Jon Sampson

Here’s a newsflash. How people communicate and who people trust is changing! (Amazing, eh?)

But here’s the thing. It looks like larger industries are finally taking notice. According to this article on word of mouth and marketing from the Los Angeles Times, studios used to be able to count on two good weekends based on heavy advertising before word of mouth on a bad movie caught up with them and ticket sales dropped. Now, that window is down to “mere hours.”

But it works in reverse too. Here’s the upside:

“Since word of mouth helps good movies while punishing weaker ones, it may result in a new Hollywood emphasis on playability — a film’s intrinsic quality — instead of marketability, the easy sales hooks that yield so many forgettable sequels and remakes. ‘It’s kind of like a return to the 1970s,’ says Jeff Blake, the vice chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, ‘when word of mouth meant everything.’”

I don’t know what you do or what you’re trying to communicate, but if you’re hoping that flash and dazzle will puff up the end results, it just doesn’t work for very long. People are looking for authenticity, quality, and depth. Are you doing something worth sharing? Something with a story?