Snake Oil anyone?

Snakes on a Plane is a perfect example of not relying on good marketing and hype to sell a product. Sure, if you can build a huge amount of publicity for something before it’s even launched that’s great! But you still need to deliver a product that’s worth buying.Snakes on a Plane gained a huge amount of free internet hype from early this year - blogs and major commentary sites got people so interested in the concept of the film that fan sites, fan fiction, fake advertising posters and ‘Trailers’ popped up all over the internet. You just can’t buy the amount of promotion that this film got before it was even launched.

So.. Why did it only gross $15.25 million on opening weekend, rather than the forecast $20-30 million? It’s not really because the film is bad - Most reviews have given it middling to good reviews.. I think it’s more the fact that everyone expected it to be rubbish.

Snakes will probably go on to make a good return for New Line Cinema, after all word will get round that it’s actually pretty good - but in your business, can you hope for the same? If people expect your product to be poor, how do you convince them otherwise? Great marketing can get you a long way, but it’s a good product that will keep you in business.