Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Back…Back In Black.

Long time.

So quite a lot has happened since the last time I posted here: relocation to Toronto with the family and a new gig as a spreadsheet jockey senior product marketing manager with
Canada's largest alternative telecommunications provider. OK, not much of an excuse for the long period of blog dormancy but those of you who know me best are aware I am a better-late-than-never kind of guy...and it all gets done eventually.

If you are new to Posts By Sionne, this blog was originally intended as a way for me to voice my personal opinions, with the (very loose) common thread of topics being related to marketing in some way. Take note of the title of today’s posting as it is significant on a few levels.

First of all, I am “back” participating in the blogosphere and definitely intend to make a longer run of it this time before my next leave of absence. Second, there is the AC/DC connection…Back in Black was this band’s 1980 album release, the first one recorded after the death of its former lead singer. With its iconic all-black cover art as a sign of mourning/tribute to Bon Scott and containing some of AC/DC’s biggest hit songs, it is easy to see why Back in Black is often ranked as the
all-time worldwide best-selling album by a band and second only in all-time worldwide record sales overall behind Michael Jackson’s Thriller.

The song "Back in Black" is the title single from that album, best-known for the distinctive hard-hitting guitar riff at the song’s opening. This is the default ringtone for my mobile phone now and it simply rocks in a way that puts "In da Club", "SexyBack" and all others like it to shame.

So Back in Black has some significance on a few levels and in my opinion stands for doing something really well while also totally rocking out. But here comes the marketing part, after the jump:




Wow, right? Hard to go wrong with a Summer Blockbuster movie trailer featuring songs from AC/DC, Audioslave and Black Sabbath…and helps quite a bit in my case that
Iron Man remains my favourite comic book superhero character from back in the days when I actually used to read Marvel comics with a passion. Would love to be the marketer with that level of budget and responsible for promoting a highly recognizable product like this one. No need to develop a Blair Witch guerilla buzz or Cloverfield stealth-type of campaign (both of them very well executed, by the way) when all you really need is a cool trailer to get the word out. Even the fanboy crowd who may eventually critique the film to pieces after it is released will still go see it at least once, if only to provide fodder for their online diatribes, a la the Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons.

Will you go see Iron Man when it kicks off the Summer 2008 movie season? Maybe you are anticipating the return of Indiana Jones or Sex and the City instead? The big one is no doubt going to be The Dark Knight and it is a cynical thing to say but I will bet you a dollar on this: somewhere right now there is a room of movie executives still debating the benefits of all the added publicity from Heath Ledger’s untimely and scandalous death versus the issue of re-casting the Joker character for future sequels. No doubt.

Appreciate your feedback so hit me up with a comment or two.

I’m back…