Paul Lauer has been down this road before.

His company, Motive Marketing, has been tabbed to organize and execute a faith-based marketing intiative for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. He performed a similar role for Mel Gibson’s The Passion of The Christ, orchestrating a church-based marketing campaign that helped make The Passion one of the highest grossing movies of all time.

For Narnia, he will perform a similar role, again reaching out to churches and designing ways for pastors to incorporate the Christian themes of Narnia into their teachings. Embracing churches was so successful for The Passion that many pastors actively encouraged their churches to see the movie as soon as it came out, creating enormous pre-release hype for the film. Disney hopes for a similar buzz leading up to the release of Narnia.

Lauer’s job should be even easier for Narnia, since the story behind C.S. Lewis’ classic is geared more toward children, meaning it will appeal to the entire family. But while Lauer’s task should be easier, the line between too much and not enough emphasis on Narnia’s Christian themes will be harder to navigate for Disney when marketing the film to the public.

With The Passion, the religious meanings were obvious. However, Narnia can either be presented as a straightforward fairy tale, or as a story inspired by the teachings of the Bible. “Many people put churchgoers and Hollywood on the opposite sides of the equation,” said Lauer. “But churchgoers are hungry for movies reflecting strong values — like ‘Narnia.”

Churchgoers, however, won’t be the only people seeing Narnia. And the question for Disney is will they risk alienating churchgoers by not emphasizing the Christian themes of Narnia, or would they offend the public by embracing the Christian symbolism of the story?

And it’s a huge gamble for Disney, as they have so much riding on the success of Narnia. With the studio in desperate need of a hit release, a solid showing for Narnia would also open the doors for a movie franchise that could rival that of the Lord of the Rings, or Harry Potter. It’s an opportunity that Disney is fully aware of.

“Everyone has his own take on the book, to which the movie is faithful,” said Disney’s VP of Publicity, Dennis Rice. “Rather than embracing any interpretation, we’re remaining neutral, adopting the Switzerland approach.”

Disney has also enlisted the aid of Lewis’ stepson Douglas Gresham, to make sure the film is faithful to his stepfather’s vision of Narnia.

“We never set out to make a ‘Christian’ movie,” said Gresham. “The book taps different veins in different people. If we overstressed what little symbolism there is, we would have thrown away the project.”

Which seems to be the correct path for Disney to take in promoting The Chronicles of Narnia. In writing The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Lewis’(a devout Christian) was wise enough to put the spiritual undertones of the story in plain sight, yet never forced them on the reader. Wisely, Disney seems to be taking the same approach in bringing Aslan and the White Witch to the big screen.

“This is a huge roll of the dice … ,” said “Narnia” producer Mark Johnson. “But the payoff could be enormous.”

In a move that’s making some ad agencies nervous, WWE has begun encouraging viewers to switch to their website during commercials of ongoing matches. During RAW, which airs Monday nights on USA Network, WWE has begun prompting viewers to go to their website in order to continue watching the current match, during the commercials. Some advertisers are afraid this could start a trend of having consumers avoid viewing their commercials. While this could start a trend for website interaction during commercials for certain sports, the USA case might be an isolated one. While WWE is prompting RAW viewers to go to their website during commercials, in other instances such as a NASCAR race, the network televising the race could prompt viewers to continue watching the race from the network’s website, not NASCAR.com. This could lead to networks selling advertising for the broadcast commercials, as well as advertising on their website during commercials, through banner ads, sponsored feeds, or pop-ups. Bottom line is that the WWE’s move could set a precedent for other sports, but will likely in the end only tick off USA, and could mean that WWE loses the only cable network that was willing to show RAW. Will be interesting to see if USA tries to stop WWE from promoting their website before commercials. Ironically, Spike censored WWE from announcing they were moving to USA during their last Spike broadcast, as we covered here.

