Hollywood Embraces Web 2.0

Snakes on a Plane - you cant fail to have seen or heard some of the hype - thousands of websites, blogs, homemade trailers, posters and songs dedicated to the movie – and it’s yet to be released. Such online hype hasn’t been seen since Blair Witch project – but even then, buzz was created by those who had actually seen it. It seems Hollywood has fully embraced web 2.0 technology – so much so that the movie’s producers re-shot a number of scenes – 6 months after filming finished - to give the film a harder edge, producing scenes that would give it adult ratings to bring it inline with expectations. They even included a line that fans had made up in a fake preview that ran on Youtube. The latest marketing ploy is an official viral campaign that has just launched - it enables fans to send a semi personalised message to their mates in the voice of Samuel L Jackson inviting them to go to a screening. A pretty interesting case study…despite the ridiculous name…I only hope it lives up to the hype….