Homer Simpson Sure Knows His Marketing

By Gordon Bryan

If there's one thing Homer Simpson knows, (let's face it, he doesn't know much!), then it's how to promote a movie. Two great examples, one offline, and one online have done a great job...

With the Simpsons movie set to hit cinemas this summer, the marketing machine has gone into full flow. You wouldn't have thought something like The Simpsons would need much marketing, but I guess the trick is to persuade fans to actually go to the cinema to watch it.

Firstly offline, in Dorset in England there is a huge chalk man on the side of a hill. Naked, sexually aroused and brandishing a club, it has long been considered an important fertility symbol...

Can you imagine the fuss then, when a 180ft chalk Homer suddenly appeared next to it? In his underpants and brandishing a doughnut, no-one could be left in any doubt that something was afoot in Simpson land!

It made news stories around the world, and whatever was needed to get permission for *that* stunt, it must be worth it!

Then online, there is a site which allows you to submit your photo, and get it returned to you looking like a Simpsons character.
You can make all sorts of changes to it.
All it needed was for some of these 'simpsonize me' pictures to appear on a social networking site like myspace, and suddenly everyone wants one!

Of course the only place to get it is at this site which promotes the movie!

Brilliant!
Both of these methods have a head start, because they are using a brand, the Simpsons, which already had a massive following, so will always attract interest, but nevertheless they are great examples of using good old fashioned marketing to promote a film.

The movie will no doubt make millions, which after all is the point of any movie, despite what anyone tells you otherwise!

Gordon Bryan is the author of 'Make Money From Movies,' a guide where he takes you through the single technique he uses again and again to profit from any movie! Find out more at: http://www.gordonbryan.com/makemoneyfrommovies

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