The advertising is starting to piss me off

[archeryguy1701]

I think you might be reading a tad too much into it... I'm not seeing the ads as saying, "We don't need the old guys! You'll show up anyways, so we're going after the important people!". You have to remember that for who knows how many years, Star Trek was cool or "accepted" to the general public. It was nothing more than a geek-fest designed for guys who live in mum and dad's basements and have never gotten a girl, as far as the public was concerned. I think the ads are simply trying to say, "Hey, look! Star Trek is cool again! Even you can come watch and not be ridiculed by your friends any more!" And, with a $150mill budget, they really do need to make sure the public is ok with seeing the movie once or twice, or else they'll never make their money back.

 

[datas_cat_spot]

Paramount has a responsibility to all of us Trek fans and themselves to do everything in their power to make this movie a success. I would be pissed if they didn't have any marketing like this.

 

[Jackson_Roykirk]

...The ad not only isn't aimed at me but in fact reaches its target demo by shining on my very existence.

"Hey kids! Come see our bitchin-ass new "Fast & Furious" style Star Trek! It's not for those old fogies who've been watching Star Trek their whole lives. Screw THEM! We hate them, just like you do!"

Can't it be for me just a little bit? Can't they kiss my ass just a little?

I get what you are saying, but as long as the film is NOT in the style of Fast & Furious (which may be an OK film in its own way, but not "my thing") I don't care how they advertise it.

Look at the new Greg Mattola film Adventureland, for example. Some of the ads for it seem to be targeted at the fans of Mattola's other hit film Superbad, but even though the two films have the same director, they are very different in their styles.

Although I suppose in the case of Adventureland, some movie goers can claim false advertisement, since they were expecting to see a slapstick-style comdy in the style of Superbad, but were instead given a serious/comedic coming-of-age story. It's a case of genre 'bait-and-switch'.

...by the way, I enjoyed both Adventureland and Superbad -- they were both very good films, but for different reasons.

 

[seigezunt]

Dale, I get why they are doing it. As much as the frachise failed its fans, the fans failed the franchise, and are seen as a liability in terms of attracting new brand loyalty. It's marketing. I can't fault it. Anything to get people's tuchuses in the theater seats.

 

[FordSVT]

I think you might be reading a tad too much into it... I'm not seeing the ads as saying, "We don't need the old guys! You'll show up anyways, so we're going after the important people!". You have to remember that for who knows how many years...

I can tell you exactly how many years: 13.

When TNG was on the air and Generations and First Contact were in the theatre, Star Trek was still very popular amongst the general population. There was a time in recent memory when simply watching Star Trek wasn't a social death sentence.

 

[Data Holmes]

You ever stop to think that the ass was what wasn't "aimed at me, was not made for me,"?

I mean, these adds are directed to all the anti-trek people out there. Think if it as advertising three card monty.

I'm going to ASSume that by "ass" you meant "ad" or "ads," and if so... well that's just my point. The ad not only isn't aimed at me but in fact reaches its target demo by shining on my very existence.

"Hey kids! Come see our bitchin-ass new "Fast & Furious" style Star Trek! It's not for those old fogies who've been watching Star Trek their whole lives. Screw THEM! We hate them, just like you do!"

Can't it be for me just a little bit? Can't they kiss my ass just a little?

Here is the thing, they already got the Star Trek fans, people like us are already going to go see this movie. They are simply trying to draw a bigger crowd than that, they've got us, so now they want to draw in a whole bunch of other people, people that may have frowned on Trek in the past. Its just to draw in more people, and that's fine with me, the more the better.

Can't it be for me just a little bit? Can't they kiss my ass just a little?

Yes. After they've ensured that the people who need to go see this movie in order for it to be a success will indeed do so.

our collective asses aren't being kissed by the ads. it's the interviews, surprise showings, the premiere, the buzz etc that's doing that. I am not resentful of the obvious tilt toward the non-trekkie crowd in the ads. if that's what's going to mean Trek survives, I'll swallow my ego and happily accompany any and all of the noobs who wanna watch this thing because of the ads.

What brent and indranee said...

 

[urbandk]

The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.

 

[JohnChod]

Can't it be for me just a little bit? Can't they kiss my ass just a little?

Didn't they do just that, right at the outset, by getting Leonard Nimoy?

Do you think that the Fast and Furious crowd gives a rat's behind about who Leonard Nimoy is? He's there for us old guys (and gals) that were there ever since September 1966.

I really disliked this latest commercial as it did seem to play up the mindless action a bit too much. It was the first commercial that I said to my wife, "Hey look. Here's a commercial for the new Star Trek movie." She, not a Trek fan by any stretch, watched it and said, "Looks pretty stupid to me!" So, if they're looking for new fans, they missed my wife again. But, that wasn't the target for this commercial. I understand that. It was targeted at the "Ooooh.....pretty, ooooooh.....cool explosions, oooooooooh.........people and things moving really fast" ADD crowd. And that's OK with me. Make a movie that I can still like but load up the seats with all kinds of people - so that they can make more Trek movies I like.

 

[Ridcully]

Keep your crusty old dusty Trek...this looks like real fun
For once in a very very long time it looks like something that will be a ride..

 

[SonicRanger]

You do realize the Paramount's Marketing Department didn't make the film, right? The ones who made the ads aren't the ones who made the film.

 

[jim hadar]

This old Trekker wants whatever will put the most butts in the seats and dollars toward more Trek. I could care less about being pandered to, I'll be there regardless. The advertising strategy has hooked my 13 year old into wanting to see the movie, and he's one that never watches any Trek at all, and in the past called me - or anyone else - a nerd for liking Trek!!!
(To his credit, he was hooked on NBSG with me!)

 

[Dale]

I hereby consider myself drubbed and schooled.

