Ad Age: Twilight Saga Rocks Viral Marketing

According to their press release:

Every week, the Ad Age Viral Video Chart presents the top 10 most-viewed brand-driven videos on the web with one major caveat: There are no movie or video-game trailers included in the findings. Why? Well, it’s not really a fair fight. Put it this way: Old Spice guy Isaiah Mustafa — even with all his talent and outstanding physique — would barely have a chance.

Movie and video-game trailers are very different in the way they’re shared on the web. For one, both game and movie trailers are snippets of the franchises themselves, such as “Harry Potter” and “Call of Duty,” familiar content that’s more readily shared, so it’s inherently easier for those kind of ads to rise to the top. Plus, movie and gaming marketers out-spend brand marketers exponentially in the weeks and days leading up to their releases, so the number of paid impressions far outweighs any organic view of a viral commercial.

So what would the viral chart look like if we included movies and video games? We asked Visible Measures to help us find out, by including the entertainment category in the numbers, and the results were a bit staggering. Without movies or video games, Visible Measures’ top 10 Viral Video Ads would have only amassed a combined view count of 320 million views for the year. But with them, the total view count tops more than 1.1 billion views. The only “social ad” to make the top 10 was Old Spice’s “Responses” campaign — and that’s just barely there, at No. 10. The rest of the chart is dominated by seven movies and two video games, led by the trailer for “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.”

So when it comes to viral ads, even Isaiah Mustafa is no match for Edward Cullen — “Eclipse” scored more than triple the views of Old Spice’s aggregate campaign in July, 220.19 million vs. 68.74 million, respectively.

While trailers for some of the year’s biggest blockbusters should come as no surprise (“Toy Story 3,” “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1,” “Alice in Wonderland” and “Iron Man 2” all round out the top 10), there are a few unexpected appearances. No. 2, for example, is Sony’s “The Karate Kid,” a breakout box office hit this summer (more than $176 million in grosses) but hardly a $300 million-plus franchise tentpole, either. Perhaps most astonishing is the No. 3 appearance of Disney’s “Step Up 3D,” which has racked up more than 138 million trailer views yet managed only $42 million in ticket receipts — proof that YouTube views don’t always translate to sales.

Elsewhere, Treyarch’s “Call of Duty: Black Ops” leads the video-game category at No. 5 with more than 110 million views, while Bungie’s “Halo: Reach” trails closely behind at No. 8 with 74.4 million views. Although gaming trailers generate lots of views in the pre-release stages, the real traffic comes from the days and weeks after their initial release, when user-generated game-play and how-to videos are uploaded and shared like wildfire among gamers. Visible Measures includes these aggregate clips in each title’s total view counts.

Although there’s still three weeks left in the year, expect few changes to the chart before 2010 comes to a close. Both movie and video-game trailers receive the highest volume of views in the week leading up to the title’s release, so the figures are fairly front-loaded. However, there’s still time for one major holiday release (“Tron: Legacy,” perhaps?) to sneak in. But perhaps the real question is which brands will crack next year’s top 10, and who will be the Isaiah Mustafa of 2011? You’ve got 12 months and at least 68 million views to prove yourselves, marketers.

Mike Welch Talks About the Thirst Project to Popcorn Biz

“Twilight” actor Michael Welch is taking a break from bloodsucking vampires to help quench a more urgent kind of thirst.

Welch, who plays Bella’s high school bud Mike Newton, in the “Twilight” films, recently contributed a PSA in support of The Thirst Project, a non-profit organization seeking to answer the urgent need for clean drinking water and proper sanitation in Africa – and one charitable Twi-hard may help him provide hands-on help.

“I will be taking a trip to Africa, preferably Swaziland, but we have to raise enough funds in order to do that,” Welch tells PopcornBiz. “If enough people donate, we made a deal with the fans that I’m going to bring one of them with me and they’ll get to see firsthand as well.”

Welch recently had his own awareness raised on the issue. “When I take a particularly delicious sip of cold water or take a shower that feels really good, I have said to myself, ‘It’s unbelievable to me that not everybody has access to this.’ So when [Thirst Project founder] Seth Maxwell introduced this cause to me it immediately struck me as something that I wanted to be a part of. It turns out that this crisis is drastically severe: one out of every six people who don’t have clean water in the world. I just thought about myself and five people that I care about, thinking that one of them doesn’t have water. It’s inconceivable. And the effectiveness of the organization as well has been astonishing. In two and a half years they’ve been able to provide clean drinking water to 35,000 people.”

