• by Karl Greenberg , March 4, 2009

Speaking at the Brite (Branding, Innovation Technology) conference on marketing at the Columbia Business School Center on Global Brand Leadership Wednesday, Sanjay Sood, faculty director of the University of California-L.A. Entertainment and Media Management Institute, suggested that movie launches are like brand marketing on fast-forward. "If you think about it, the movie industry launches a brand every weekend. And, you know on Friday nowadays whether it will be successful or not," he said.

He noted that Warner Brothers' "The Watchmen," which opens this weekend, is essentially "a $200 million bet, and they will know on Friday, because of the blogosphere, whether they won it or not. They will know the entire franchise value by Friday at midnight. So, movies are a good way to study brands."

"Watchmen," noted Sood, probably spent around $80 million in marketing--all within a period of months rather than a year or more-- and the bulk of that was likely spent in the past three weeks. "From movie marketing there are lessons we can learn about how to think about brands and transition them to the analog and digital world."

In movies as well as consumer products, the brand mantra must be consistent. The 1996 Paramount film "Mission Impossible" was the biggest blockbuster since 1975's "Jaws," he said, because the brand marketing identified so strongly with Tom Cruise.

"'Mission Impossible' was when the marketing machinery started to move and coalesce in Hollywood. Tom Cruise was the biggest in the world, had pulled in over $100 million for 'War of the Worlds.' He is a brand." So teasers for the film had no words, he said, and focused solely on Cruise. "The mantra was--not only is Cruise cool, but he's doing his own stunts.

"When we are talking about story, we are talking about crafting brand mythology," he says, adding that in brands with longer lifespans than film, that mythology isn't permanent, but has to be cultivated over time.

"Take Saturn--it now may go under, but it was at one time a brand with a great story, which they completely lost. [James] Stengel at P&G rebuilt the Pampers brand by focusing on mothers and how moms can live a better life with Pampers. It's about playing an active role with consumers--creating stories they can talk about and making them feel they are parts of brands."