Wacky, Weird Things
Marketing insiders aren’t immune to the charms of the various promotional ephemera made to woo journalists and the moviegoing public.
Donald Buckley (SVP, Interactive Marketing at Warner Bros.
from 1990–2008): I worked on The Iron Giant, and the director, Brad Bird, was so grateful to us all for the passion that we brought. I still have the Iron Giant figure he gave me: it’s a mechanical bank, it’s in the shape of the Giant, and everybody loves it.
Slavin: It could be the stupidest little thing, but it made you feel good. The funniest one ever was for There’s Something About Mary. They had these toy dogs in casts, and I remember thinking that this was the funniest promotional item: the cast of a small dog. Just a wacky, weird thing to make.
Buckley: I came across a stash of all kinds of Harry Potter and Dark Knight stuff that I had forgotten I had, including a Harry Potter pocket watch, in its case, never opened. I think it’s selling for $500–600 on eBay today. That’s the novelty of the item itself: the rarity. It’s not mass produced, it’s a totem of exclusivity.
Iwanowksi: There’s something about film, regardless of where you’re seeing it, that’s fully engrossing—and yet it’s fleeting. You’re totally absorbed into a moment in time, and then it’s over. When you have a piece of memorabilia or merchandise, it allows you to stay physically connected to that experience. Part of it is nostalgia, but it’s also tangible. And if you’re putting it on your back or your head, you’re telling the world something about you.
Slavin: I still have a killer rain jacket from The Perfect Storm! And this Shrek figurine—it was a gift from DreamWorks for my one-year anniversary with the company. I used to keep it on my desk, now I keep it in the bathroom—but it makes me smile every time I see it.
It Was Anarchy, But It Was Fun
As dial-up internet brought millions of households online in the mid ’90s, a new generation of marketing executives rose to prominence in this digital space. Donald Buckley spent more than two decades in marketing at Warner Bros., developing unique campaigns for films like Space Jam and Mars Attacks! His earliest days at the studio toed a line between analog and digital: 25 years after its launch, the website for Space Jam that Buckley oversaw is still readily accessible, preserved in digital amber as the clear delineator between one era and another.
Buckley: In the ’90s, every studio had someone like me who was fooling around with the internet, and we’ve all remained kind of close. It was anarchy, but it was fun! Back then, it took two or three years for the studio to figure out what we were up to. We were regarded as errant little children, so nobody cared what we did until we asked for money.