We learned in October that Nine was getting pushed back to a Christmas premiere. Since The Road was already slated for release on the same date, it sounded like this was nothing more than a move to make the film's box office grab as smooth as possible. But maybe it was to plan the massive marketing push.Variety reports that the Weinstein Company have partnered with Disney/ABC Unlimited to market the film. This "megapact" will mean that Nine-flavored content will get infused into "a wide variety of shows, including ABC's Dancing with the Stars." For the dance-centric show, there will be a themed dance number on November 17 with songs and outfits from the film. The push will also work its way into the soaps on ABC -- the big trio of All My Children, One Life to Live, and General Hospital. Then there will be a "road-block" style trailer on the 22nd, making it's way onto a bunch of channels, a microsite on ABC.com, and late-night integration.
Inclusion on dancing reality shows make sense, but the rest is a little ridiculous -- both for the potential for over-saturation and this idea of market-injected content. I bet they're just ruing the fact that series get written well in advance and that they couldn't get Nine-themed fare into the likes of Grey's, Cougar Town, Lost, etc. And here we used to make fun of obvious product placement. At this rate, I wonder if we can come to expect films to be advertised in each other, like Spider-Man trying to make it to Mary Jane's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows premiere or somesuch.
Do you enjoy big marketing pushes, or does it all get real old real fast?
1. Luckily I don't have cable so I won't have to endure any of it! Hahahahahahahaha.
Posted at 12:34PM on Nov 11th 2009 by NP