Kevin Smith's latest tirade against Joel Siegel makes me a) bust up laughing, and b) think about how great it can be when a star uses the internet to connect with his fans.
Actors and filmmakers have always been involved in the marketing process, usually in the form of press junkets, interviews and late night TV appearances, but the internet has given a select few the power to reach out further and ingratiate themselves with audiences. The question is: Does it work? And when it does, why, and why do others fail?
Awesome and effective as they were, high-concept production blogs like KongIsKing and BlueTights were such full-scale websites, they seem to lose the personal touch that actor and filmmaker blogs achieve. Each had blog-like journals, but by the sheer timing of a production blog it's hard to imagine Jackson or Singer reading hundreds of comments in the hotel room after an 18-hour day filming.
Even though the Clerks 2 video blog starts feeling like a huge marketing site, bloggers like Smith (and Zach Braff on Garden State) have a way of making their fans feel like they know them - like these stars are real people, and in this connected time, fans are more likely to respond to real-people celebrities than wanting to keep them up on pedestals. If the internet is the great equalizer, then audiences want their idols at eye-level.
A marketing exec at a studio told me last year that filmmakers were walking into meetings demanding to do podcasts and blogs - whether or not it was right for the campaign - because it was the thing to do. Obviously, this is the wrong approach and maybe there needs to be a perfect storm of willing and prolific talent, engaging film/story, timing and fanbase to get it right.
I was impressed by Jaguar's sponsorship last year of the Match Point video podcasts, but I'm not sure that EPK interviews intercut with film clips are what the podcasting audience is hungry for - of course the iTunes exposure alone made it a no-brainer, audience or not. The recent Nacho Libre Confessionals seemed better suited for podcasts, with Jack Black taking us on an unscripted, BTS tour during production.
Blog and podcast content works best when it comes from talent that understands and embraces the medium, and when it creates a relationship with the audience that feels - or even better, is - genuine.
