Pepsi's Latest PR Stunt

Pepsi has released a new commercial that features one of their many products, Pepsi Max. In this commercial professional NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon changes his appearance by having facial hair, wrinkles and makeup applied to him. He is made to look older and nothing like he normally does. Gordon arrives at a car dealership with a hidden camera crew. The crew places hidden cameras on the car, in a fake soda can, and in Gordon’s glasses. Gordon meets a car salesman who suggest that they take a test drive in a Chevrolet Camaro. The two men get into the Camaro, Gordon places the Pepsi Max can in a cup holder and faces the hidden camera toward the car salesman. The salesman still had no idea that anything out of the ordinary is happening.

Gordon starts up the car and floors it, speeding out of the parking lot. The two men fly around corners and speed through different obstacles. The salesman starts freaking out and telling Gordon that he needs to slow down and stop driving crazy. He still doesn’t know what is really going on. Gordon takes the Camaro back to the dealership and parks. Both men get out of the car and Gordon reveals who he is and shows the salesman the hidden cameras in the glasses, the Pepsi can and the hidden camera crews. The car salesman is relieved to know the truth. The end line of the commercial is “Pepsi Max – a zero calorie cola in disguise.”

The full length commercial on YouTube has already reached over 28 million views. This PR stunt has been much more than a normal commercial, it has raised all sorts of hype and been shared in all sorts of social media. Even though the stunt was staged and Jeff Gordon didn’t really take an unsuspecting car salesman on a crazy test drive and use hidden cameras to record the event, this has been a great was to spread the word of Pepsi Max.

http://prexamples.com/2013/03/nascar-driver-takes-unsuspecting-car-salesman-on-test-drive-to-remember-in-pepsi-pr-stunt/

"Disney Wars"

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 In October of 2012, The Walt Disney Company announced that it was purchasing Lucasfilm and the rights to ‘Star Wars’ for 4.05 billion dollars. This huge deal would consist of Disney paying Lucas half the amount in cash, and the other half in Disney stock. Lucas ended up owning nearly 40 million shares in Disney stock. These shares would give him about a 2.2 percent stake in the 1.83 billion shares of Disney stock that are in circulation. Disney is now in the process of making a new Star Wars trilogy. They will be releasing the seventh episode in 2015 and Episodes 8 and 9 will be released every two to three years after the previous one. This new trilogy will continue to follow the story of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia.

In an article by Bloomberg Businessweek, George Lucas said that Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, and Harrison Ford are all in the final stages of negotiation to be in Star Wars, Episode 7. Disney has brought J.J. Abrams on this project to direct Episode 7. Abrams has directed and produced blockbuster films and series such as; Lost, Alias, Super 8, Star Trek and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.

The original Star Wars was released back in 1977 and this film made George Lucas into a visionary in the film industry. Lucas created two more Star Wars films shortly after that. It wasn’t until the past decade when Lucas made another Star Wars trilogy which received mixed reviews by his fans. Many of the hard-core Star Wars fans had become convinced that Lucas had become a commercial sell-out with the release of Episodes 1, 2, and 3. These fans complained about many issues in the newest trilogy including the addition of a character, Jar Jar Binks. Only time will tell how Star Wars fans will react to the new trilogy that will be released two years from now. 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2488496/?ref_=sr_4

http://www.vulture.com/2013/03/lucas-says-fisher-hamill-ford-are-signed-on.html?mid=imdb

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-03-07/how-disney-bought-lucasfilm-and-its-plans-for-star-wars#p1

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2012/10/30/disney-buying-tar-wars-maker-lucasfilm-for-405b/

House of Cards

Netflix has paid $100 million for two seasons of the new series, “House of Cards.” This series is a political drama that stars Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright. Netflix has announced that “House of Cards” is their most streamed show. The show was released on February 1^st, where Netflix made the 13-episode show available for streaming. Most viewers of the show ended up watching more than one episode. Chief content officer Ted Sarandos spoke at the Dive Into Media conference, he said “We’re thrilled, Netflix got more bang fro its buck out of “House of Cards” than it would have using the same amount of money to license more traditional TV content.”

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said that he sees the business as a long-term business opportunity. People who subscribe to Netflix don’t sign up for their original content or for specific TV shows, they sign up for the overall experience. “House of Cards” is just the beginning of Netflix’s original content. Reed Hastings said, “You want to think of “House of Cards” as a down payment on the potential to build real franchises.”

I believe that this is a great new way for Netflix to increase their content on their website. Creating and producing their own television series is ambitious and thinking outside of the box. I have not seen “House of Cards” as of yet, but I intend to watch the pilot episode and see for myself how it stands up to other drama series. I have had a subscription to Netflix for nearly three years now where I stream movies and television shows all the time. Netflix offers a large variety of content for a very reasonable price. They are much cheaper than having some sort of cable or satellite subscription. Releasing new, quality content on a regular basis is important in keeping their customers happy. 

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/netflix-ceo-calls-house-cards-424326

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/house-cards-is-netflixs-streamed-421142

http://movies.netflix.com

"Life of Pi" and Rhythm & Hues

I recently went to the movie theater and saw the “Life of Pi.” This movie is about a boy named Pi, who starts a journey with his family to the other side of the world. His father owns a large variety of wild animals and brings them along on their trip to Canada. During their long sea voyage, they encounter a storm that disables the ship and sinks it. Pi is fortunate enough to get aboard a small wooden lifeboat before the ship sinks. Pi’s family and everyone else go down with the ship. Pi has to become resourceful enough to survive on the open ocean for a long time with a wild tiger that shares the same boat.

The “Life of Pi” is made up of a large quantity of CG, including the ocean and the animals. Without these effects, the movie would be made up of a boy on a boat in front of a blue screen. Rhythm & Hues is the visual effects company that is responsible for creating the tiger in this movie. Unfortunately, Rhythm & Hues has recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. There are more and more visual effects companies who are competing for work in feature films. This is causing the price of these services to go down and make it very difficult for these companies to maintain a decent profit margin.

The director of the “Life of Pi,” Ang Lee, commented on Rhythm & Hues’ bankruptcy. Lee said, “I would like it to be cheaper and not a tough business fro VFX vendors. It’s easy for me to say, but it’s very tough. It’s very hard for them to make money. The research and development is so expensive; that is a big burden for every house. They all have good times and hard times, and in the tough times, some may not survive.” It is sad to see a company like Rhythm & Hues, that can produce such beautiful and stunning work, struggle like this and have to file bankruptcy. 

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/life-pi-director-ang-lee-422270

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454876/?ref_=sr_1

 http://www.rhythm.com/home/