Hollywood studios and other TV/video properties have done an excellent job of marrying their movies with the web.  Here’s the article from OMMA.  Globally this has helped them to expand their universe, create more of a personal touch and add a viral component.  Site visits are up, asses in seats are still down.

Here is THE secret to Internet marketing greatness – have a great product!  Pick a niche, define it as narrowly as you need to, and absolutely rule it.  If you want to be an awesome Internet marketer, look like a genius, earn the big bucks, get your name in lights – don’t waste your time peddling crap.

Hollywood bitches constantly about the state of their industry and how ticket sales are down – I find a headline like this about once a week.  But how about the fact that movies generally blow these days (with few exceptions – King Kong for example).  I “try” to go to the movies literally every week – then I hop onto Yahoo! Movies and look at C and B- average critic and user reviews an opt for another boring night of channel surfing.  Let’s face it, thanks to the Internet, the results are usually in by noon on Friday at the likes of Yahoo! Movies and Rotten Tomatoes - which incidentally is well before the vast majority of theaters have even shown the film.

What’s the lesson learned for Internet marketers?  The cycle time is so fast that public perception is now established well before the product actually hits the market.  What does this mean to you personally?  If you represent a crappy product either A) fix it or B) run.  Alternative C) sit and do nothing, (which has been around since the dawn of time) no longer exists.

That’s why this story in OMMA is so amusing.  Yes, these are really good examples of how to use the Internet as marketing tool to build interest.  But if the movie sucks, the coolest, most viral site on earth can not overcome the lame reviews.