Perhaps no other traditional holiday has benefitted more from a shift in marketing recently, than Halloween. Long viewed as a children-only holiday, retailers have enjoyed a surge in profits by expanding their target market beyond the youngsters. In the early 1990s, retailers made the holiday fashionable for adults, as the costume party became a widespread social event. This led to more elaborate costumes and decorations, which resulted in speciality retailers popping up such as Party City. Now retailers have starting going after the family pet. Party City says that so far the most popular choice for fido is Darth Vader. However, while Party City only offers costumes for pets, traditional pet supply stores such as PetSmart are offering a much wider selection of products. As one PetSmart manager says: “I think there’s an overall trend toward humanization of pets,” and she adds that most costumes sell out well before Oct. 31st. In fact, most retailers report that their costumes, whether for kids, adults, or pets, all sell out well before Halloween arrives. This has led to a boom in…..you guessed it…..online costume retailers offering OVERNIGHT costume delivery! Websites selling Halloween costumes online such as http://acoolplanet.com/ and http://24hr-shopping.com/ are reporting their strongest online sales ever this year. Overall, the National Retail Federation is predicting a 5 percent increase from last year — $20 million more, which would make this Halloween season the best ever for retailers.

Looks like PepsiCo is test marketing what they hope will be a competitor for Dr. Pepper, Dr. Wham! The cola is being sold in select markets in Alabama, Florida and Georgia and distributed by Buffalo Rock out of Birmingham. So far, the online reviews seem to be good, so Dr. Wham could be looking at a national rollout soon.

Of course the marketing seems to be aimed at teens and Gen Yers, like most Pepsi products. I tasted it for the first time tonight, and while the taste was ok, I could swear I have tasted the flavor before. Has anyone else tried it yet?

Being 27, I consider myself fully grown. I have been on my own, for well, I guess seven whole years now…… Recently, I packed up all my fishing and hockey gear and moved back home. This move required that I live with my in-laws for two months while my housing arangements were being finalized……Wow. I will never do THAT again……It was tough. I have been so out of whack lately. When you live with other people, you take on their habits. I swear I have been in bed by 10:00 every night, because of their habits. 27 in bed at 10:00. What a shame. And my media habits have been….NFL football, Fox news. Yep. Fox news. But the truth is….I am exhausted. I am hoping that I have enough energy to deal with our new arrival in December. Life can be very exhausting, and those of us in the grind each day need to find a way to get our lives back. The funniest thing about living with the in-laws was the questions……you know, the BABY BOOMER questions: 1. Why do you work so late? 2. Do you get overtime? 3. I would ask for it? You should be getting time and a half like me. 4. You are going in on Sunday? Hope you are making triple time. 5. Can’t the Web site launch on tuesday instead of Monday? 6. You pay for health care? That is strange…..I never paid for it. 7. You cook? Why? Should’nt Jody (My wife)? 8. What the hell is an ipod? Can you get me one if you go out? 9. You paid how much for the house?! I would negotiate. Ahh, to be a boomer. When a college degree meant something. When the Union meant something. When the American dream was to buy a house, have a family, and have a car. The American dream for me is…..keep my job. Keep my wife. Keep my kids (when they come). Because for us in the Y generation, it is tough to keep this stuff. Thats our dream, everyday, to keep what we have…..maybe it makes us appreciate every day a little more. Becuase today, I kept my job, my wife is still bugging me, and so far so good with the baby. Today I was a success. JK

George Culbertson became the first $10,000 winner in Budget’s blog-only Up Your Budget campaign. According to their website, they are confirming a second winner. Oh yeah, BL Ochman says they were at 10,000 unique visitors by TUESDAY, a day after the campaign was launched. Will be interesting to see if they can hold or increase that traffic. Given that they will likely be announcing a new winner every 1-3 days for the next 4 months, I think they can. Only question left now is how long is it before we see the SECOND major blog-only campaign?

