Promo in the theaters
This past weekend, my wife and I went to see a movie in the theater. This is not unusual for us . . . we've been big movie buffs since we started dating! Sometimes, we'll go see a movie that looks . . . well, so-so (generally defined as a Rotten Tomatoes rating between 35 and 70%, www.rottentomatoes.com).
Now, before I get ahead of myself, ever since I gave away that Darth is Luke's father in 1980, I've been VERY careful about NOT discussing movies in depth before folk have had a chance to see them. In fact, I avoided discussing the movie Ready Player One with a co-worker aficionado of the book for weeks! (Go see the movie Campbell!!) With that out of the way, if you have not seen Melissa McCarthy's Life of the Party, and intend to see it, you may want to stop reading now!!
OK, since you've been warned, I'm going to dive into my biggest peeve of this movie, which comes right at the end: Debbie and her daughter Maddie were in bachelors programs!! You don't wear masters hoods when you graduate with a BA, BS or BFA!!!!
Ugh. OK, back to topic.
In that same scene, I looked for the use of one promo product that I've pushed, the Tassel Topper. I did see some decorated mortar boards, but couldn't tell if anyone in the crowd was advertising their next stop on the academic road.
Now, I'm not giving anything away by mentioning that the movie is about a middle-age housewife going back to college . . . that's obvious from any trailer or movie description. So the scene that most caught my promo eye was fairly predictable. Of course there's a musical montage where she's going through the registration process. During that montage, several vignettes show her picking up her books at the bookstore (given how long she'd been out of school, I was a bit surprised that there was no sticker shock!) And while she's there, she goes a bit overboard on college themed products. She picks out a mug with the school logo (promo product), a sweater with the college name (promo), and a ridiculous foam hat in college colors with the logo (oh, how promo!)
What's the point of this writing . . . well, maybe I'm just bragging about how much I notice promotional products in daily life. I do believe they definitely need to be in a good marketing campaign. Also, in some cases, they can do more than advertise. If you've got the right brand, people will willingly pay good money for the right to wear or display that brand.
Promo Products Work!!