See more on PopCorn Biz

Ben Barnes Talks About His Twilight Audition

Catherine Hardwicke spilled the beans about a year ago regarding who was in the final four to play Edward Cullen. She called the runner ups bachelors one, two, and three. They were Jackson Rathbone,  Shiloh Fernandez (who she just worked with in Red Riding Hood), and Ben Barnes of Naria Fame. Ben just commented on the casting that almost was.

“Twilight” director Catherine Hardwicke says you were one of the final four actors to be considered for the role of Edward Cullen. We all know that Robert Pattinson ended up getting the role, but what were your “Twilight” auditions like?

There were quite a few auditions. I was the first person they kind of approached about it. It was all right. I very quickly read the first [“Twilight”] book. I really enjoyed it. I think Kristen Stewart is great. I think she’s a really good actress. And I really like Catherine Hardwicke.

But then there were two things: First off, they didn’t want to mix “Narnia” and “Twilight.” I think it’s dangerous to mix characters from franchises while you’re doing one. So she definitely didn’t want Prince Caspian being Edward Cullen. It doesn’t make sense. And secondly, I’d still be shooting at age 30, playing 17, and nobody wants to see that. That would be kind of sad.

And course you wouldn’t want the kind of craziness with fans and paparazzi that Robert Pattinson has to deal with in his life.

So true!”

See more on the Examiner.

Via TwiFans

Destination Forks DVD Is Out

The producers of Destination Forks have a new video of what their movie is about.

E1 Video of the Wolves Delivering the Eclipse DVDs in London

We told you the other day how E1 always does a PR stunt around the release of the Twilight DVDs. Well, here is video footage of their latest PR stunt.

Stephenie Meyer Number 76 on THR’s Women in Entertainment List

According to THR:

“Not since Judy Blume has an author so adeptly captured — and profited from — teen angst as Meyer. Her four-book Twilight series has sold more than 100 million copies and has been printed in 37 languages. In 2008, her net worth was $125 million, and Forbes estimates her annual income at $40 million. It’s hard to believe the Cave Creek, Ariz., housewife never had written so much as a short story before publishing her first book. According to Amazon, she ranks as the second-best-selling author of the decade, beaten only by Harry Potter’s J.K. Rowling. “Twihards” can enjoy Bella and Edward’s tormented love affair in a movie franchise that has grossed more than $1.7 billion worldwide, with two films yet to come.”

The list covers their top 100 names and is an annual item

Booboo Stewart Gets a Car

EW: 2011 a Year Packed With Movies

Unlike 2010, that was not filled with tons of blockbusters, 2011 is filled with heavy hitting films. Granted those powerhouses still have to deliver, but EW points out just in in sheer volume how intense it is. It’s a good thing we are back to a November release on Breaking Dawn, because there is an awful lot coming out this summer.

EW points to three of what they think will be the biggest:

“Capt. Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (May 20), the beginning of the end of The Twilight Saga with Breaking Dawn Part 1 (Nov. 18), and the end of the end of the Harry Potter saga with The Deathly Hallows — Part 2 (July 15). So many movies! But which, dear readers, can you simply not wait a single second more to see?”

Head over to EW and tell them what you want them to cover.

BBC Jack Whitehall Jealous of Robert Pattinson

UK comedian Jack Whitehall did a stand-up set on Robert Pattinson.

Amy Adams and Georgie Henley Praise Kristen Stewart

In an interview for the latest Chronicles of Narnia movie Georgie Henley, who plays Lucy, said:

“Q: What actors out there would each of you want your careers to emulate?
Georgie: Well, I think Johnny Depp has a really great career because he’s always chosen different genres and always gone for the more outside roles. He’s never taken the easy option. That’s something I really admire and would love to emulate. People also tend to pick on Kristen Stewart, but I think she’s done really great job going from acting alongside Jodie Foster in “Panic Room” to, now, being a fully-fledged — and I think very talented — actor. I think she does very well and deserves much better press than she gets. So I definitely look up to her career as well.”

Via Twilight Poison