How Disney/Pixar is Using Blogs to Market 'Ratatouille'

Pixar's 'Ratatouille' opens on Friday, and the company has an outside marketing agency working to build buzz among bloggers. They got in touch with me via e-mail today (two days before the release) to try to generate some coverage here.

It succeeded, but only because I think this kind of outreach is important for all filmmakers/studios to understand -- and I don't think you need to hire a marketing agency to make it happen.

An earlier post here about the movie shows up on Google when you search for "Pixar Ratatouille" (on the fifth page of the results.) My e-mail is pretty easy to find, and the PR associate simply dashed off a casual e-mail with some links to promotional content about the movie. She was very up-front about what she was doing ... which is of course crucial.

Here's the e-mail, in its entirety:

Hi!

My name is Jen [last name deleted] and I am working with Disney●Pixar on their new film RATATOUILLE. I work with the studio to distribute content online and I came across your post on the film. Thank you for supporting the movie! I just wanted to touch base and update you on some of the new assets that are available for RATATOUILLE that I thought you and your readers may find of interest.

I have included below, some of the new content for the film:

· Two rough animation tests called: “Emile’s Workout” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RklCvgYEO9w) and “Emile’s Magic Trick” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v42LVMi6Suk)
· See 9-minutes of the film here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBeTMsmU53U
· Images for the film can be viewed and downloaded here: http://www.media-file.net/4/ratatouille/
· Many more videos are available on the official on the official YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/ratatouillemovie

If you would prefer streaming links for any of these videos, I’d be happy to provide those to you as well. Just make sure to let me know what format you prefer.

Also, would like to be included on distributions for future Disney films? We have many exciting projects coming up and I would love to work with you in the future. Please let me know and I will make sure to include you.

If you have any questions, or if there is anything else that I can provide you with, please don’t hesitate to contact me. RATATOUILLE opens in theaters THIS FRIDAY, June 29th!

Your thoughts? This strikes me as very savvy...

WSJ on Piracy ... Next Week's Web Video Summit

- The Wall Street Journal covers summer movie piracy, including illegally posted versions of 'Ratatouille,' 'Sicko,' and 'Hostel: Part II.' Merissa Marr and Sarah McBride write:

Weinstein Co. has sent private investigators out to hunt for the culprit who leaked its coming Michael Moore documentary "SiCKO," after it appeared online last week. And director Eli Roth recently blamed a weak opening of his horror sequel "Hostel: Part II" on the prerelease availability of pirated copies online.

While not unprecedented, the availability of these movies online may suggest that the studios are still losing some significant battles in their war on piracy. After a surge in piracy a few years ago, including leaks of movies like "Hulk" weeks before its theatrical release in 2003, the studios seemed to successfully crack down, setting up metal detectors at prerelease screenings, cutting back on screener DVDs, and instituting tough security procedures at production labs.

Now, as the studios desperately try to build buzz for their movies in one of the most crowded summers ever, they may have opened themselves up to a greater risk of prerelease piracy with tactics such as holding numerous prescreenings of their movies.

Disney apparently held 800 sneak previews of 'Ratatouille' last weekend, and the pirated version may have come from one of those, infiltrated by someone toting a camcorder.

- Next Wednesday and Thursday is the Web Video Summit in San Jose. I've got one guest pass to it, and I'd like to give it to a CinemaTech reader who:

1. Will use it, and
2. Is willing to send in a blog post about (at least) one of the sessions that we can post here.

So send me an e-mail if you're interested: kirsner at pobox.com.

Time Mag: 'Why Pixar is Better'

Short piece, well worth a read, by film critic Richard Corliss on the forthcoming 'Ratatouille.'

My favorite quote in the story, by director Brad Bird:

"For better or for worse, Pixar is always gonna throw itself in the deep end and try to figure out a way to not drown. I love that about this place."

Pixar's 'Ratatouille': Using the Site to Cultivate Multiple Audiences

Disney and Pixar have decided to put a nine-minute segment from 'Ratatouille' on the movie's official site, with a nice introduction from director Brad Bird.

For filmmakers and movie marketers, this seems like a great case study on how much (and what kind of) video to present on the official site. There's always a concern that too much video will help some site visitors decide that this isn't in fact a movie they want to see, but I think the upside of sharing more video outweighs that concern.

There's material here for adults like me who're eager to see the movie, die-hard Pixar fans, cg animation wonks, and kids. There are video podcasts that talk about the making of the movie, as well as a really nice guide to all the characters.

My only complaints: there's no way to grab the videos and embed them in your own site, which would help spread this stuff across the Net, and there's no obvious way to subscribe to the video podcasts so that you can watch new ones when they're posted.