• Brandweek, Monday, November 21, 2005 12:45 PM

Columbia Pictures has found a new way to market one of its films in a tie-in with Netflix, the movie subscriber service that delivers its DVDs via snail mail. In a promotion for Columbia's new film, "Memoirs of a Geisha," the company has arranged for a photo of the movie's main character to be plastered across the familiar red Netflix envelope containing subscribers' DVD's. The character, named Sayuri, is a black-haired beauty with bright red lips and striking blue eyes. In other words, she's hard to miss. The move is a first for Netflix, whose packaging up until now has been commercial-free. The strategy is the brainchild of Netflix's Peggy Fry, who became the company's vice president of ad sales in July. "Netflix ships one million DVDs a day," said company spokesman Ken Ross. "Testing ad vehicles makes sense now that our subscriber base has reached real critical mass with 3.6 million customers currently and more than five million projected for next year." "Geisha" envelopes started mailing this week. Neither Netflix nor Sony would comment on what ZIP codes were targeted, how many envelopes the promo would appear on, or how much the ad space cost. Memoirs opens for nationwide release Dec. 23.

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