You really didn’t think I would go a week without a post about The King, did you?!? Seems the poor guy can’t even sell Halloween masks without getting slammed. Now some people are saying that Crispin+Porter have been emailing them to create a false buzz about the masks. Of course, that leads to some blogs commenting on the possibilities of there being some underhanded marketing of the masks, because they read that some guy thinks there is. Ain’t this word of mouth stuff great? Now to be fair to Slate’s Seth Stevenson, who claims to have received the suspicious emails, he could be exactly right. It is entirely possible that the ‘readers’ that emailed him asking if there were going to be King masks this Halloween, were actually interns at C+P. He said he started receiving emails about the masks on Sept. 30th, and claims that since the www.bkmasks.com site opened on Oct 7th, that it could be a sign that there’s something fishy going on. Again, he could be completely right. However, as I wrote about here, on October 6th, The King mask was money waiting to happen. Before writing that post, I read several blogs where people were talking about making their own King masks, and others were talking about what a great idea the mask would be. I mean when the word most associated with The King is ‘creepy’, it ain’t hard to make the connection that a King Halloween mask might sell. So why falsely hype a product that had a willing market waiting for it? The masks were going to literally sell themselves, as you could see by doing a simple Technorati blog search prior to Oct. 7th. Oh and by the way, BK now says the masks have already sold out. Good thing those ‘6 or 7′ interns created a false buzz! Did I mention Seth could be completely right? But I don’t think he is.

eBay has launched a new ad campaign, and already some people are scratching their heads. The first commercial for the ‘It’ campaign, created by BBDO, shows a pair of inventors creating the letters I-t(It), and then it becomes a hit, and everyone wants ‘It’. The tagline is “Whatever it is, you can get it on eBay.” Still some are questioning why eBay needs to be launching a new campaign at all at this time. In my view, this campaign is more about repositioning eBay to compete with retailers heading into the Christmas season. The ‘you can get anything on eBay’ message will appeal to Christmas shoppers who are looking to buy the gift for the ‘person that has everything’. Additionally, the fact of the matter is that many times you can get anything that retailers such as Best Buy and Circuit City carry, for less on eBay. Assuming you buy it from a reputable seller. While the first commercial itself didn’t blow me away, I like the concept behind the campaign. Also, it won’t hurt eBay to get additional exposure, with Google Base on the horizon as a potential competitor in the future.

Another day, another re-branding effort for KFC. For years they were Kentucky Fried Chicken. Then in the health-craze of the 90s, they ditched the ‘Fried’ and became ‘KFC’. Next they decided that they would advertise that eating their chicken was GOOD for you and would help you lose weight! That lasted all of 5 minutes(which was 5 minutes too long). Finally they became ‘Kitchen Fresh Chicken’. No wait, I forgot about ‘Chicken Capital USA’. Whew. Now it seems they have decided to say to hell with it, we are back to being Kentucky Fried Chicken. In their latest ad, a group of teens are kickin’ it on steps wolfing down a bucket of KFC, as an older man walks up. He announces that back in his day they didn’t have PDAs and MP3s and all that other crap, but they DID have KFC, but it was called ‘Kentucky Fried Chicken’. The teen turns the bucket around and shows that it reads ‘Kentucky Fried Chicken’. Their latest theme music ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ takes us out. So KFC is back to making fried chicken. And playing southern rock n roll. In other words, the Yum! Brands offering appears to be trying to return to its roots: Selling good old fashioned southern food. The big question is, will the new ads/image extend to the restaurant itself? Will the menu be pared down to focus more on southern food, which is where KFC got started? Paring down the menu definitely helped Hardees, so why can’t it work for KFC? It can, and probably would. Which means Yum! likely won’t try it.

We all know about TV shows jumping the shark. Like when the Fonz was waterskiing in his trademark leather, he jumped the shark! Or when scrappy entered scooby doo. Or when that little runt joined the Brady Bunch…. How about ad campaigns? Does anyone have any memories of when campaigns jumped the shark? Okay, I do… I think Geico officially jumped the shark with the Bear eating the salmon commercial…….I think this spot shows pretty well that Geico is having trouble coming up with new ideas to extend it’s campaign, in my opinion. Anyone else have any campaigns in mind that jumped the shark? There has to be more! Yes, I know there is….. JK

