Batman, Tropic Thunder, Mama Mia, Sex and the City, even a badly reviewed comedy like Alvin and the Chipmunks —-  all were predicted to do blockbuster business.

Meet Dave starring Eddy Murphy?  Studio heads knew it was stinker and dumped it during dog days of summer.

Some  movie insiders can actually tell you almost to the dollar how much money a movie will make its first opening weekend. Yet, there are exceptions. Over the past decades, studios were almost bankrupted by a few bad surprises. Remember Heaven’s Gate? Alexander? The Adventures of Pluto Nash? Town and Country? Stealth?

But, summer 2007 and 2008 earned the industry billions of dollars, more than ever in the history of film, and  I am amazed at how well studio heads and insiders can  design a movie, deliver it in previews, read the responses, re-edit the film, and then release it, knowing with fair accuracy  the exact amount of money it will make opening weekend.

What do these movie insiders do that we don’t do with our own creative marketing and promotion that could help us get even a fraction of  their success?

What can the movie industry teach us about promoting our business?

1. “You never send a marketing promotion out without getting feedback from either a focus group or a group of experts.”— says Richard Stevens, a c0-director of marketing and publicity here at Fly High Productions. A former publicist himself, Stevens believes “Projects that bankrupt companies or merely waste money are usually those that are done haphazardly without feedback - without the proper marketing research.  A genius idea means nothing if no one wants to gravitate to it. Yes, all that costs money, and it’s worth every penny.”

If movies can create “preview” audiences — why can’t businesses do the same?

2. Create focus groups by asking key people at different companies to be on your “mastermind” list. Ask them periodically to give you feedback on your ads, promotions, email campaigns, etc. Gary Zukov, author of the Chicken Soup of the Soul Series, enlists ten readers to view drafts of his books before they come out. That way he knows what works, what doesn’t, and what has to change in order to make the book meaningful and commercially successful.

3. Avoid unwanted appearances on the Tonight Show! Years ago, the company I worked for designed an expensive ad campaign — a beautiful postcard — that ended up on Jay Leno’s Tonight Show during his “worst postcards of the week” skit. The card showed a beautiful blonde in her closet, holding a glass of champagne. Her Labrador retriever sat next to her. The headline for this custom closet ad read, “Simply Romantic,” and Leno put together the equation — the dog — the blonde — the champagne—the closet —and  changed the phone number on the ad to read 1-800-BEASTIALITY.The audience went crazy. Our phones rang off the hook the next day, but it wasn’t (obviously!)  the kind of publicity we wanted for a high end, custom closet company. Why did we not see what Leno saw — BEFORE we mailed out that postcard?  

Lesson learned? You’re too close to your material. Get some distance. Show it to others. Put it aside. Get experts on your marketing team to offer advice.It is not unusual for a movie studio to shelve a film that  gets bad previews BEFORE spending hefty sums on marketing and promotion.  Reaching out for feedback first – before massive promotion — is just smart business.

4. Target audiences are the key these days.  Movie industry is very savy to this, opening artsy films in a few key cities, heavily advertising “youth” movies on the Internet, and promoting women’s films to women. Target your audience very carefully so that you’re not wasting money — sending, for example, slick expensive magazine-size brochures to people who wouldn’t buy from you in the past obviously wastes your budget. Sending it to strangers on a list you bought of people who specifically buy from your competition —that may be more viable. Think it out and show it to others first so that you avoid making costly, embarrassing, and humiliating mistakes

What’s the key?

The key — I think— to Hollywood’s success is partly their ability to sense what .Americans view as entertainment.  Whether you’re selling insurance or sandwiches, what do your customers want? That’s a question Hollywood knows the answer to quite well.

Then in mid-July, tempers flared during a particularly sizzling session of The View’s “Hot Topics” segment while the ladies discussed Jackson’s apology and disagreed about the use of the slur, regardless of who’s saying it. 

Elizabeth expressed concern about living in a world where pop culture permits such racial language.  The controversy seemed particularly focused on her comment to Whoopie that we should try to solve this because— “We live in the same world.”Whoopi fiercely disagreed with her co-host.  “We do live in different worlds, it’s just that way.”Though this particular conversation did not seem unusual for this show, it brings up an interesting question. Can Whoopie use that term privately – in her world – but it becomes particularly obscene when used by someone who  is not African American?

