Reality TV Goes to the Movies

It had to happen sooner or later. Reality TV is going to the movies. New Line Cinema has produced a movie called "The Real Cancun". Set up like MTV's "The Real World", the movie is based on the experiences of 16 guys and girls on an all expenses paid spring break. There were no private moments. Cameras were there 24 hours a day.

"It just seemed to us that there was an opportunity to take a form of entertainment that is really working on cable and prime time and bring it to the big screen," said Jonathan Murray, the film's lead producer. "Spring break has been a staple of youth movies since the 1950's. We decided it would look good on the big screen and doing it this way would give audiences something they don't get on television, which is, quite frankly, some nudity, some sexual situations and language that's more realistic and honest."

"It's not just a booze fest," said director Rick de Oliveira. "It's not just 'Girls Gone Wild.' There are no competitions, no winners, no voting off islands. Instead there are the stories of what happened to these people during this week. What we have done here is not a documentary, but it's not a sex comedy like 'American Pie,' either."

So what is it, Rick, a Miramax period piece?
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by Steve Hall    Apr-23-03    




The Guide to Spoof and Parody Advertising

Who knew there was a guidebook to spoof advertising. Here's a 21 page PDF report called FWD: This Made Me Laugh. It's not new. It was put out in 2002 but it offers information for marketers on how to detect and react to parodies. Useful stuff.
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by Steve Hall    Apr-23-03    




Rance Crain on Keeping it Familiar

At the recent AAAA meeting, we all heard about Bill Lamar SVP CMO of McDonald's talk about how the company is going to dramatically overhaul it's marketing. Ad Age's Rance Crain, supported by some Yankelovich research, questions this shift away from the comforting familiarity that people are looking for today.
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by Steve Hall    Apr-23-03    




Reader's Digest Cuts Circ From 11M to 10M

It must be nice to be able to cut your circ by a million and still have a circ of 10 million. Reader's Digest is doing just that to save on circulation costs. They are eliminating sweepstakes and subscriptin agents which have proven to have less than optimal renewal rates.
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by Steve Hall    Apr-23-03    




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Online Ad Spend is Up and so is Industry Optimism

For two straight quarters, online ad spending has increased.

Greg Stuart, IAB CEO, thinks the increase is "indicative of a larger trend at work. Of late, major marketers such as McDonalds have announced they intend to pour more dollars into the interactive space, and I'm certain their counterparts and competitors are also too smart to ignore that interactive is an integral part of the media mix."

There might be some cool aid sipping here but a little optimism never hurt anyone. Let's just hope his, and others, optimism turns into reality.
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by Steve Hall    Apr-23-03    




Honda Un-Sells The New Hybrid Civic

Snark Hunting has an interesting opinion on why Honda has limited to four the number of color choices available on the new Hybrid Civic. And the colors themselves are not very interesting. Why limit colors? Because they just might want to limit how many cars they sell since Honda actually loses money with every Civic Hybrid they sell. A very intruiging approach to marketing. Do your part for the environment but cover your ass when it comes to your bottom line.


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by Steve Hall    Apr-23-03