I just had a knee jerk reaction to the "not your father's" line. I actually yelled "Well fuck you!" at the TV when I saw it... but I do get what they're going for and recognize the importance of doing so.

Still, it did make me feel a bit old and unloved. I'm sure the film itself will leave me feeling differently.

 

[Cheewiee]

I hereby consider myself drubbed and schooled.

I just had a knee jerk reaction to the "not your father's" line. I actually yelled "Well fuck you!" at the TV when I saw it... but I do get what they're going for and recognize the importance of doing so.

Still, it did make me feel a bit old and unloved. I'm sure the film itself will leave me feeling differently.

So since you still feel old and unloved... lemme drubb you some more....

The "This is not your fathers..." line is often used in advertising to make a distinction between the current product and what has come before.

This ad is directed towards people who have a negative preconception of Star Trek. These are people who think Star Trek was a cheesey B television show, and the Next Generation was too Cerebrial...

The message they are trying to send is dispite your preconceptions this is fresh and different, you should give it a shot based on its own merit, not based on what has come before...

The message has nothing to do with you.

 

[indranee]

I hereby consider myself drubbed and schooled.

I just had a knee jerk reaction to the "not your father's" line. I actually yelled "Well fuck you!" at the TV when I saw it... but I do get what they're going for and recognize the importance of doing so.

Still, it did make me feel a bit old and unloved. I'm sure the film itself will leave me feeling differently.

Dale, the very fact that they're BRINGING BACK TOS is a paean to us.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Marketing people make mistakes, but by and large the process is not stupid - that is to say, it is generally successful at selling good products in a very crowded, noisy marketplace (nothing can overcome failure to deliver for very long, IMAO, and thank god). Most of us consider ourselves "too smart to fall for" a lot of advertising and can point to specific instances in which we have "seen through" it, but the conceit that advertising and other channels of marketing don't affect us a great deal of the time in the ways that the marketeers hope is just an empty bit of self-flattery.

Which is apropos of this: there are messages within messages and often some contrary subtext in this kind of stuff, based on the expectations of the folks behind the campaigns about how the groups they're targeting will filter and respond to the "sell." I think there's deliberate irony in the "Not your father's..." tag line - because it is such a recognizable slogan that can be and has been parodied and mocked in the past. The subtext here is tongue-in-cheek: "Yep, we're selling you hard here. Laugh at us. Oh, and enjoy the ad - lookithat!"

 

[indranee]

I saw the new trailer on American Idol last night. and, yes, I was watching AI.

 

[Franklin]

I kinda share your sentiments, Dale. To me, it's a bit like saying what we liked for so long was cheap and cheesey. But now, it's real. The problem is, to an extent (let's face it), TOS could be both cheap and cheesey.

We older fans had our big-budget movie in TMP, and the results were mixed at best. So, after TMP, the movies were one step up from B-movies in how Paramount budgeted and marketed them. The actors and fans who made the franchise never really got the first-class treatment the noobs are getting from the start. In a way, they are the ones who should feel a bit insulted by the claim "this is not your father's Star Trek." I mean, come on, it does infer the older is an inferior product.

This is the first time they've really gone full throttle to make Trek something other than a niche product. I guess to do so, they've decided to make that point in the most blunt way possible. In other words, to me, a subtext of the message is that the KEWL factor has been increased. The nerdy "brain factor" has been decreased. Pump up the volume. Pump up the motion. Check your brain at the door and enjoy the ride. It's those younger folk who should feel insulted -- if they knew any better.

 

[Star Treks]

I hereby consider myself drubbed and schooled.

I just had a knee jerk reaction to the "not your father's" line. I actually yelled "Well fuck you!" at the TV when I saw it... but I do get what they're going for and recognize the importance of doing so.

Still, it did make me feel a bit old and unloved. I'm sure the film itself will leave me feeling differently.

Although I'm only 25, I got kind of the same vibe from the commercial as you did. But I guess the excitement about the movie, about the possibility of renewed popular interest in Star Trek, outwighs any misgivings I might have about subtle perceived insults to older Trek and fans of the older stuff.

You are not wrong to feel a tad miffed but I think we both know the movie - if it's anything near as good as most reports suggest - will more than make up for a campaign which is, by necessity, trying to draw in younger fans. Hopefully in 10 years we will still remember the movie long after we've forgotten the ad campaign.

 

[Grup]

What would an ad aimed at the 40-50 y/o crowd like?

Pine talking into his armrest saying "SCOTTY! I need.......warp power. How....much longer?"

Or maybe showing a big blurry image of President Obama sitting in his chair in the middle of space on the view screen?

Or a big action scene with the entire cast on the bridge leaning violently and in unison to the left. And then to right.

 

[Franklin]

What would an ad aimed at the 40-50 y/o crowd like?

Pine talking into his armrest saying "SCOTTY! I need.......warp power. How....much longer?"

Or maybe showing a big blurry image of President Obama sitting in his chair in the middle of space on the view screen?

Or a big action scene with the entire cast on the bridge leaning violently and in unison to the left. And then to right.

You kind of make the point. The all too popular image of TOS as campy. Certainly it had its share, intended or not. But the thing is, without the long-time support of the (now) 40-50 y/o crowd, Abrams wouldn't be doing this movie. So, why an ad campaign that evokes feelings of being old and thrown under the bus?

I don't want Trek stuck in the past, but as someone who was there at the start, there is something insulting at a core level in the tone of a "Not your father's Star Trek," campaign. Especially since TOS fandom probably HAS been passed down to quite a few from their fathers (and mothers).

I don't know. Yeah, it's just an ad. But, all I can say is that the point probably could've been made with a tad more sensitivity. I don't know, maybe I'm just feeling vulnerable, today. Perhaps I should relax with a cup of tea. Or a shot of bourbon.