According to an article published through Harvard University, the word “nigger,” a key term in American culture is racist and foul: “It is a profoundly hurtful racial slur meant to stigmatize African Americans. It has accompanied innumerable lynchings, beatings, acts of arson, and other racially motivated attacks upon blacks. It is the signature phrase of racial prejudice.”

And yet — this “cultural obscenity”  has become a private code word that African-Americans use sometimes even affectionately, an inside word, an understood language the belongs inside a particular world.

I’m wondering what word equivalents exist in other cultures?    Gay men, for example, often refer to each other as “bitches,” but that was never a derogatory term to describe homosexuals. It’s a new adapted, code word.  What other examples can you think of and how do you feel about the use of these words in popular culture today?

Recently Alice shared this story with me:

“An old friend of mine has not returned my phone calls. I’ve left five messages. I also emailed him. No response.  I bumped into another friend of his who said, ‘Alice, don’t take it personally. He’s just swamped. He doesn’t return my phone calls either.’

But when someone seemingly refuses to talk to you, it’s hard not to take it personally, and very easy to write that person off.”

I agree.

I’ve had the same problem. I have a particular colleague I have known for years, but he doesn’t return phone calls, and though I have a great contact to give him, I’m reluctant. In fact, if I see this guy at an upcoming conference, I am prepared to be rude and indifferent. I’ll treat him the way he treats me! I’ll let him know he lost an important lead that could have advanced his business,  brought him to the attention of Oprah Winfrey, and made him an instant billionaire! 

Some of us simply draw conclusions (or illusions) when people do not call us back.  That’s why I suggest you return calls and emails within 24 hours or as soon as it is humanly possible so that you do not communicate the wrong message.  How do you feel about that?

I took a diversity training program a few years ago, and we were handed a list of topics not to talk about at work. Race and sexism were at the top of the list, and yet I would imagine in the spring of 2008 these are the very topics that spring up in lunchrooms and hallways (and bathrooms) in every company across America.

Just this week, Obama’s reference to his grandmother as a “typical white person” initiated a media frenzy. So you’re on your way to work and you hear Dan Gross from Philadelphia Daily News ask if Hillary Clinton were to use the term, “typical black person,” what kind of trouble would that cause?

You park your car. You walk into the office, and it rattles you. Are we dealing with double standards here or what?!  But forget about politics because a shipment of 35,000 widgets has been lost at sea, and you need to focus on finding them. You’re also up for a management promotion, so you need to be careful what you say.

A week earlier Hilary supporter, Geraldine Ferraro, told an interviewer Barack Obama’s candidacy was so successful because he is black, a comment that has vilified her but that she continues to defend.

Today you hear her quoted on the radio as you drive to a client meeting on the other end of town. “Any time anybody does anything that in any way puts this campaign down and says, let’s address reality and the problems we’re facing in this world’ you’re accused of being racist and you have to shut up. Racism works in two different directions. I really think they’re attacking me because I’m white. How’s that?”

Ouch! Did she say I’ll tell you ‘how’s that?’ You fully understand that you must put your feelings and thoughts in your back pocket because you have no idea what your clients’ politics are and it would be inappropriate, possibly wrong, to bring up this subject.  Still, it’s gnawing at you, and when you get to the office and grab a coffee with several other co-workers, the words just pop out of your mouth like gumballs. “Did you hear what Ferraro said today? Can you believe the double standard we have in this country? Aren’t you at all bothered by the speech we heard yesterday?”

We go to work. We talk. We share, and we get in trouble. “I can’t believe what Frank said.”   “Boy is he a racist!”    “If that’s what he believes, I’m not sure I want to work with him on his committee.”

 We know diversity training tells us to choose our words carefully and keep our thoughts to ourselves, but  we have a lot on our minds these days.

 A hundred years from now 2008 may be seen as a watershed year. Perhaps not as revolutionary as 1776 – maybe not even as exciting as 1968—but this is an  election of historical proportion, and every day politicians put their foot in their mouth.  

How have you learned to create an acceptable environment at work where discussion can take place without risk of violating policies or sensitivity issues?