"Paranormal" Marketing

GM,

It's 2:30 in the morning, and I just finished watching Paranormal Activity... at home... alone... with the lights off.

A little boring, I must say.

It's clearly just another Blair Witch Project, which seemed to draw the scorn of most viewers I know. PA, on the other hand, has been quite the hot topic 'round these parts, so much so that even I heard about it. "Strange," I thought, considering that I'd never seen a preview. After minimal research, I learned that the movie's distribution and marketing strategies were quite unique. The film opened about a month ago but only for midnight showings and only in 12 major college towns. Those who didn't feel like making the drive were asked to log onto PA's website and "demand" the film in their city. When 200,000 people demanded the film, it was released in 20 more cities. When a million people demanded it, it opened nationwide.

This sounds like an amazingly interesting marketing campaign, doesn't it? "Don't push the product onto the people; make them want it first. After all, the American consumer is fickle, particularly when it comes to entertainment. Only by depriving people of a movie that cost $15,000 to make can we make them want to see it."

But here's my question: Why wasn't I asked to demand the damn thing?! Over a three-week period, more than a million people knew about, wanted to see, and took time to request a movie that I had never heard of. So what am I doing wrong?! I live in a college town and watch three hours of television every weekday! What's wrong with me?! I feel like George on Seinfeld when the Sunshine Carpet Cleaners didn't try to recruit him for their cult. GM, what are we doing--or not doing--to put ourselves out of the loop?

-JW

JW,

Let me start by saying that I like whatever I'm doing that keeps me from hearing of things. (I heard of Twitter yesterday; Facebook, last week.) Getting to the bottom of my pop-culture seclusion seems akin to wondering why I haven't been killed by a suicide bomber--an academic rather than a practical question, and one I'm not desperate to explore. Nevertheless, it is interesting that a person living amongst a movie's target audience could avoid picking up on the film's release merely by osmosis. Given what I've heard about Paranomal Activity's hostility toward its audience (Justine Elias of The Boston Globe wrote that it's "like watching a YouTube clip of your irritating neighbors."), I'm wondering if missing things is a skill that you can market.

Regarding the film's marketing idea, I couldn't be less impressed if a Paramount executive came to my house and kicked me in the crotch. Articifical scarcity? In the 21st century? Please. Furthermore, the very notion that consumers can be "tricked" into buying something is more than a little insulting. It's true, I'm sure, but I still don't like it. In a world of my design, commercials would consist of a simple shot of the product itself with no other adornments. No quick cuts, no girls in bikinis, and no Morgan Freeman doing his wisest-negro-on-the-plantation voiceover schtick. I'm interested or I'm not, and the very notion that I can be persuaded otherwise ("I am hungry for Fritos!") is ridiculous.

-GM