Coming to a Theater Near You: Movie-Oke

Marketers continue to search for ways to let consumers experience their brands communally. There’s a huge difference between seeing a brand and living a brand.

That’s the logic behind the innovative Newsbreaker Live promotion we describe in Launch! Recall that moviegoers got treated to a group event where the audience’s movements controlled what they saw on the screen. When you help to direct the action you’re a lot more involved with the contents – in this case for SS+K’s client MSNBC.com.

We can expect to see a lot more of that strategy – and it looks like we already are. How about a little “movie-oke” to draw in an audience? Coke Zero and L’Oréal just announced that they are sponsoring the Yoostar Casting Agency Tour, a nine-city event at colleges and malls. http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/news-and-features/direct/e3i...

The $169.95 Yoostar entertainment system includes a Webcam, green screen, microphones -- and classic film clips minus key actors. Participants insert themselves into scenes from The Godfather, Rocky or National Lampoon’s Animal House. They can download additional scenes for a small fee, and then share their acting debuts on social networking sites.

As SS+K discovered, it pays to turn your audience into part of the show.