"For Your Consideration" (Part II)

As I shared in "Part I" of this blog entry, about a year ago we received via our Sunday Los Angeles Times two expensive, four-color glossy brochures designed to promote Miramax's "There Will Be Blood" and Disney/Pixar's "Ratatouille."


Hollywood loves sequels. Over a couple of Sundays in this past December, we received two more promotional brochures in our paper.


As you can see from the photos, the first was for "Wall-E," another Disney/Pixar film.


Over the top doesn't describe this brochure. These photos don't do justice.


This promotional for "Wall-E" is forty eight pages on heavy, glossy cardstock. It's beyond what you'd expect a company like Apple or Microsoft to send to their stockholders. If it was designed to attract attention simply based on "size and scope," I'd say it succeeded. What's incredible to me is that a brochure of this magnitude was placed inside tens of thousands of copies of the Sunday edition of the Los Angeles Times in targeted zip codes here on the westside of Los Angeles.


Huge color photos were set against glowing reviews of the film.


Time, Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times all had wonderful things to say about the film ... and this brochure is a reminder of that.



A week after receiving the "Wall-E" brochure, we found another promotional insert in our Sunday paper. This time it was for the film "Bolt."


Seems a little ironic - as both of these films are owned by Disney. I guess someone in Burbank really wants to make sure their studio walks away with "Best Animated Feature" (as well as - I'm sure - awards in other categories).


As you can see, the "For Your Consideration" promotional for "Bolt" was a calendar. My 9 year old immediately asked if he could have it (he's got it hanging on the wall in his room).


"Bolt" was an enjoyable film - one our family actually went and saw in the theater. According to http://www.oscar.com/ it's been nominated for six Academy Awards: http://www.oscar.com/nominees/?pn=film&film=Wall-E%20Film


The last page (as well as the back of the calendar) was entitled "For Your Consideration" - an appeal to members of the Academy (and those in their zip code? Again, I have no idea why we received this). You can click on any of these images for a larger view.


Thinking about the upcoming Academy Awards, I'm reminded of much earlier award ceremonies mentioned in the New Testament. Almost 2000 years ago, the Apostle Paul, a leader in the early church, compared the Christian life to the ancient Olympic Games:

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever." Paul's 1st letter to the church in the city of Corinth 9:24-25

Interesting that Paul wasn't critical of the ancient Olympic games he was referencing. Studio executives green light millions of dollars in the pursuit of an award that, while notable, is ultimately temporal. As a Christian, I often settle for the mediocre in my own life when God calls believers to run, to strive, to fight, to excel.

I'm impressed with the effort studios make toward promoting and marketing a film. I hope I would put that same, no - much greater energy - towards Christ and His Kingdom.

Looking forward to seeing how "Wall-E" and "Bolt" do in their completion, Sunday evening February 22nd.

And thanks for the fun brochure and calendar.