Speaking of blogs as marketing tools, here’s a classy viral marketing piece launched Friday from Sony for their Shadow of The Colossus PS2 game. It’s in the familiar typepad blog format, and all about “Giantology.” It’s fun, and kind of smart, and one of the best looking fake blogs I’ve ever seen. It also took the web about 40 hours to figure out it was fake. The Budget thing is way cooler (”cooler” in as much it might actually make a difference as opposed to just being “cool”), as the Sony effort is much more in the traditional “viral” form of “hey, super-nerds! here’s something that only you would understand based on a product you probably would have bought anyway!” The whole “viral” trend seems to follow this strange formula. It seems like “buzz” marketing would be a much more effective roadmap to success than these tech-heavy, highly pre-conceptualized, “preaching to the choir” efforts. Using the internet to make Budget the first choice of nerds is smart. Using the internet to get nerds excited about the Xbox 360 just seems like a waste of money. On a even nerdier note, I haven’t played the game, and considering my Playstation’s fried, proabably won’t. But if it’s half as good as ico was, and it looks twice as cool, I endorse it fully. Here’s the Official Site.

For the first time, a major US company has launched an ad campaign run exclusively on blogs, by bloggers, on blogger software. Budget Rent-A-Car, the 3rd largest car rental company in the US, has launched the ‘Up Your Budget’ blog campaign. The blog will be run by BL Ochman, featuring cartoons by Hugh MacLeod, and run on the blog software Movable Type. As for the campaign itself, here’s the deal: Budget, over the course of 4 weeks, will hide a $10,000 prize in 16 different cities across the US. All prizes hidden in this 16-city treasure hunt, are located in a public place. When you find the prize, you locate a special sticker on it, then send photographic proof to Budget that you’ve located the sticker. Budget will have video crews at the locations where the prizes are, posting geographic clues, and also this blog can be used by treasure seekers to post clues, or more likely, throw other hunters off the trial! As of right now, there are NO plans to use ANY form of media other than blogs to advertise this campaign. Hugh reports that Budget isn’t even issuing a press release and says his goal for the campaign is for Budget to own the words ‘road’ and ‘trip’ in the mind of the consumer. Love it. We are literally watching the evolution of blogs as a marketing tool. Exciting stuff kids!

When word first started to leak about a commercial shoot on the streets of San Francisco involving more than 150,000 super bounce balls, the spot was rumored to be more fantastic than “Grrr”. The only problem was, no one knew exactly what it was for. Well, it turns out that the long awaited spot was created by Fallon, London for Sony’s new LCD TV’s called the Bravia. It can be viewed here. In addition, a “making of” documentary with some interesting footage can be viewed here. The folks over at ihaveanidea.org are already debating the merits of the spot and whether it will fill the big shoes that it was shooting for.

