakespeare In Love" and "Saving Private Ryan" respectively that trees nearly made the endangered list.
But although most studios are more conservative now, there are still a few big campaigns running, such as one Dreamworks is running for "Road To Perdition" proclaiming it is "Back in theaters." Actually, it is back in only one theater in L.A., the Arclight, where the company has been keeping it alive theatrically during the awards period by four-walling it on a split schedule with the animated contender "Spirit, Stallion of the Cimarron."
"Perdition" is also responsible for the year's most unique FYC ad strategy. DreamWorks marketing chief Terry Press has created heavy cardstock detachable lobby cards for "Perdition" that she is encouraging readers to sell.
"We tried to make our trade ads memorable, so I thought for what everyone spends on Academy ads, it would be nice for people who get Variety to get something back," she says. "This way they can just detach the cards and sell them on eBay."
A check of eBay showed 25 different "Perdition" lobby card auctions in progress, but few were drawing bids.