Okay, I admit it. I like reading and listening to business books. From “The Millionaire Next Door” to “Good to Great” to “Freakanomics” to “The Tipping Point” to “Think and Grow Rich” to “The History of Modern Economics,” I’ve read quite a few and I’ve enjoyed most. I even found a reason to laugh at “Who Moved the Cheese,” one book that never gets around to answering its title question. Plus, it’s fun to be a creative who can jump in on those suit conversations. It throws them off just enough to keep things interesting. That said, I was working my way through “Often Wrong Never Doubt,” the new book by Donny Deutsch. It was going along pretty well until I got to the part about layoffs. The author starts talking about even when you are laying off someone solely because of an economic down turn you’re providing a great motivator and in certain circumstances you may be doing them a FAVOR. Now, I’ve heard this before in “Good to Great” and a few others and it always strikes me the same way. I want to ask, “who exactly do you think you’re fooling?” You see I know I’m really outside the target market for most of these books. The target market is really business owners and managers who want to reassure themselves and get a little advice. Telling them what they want to hear on this issue costs authors nothing and makes the readers all the more agreeable if, or when, the authors then lay out their other theories. But, while firing for bad acts and incompetence is one thing, layoffs caused by bad economic or market forces are somethingelse entirely. As someone who has seen more rounds of layoffs than I care to think about and been touched first hand on two occasions, I know layoffs are practically a right of passage in advertising. (And if by some chance you’ve been in advertising more than 8 years and never been laid-off, than hats off and congratulations, you lucky freak! No, really congratulations.) Don’t get me wrong, I understand that layoffs in some situations are absolutely unavoidable and I also believe firmly that it’s never a good idea to burn a bridge. In fact, I take great pride in the fact that I was able to stay on very good terms with both places that laid me off, and from one I was able to get a steady stream of freelance work. And yes, I also know of the reality of the lemons-to-whiskey-sours factor, where by people like Modernista’s Lance Jenson turned his layoff from his first job into an incredible opportunity. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then go listen to “The Naked Career” podcast by Sally Hogshead and Talent Zoo. It’s an inspiring story and it’s on iTunes.) All of that said, layoffs still suck. They still hurt. They still sting. They still bite. What gets me is that the way these books talk about it, you’d think that the laid-off people should be throwing a party for their former employers. It’s as if you should get up and say “Wow! Golly Gee! Thanks boss! I’ve always wanted the chance to learn about the state unemployment system! Wonder if I’ll be able to afford health insurance before my COBRA runs out?” Also, employers who swing the axe too often run the very real danger of the repeating learning-curve costs and mistakes as either new people are brought in or old people have their responsibilities expanded. You have to wonder what kind of message you send to clients when high-turnover means they keep on having to introduce themselves to the new account and/or creative team members - who are now spread thinner than cream cheese on a jumbo bagel. While layoffs are a necessary part of business, let’s all do ourselves a freakin’ favor and stop trying to pretend that they are something to celebrate. After all, there are enough things out there legitimately worth celebrating. Win a new account - celebrate it! Have a banner year - celebrate it! Get approval on a TV spot - celebrate it! Renew a client retainer - celebrate it! Open your own business - celebrate it! Show up for the first day of work at a new job - celebrate it! Give out raises or bonuses to your staff - celebrate it! Now those are worth celebrating. PS I’ll write more on “Often Wrong Never Doubt” later. But, overall it’s a very good read. Also, to be fair, there is a great section on being generous to your employees that all employers could learn from when it comes to company morale.

I have seen many great account managers that our women……I think in general women have better communication skills, especially LISTENING that clients really appreciate. Plus, women are easier to trust to clients for some reason. I get the feeling that some of my women clients, now and in the past, are intimidated by working with a male AE……they think we are only out to make a buck…. I guess it all depends on the account. Like automotive - a women might have a hard time entertaining clients at a strip club and then helping them find a date for the night…. We see it all, don’t we? JK

Meet Missy Higgins. If you don’t live in Australia, you’ve likely never heard of the 22 year-old singer, but her record label, EMI, is betting that’s about to change. The Aussie’s 2004 debut album, The Sound of White has sold 4 million copies, and Higgins’ meteoric rise up the charts has EMI hoping it’s only a matter of time before she overtakes the international charts (Read: US) like she has dominated airplay Down Under. While young performers exploding on the music scene is nothing new, the methods that EMI used in building pre-release interest for The Sound of White are. EMI created a buzz online for Higgins’ release through the use of message boards and chat rooms. “By the time we released the album the level of word-of-mouth was really high,” says Gareth Isaac, head of business development and support at EMI. The successful promotion of The Sound of White is being used as a blueprint for EMI as they look to expand their viral marketing efforts. Working with their media agenct, Carat, EMI has created 8-person panels of “influencers” which preview music from artists EMI is considering releasing. The influencers will then take samples of the music to their friends, and report back to EMI to give them an idea of the reaction to the artist. Also, EMI is beginning to incorporate adpersons, DJs, and film producers in their panels, to assess the multimedia possibilities of the talents. Another step in the marketing effort are ’street teams’ of 16 year-olds which go to concerts and distribute flyers, and also blog online to generate buzz. These efforts will likely be a win-win situation, benefitting both the label, as well as the artists. The record label can use viral marketing to reach teens and twentysomethings more effectively, and for less than more expensive methods of marketing. And the low cost of using the influencers to test the market’s reaction to new acts means that many promising artists will get exposure to the public that they likely otherwise would never see. Which means they’ll get the one thing every aspiring musician wants: The chance to be heard. Let’s just hope Ralph Nader doesn’t find out about it.

I’d read a few bloggedy blogs last week about Neil French’s “incendiary” remarks at his big night in Canada that honked a lot of people off. Things like:

“Women don’t make it to the top because they don’t deserve to. They’re crap.”

Um, well, this is Neil French we’re talking about. I mean, is it news or shocking when Hugh Hefner says boobies make the workplace? Is it news when Rodney King says cops are racist? Is it news when Hemingway beats a bartender to death with a tire iron for serving a weak drink? Look, this is a guy who ranks matadors on his website like he’s ESPN.com. I think it’s safe to say he’s a little on the fringe. And yeah, the above quote is pretty “outrageous” – in the sense that somebody said it out loud. But taken in context – the discussion was about women’s tendency to take off to have babies and then split time between work and family, potentially at the expense of servicing the client properly – the remark is simply a typically Frenchian button to his side of a legitimate debate. But now he’s gotten fired. Presumably for what he said at a private show that people paid to see, to hear what he had to say. I think it’s fair to say he couldn’t care less, because he could buy and sell any one of us, or more likely, have us killed for 10 quid and a Cadbury Bar. That’s the way he rolls. My question is, how talented or successful do you have to be to say any old crazy thing you want? I always thought that was the whole point. Obviously French is paying a price for his remarks, and whether or not he cares is irrelevant. What’s sad is I’m sure he doesn’t care, because that job is just another footnote to him. There will always be a place for rogues. We’re the ones who’re going to pay the price by pushing him out the door. The dude’s a genius. A crazy, sexist, belligerent genius, but a genius. Here’s a first hand account of the evening.

Is anyone else out there DISGUSTED at the spending that health insurers are doing these days on advertising? With premiums rising 70% in two years, and insurers profits soaring, I wonder what gives them the right to market a product that the majority of the population has no ability to switch based on these “branding” efforts. No matter what they say, we still must be insured by what our company gives us…….WE HAVE NO CHOICE. So stop spending our premiums on advertising. If you feel that your plan is better, do a targeted campaign to HR managers and business owners. Don’t waste my valuable primetime TV watching on a creative spot that makes no sense, to ANYONE. And these spots are so insane, showcasing wellness activities that they do not even offer the regular guy. How about you spend 1/2 of your marketing budget and build inner city health clubs to target the real issues affecting insurance, obesity. All insured get into the club for a $10 co-pay a month. Obesity is curbed, heart attacks go down, we pay less, communities are better/safer, everybody wins. I think we all should be disgusted by this careless spending. What can you do? Go to the doctor. Experts say that if everyone had a yearly checkup, or one doctor visit, the profits of all health insurance providers would tumble - to get this - a BREAK EVEN POINT. Make your appointment today. JK

Proctor and Gamble is coming under fire from Commerical Alert, a consumer advocacy group that thinks P&G is using deceptive marketing tactics. CA(which is backed by Ralph Nader) has notified the FTC that P&G’s ‘buzz’ marketing team, Tremor, is targetting teens with ‘deceptive’ advertising. Tremor uses approximately 250,000 teens aged 13-19 to get the word out about their products. According to P&G, the teens aren’t compensated, and always disclose to the teens they talk to that they are working for P&G. “We have always been transparent in communicating that Tremor is a marketing service to our teens,” a P&G spokeswoman said. “We have been upfront with them to let them know that we are part of Procter & Gamble and a word-of-mouth marketing program. … We’re not compensating someone to endorse a product.” So far there has been no response by the FTC to Commercial Alert’s complaints.

Danny first mentioned UNICEF’s anti-war commercial airing in Belgium featuring the death of the Smurfs here last week. In the commercial, we see what appears to be a normal Smurf cartoon, then suddenly jets pass overhead, dropping bombs on the Smurfs, and destroying their village and killing most of them. But as Roger Hernandez offers here, is the ad really anti-America? He suggests that it’s no coincidence that bombs falling from jets are the method used to kill the Smurfs(which countries have dropped bombs from jets lately?), while in reality it’s suicide bombers and gunmen that are killing children today in the Third World. A bit paranoid? Maybe. Then again it ain’t paranoia if they’re out to get ya.