Does Anyone Who Develops New Products In Hollywood Ask 'Would I Ever Actually Use This?'
from the you-do-what-to-do-what-now? dept
For all the lip service the MPAA has been paying to the claim that it loves tech innovations and wants to work with the tech industry to build cool things, why is it that every new “innovation” the industry comes up with only seems to make life complicated for people in ways that make no sense at all? For example, we recently talked about Warner Bros. ridiculous disc-to-digital offering in which people who want a digital version of movies they have on DVD can drive to a store where someone will rip the movie for them. In a world where the ability to rip your DVDs in the comfort of your own home is commonplace, that makes no sense at all.
I think we can add to this “huh?” discussion: the new effort from Fox, in which the studio will be putting up giant murals in malls to try to make it “easier” for you to buy DVDs. Here’s how it works according to Deadline.com:
As part of an exclusive one-year partnership with Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, the malls will have a wall with cover art and QR codes for many the studio’s home videos. People who want to buy the movie or TV show can download a smartphone app called Fox Movie Mall, available for both iPhones and Android devices. It will enable them to scan an image and go directly to a Web site to complete the purchase for a DVD or Blu-ray disc shipped free to their home.
So, yeah. You go to a mall (physical) and download a special app (digital) which you then use to scan a silly QR code (digital) to be sent to a website (digital) to order a DVD (physical) to be shipped to your home (physical). There are a bunch of ridiculous extra steps here and I can’t figure out how any of this makes sense. If you have people in a mall already and you’re trying to get people to buy physical product, why not just let them scan and pick up the physical product? If you’re focusing on the digital components, why require a specialized app that no one’s going to want to download, and then not offer a digital version of the film?
Fox execs claim that they expect this new effort “to reach as many 60 million people over the next four months with the mall wallscapes.” I guess that depends on your interpretation of “reach.” If you mean 60 million people may walk by and ignore these murals, perhaps that’s true. Though that suggests Fox must be spending a ridiculous amount of money to get these murals pretty much everywhere. If you mean that 60 million people will actually pay any attention at all to this convoluted system to buy an obsolete product fewer and fewer people actually want, well, then someone’s done a miscalculation somewhere.
Seriously: how hard is it for folks in Hollywood to ask this simple question: “Would I ever use this product that I’m developing?” If the answer is “not in a million years” perhaps it’s time to move on to building products that consumers actually want.
Filed Under: dvds, malls, murals, promotions, sales
Companies: fox
Comments on “Does Anyone Who Develops New Products In Hollywood Ask 'Would I Ever Actually Use This?'”
Frustration 9001
The part that should really infuriate people? I’m pretty sure that whatever money is lost on this ridiculous scheme will be received in tax savings for the business. So they will complain aboutabout consumers not wanting to deal with this money scam, but them not learn about what the market actually wants.
Re: Frustration 9001
Your also missing that this will offer the movies at the price Fox wants to get, rather than the price the market will bear. I doubt the links will connect to Amazon or any other discounter.
The only benefit I can see to these giant murals is it might actually remind people of that movie from 6 months ago people might have wanted to see.
Re: Re: Frustration 9001
Mall should start using e-ink murals so they can rent that space to whatever company wants to pay them more 🙂
Like the ones in the subway of South Korea that are used by shoppers on their way home to buy groceries from supermarkets.
Now if Redbox or Netflix could do that for bus stops, subways and others places using just the phone to start a download of a movie so you could just watch it when you get home, that would be marvelous. Why buy and handle a piece of plastic when you can for $1 dollar and never think about it.
It might be time to invent a new phrase: QR hacking. Simply cause a commotion at one end of the mall. Then when all the security is busy over there, paste up a slight “modification” to the QR code. What fun!
Re: Re:
I can only imagine the hilarity that will ensue. In fact, I kind of fear what some people might link to when doing that. There is scary disturbing potential beyond the Rick Roll.
Re: Re: Re:
Looks like I did not invent it:
http://hackaday.com/2011/08/09/hacking-qr-codes-for-fun-and-profit/
Re: Re:
Why do you need to cause a commotion? It’s not like the mall or Fox are going to hire security guards just to watch the “murals” – just walk by with some black or white stickers and place them nonchalantly as they walk by.
Re: Re:
Already done. I read the other day about people doing exactly that, completely with a photo of a few Anonymous replacing a QR code in a subway station. I just can’t remember the term they used for that.
Re: Re: Re:
Found it in my browser’s history:
QR Code switching
Re: Re: Re:
Yes, it’s called QRacking.
Re: Re:
Because if life gives you lemons, have a party!
lemonparty.org
Goats are fun and cute!
goatse.info
If you are about to click these, please for the love of god ask your technically minded friends why its a bad idea.
Re: Re: Re:
I like how the disclaimer came AFTER the links 😉
Re: Re: Re: Re:
At least its there 🙂
And they aren’t links, just urls. They have to cut & paste not just click.
I’m evil, but not THAT evil.
Re: Re: Re:
how are you gonna leave tubgirl.com off that list? hater
Re: Re: Re: Re:
I had no easy way to confuse people about that url.
Re: Re:
QR code prank link to torrent of the movie?
Re: Re: Re:
this!
Re: Re: Re:
A thousand times this! But to keep it simple you just need one QR code. One that sends the user to The Pirate Bay. Now if there was only a way to mobilize thousands of people to execute this prank at all the malls at once…
Re: Re:
Assuming by “commotion” you mean like free samples at the food court…
These are police academy dropouts after all. Don’t assume that just anything will draw their attention.
Re: Re: Re:
Just text them, “free donuts at the other end of the mall”.
‘why is it that every new “innovation” the industry comes up with only seems to make life complicated’
more to the point why is it that whenever anyone else thinks of an innovative idea, the industries stop it dead, even though they could make money as well?
this ‘mall’ thing not only shows the stupid mentality of the industries execs, it also shows how much money they have to waste. and they continually moan about ‘making no money! the industries are dying’! what bollocks!
And if it fails they will blame piracy.
Re: Re:
Sorry, should have said “when,” not “if.”
I thought everyone went to the mall to do their online shopping?
Re: Online Mall IRL...?
Well, yeah. You can peruse the latest games and decide which ones to download.
;-P
Re: Re: Online Mall IRL...?
Yup, so much easier than perusing the gaming and review sites.
Re: Re: Re: Online Mall IRL...?
Sometimes, yes. There’s a big difference between GameStop’s walls of unsold inventory and the lists in a review site.
Re: Re:
Going to malls…yeah, that stopped being fun about the time I turned 14. And QR hacking has been around long enough that I can’t WAIT to get that shite on a device that has most of my personal info on it.
I forget the actual principle, but one business model states: look at what the black market is doing, and make it legal. Pirates (excuse me, filthy pirates) have defined this market: downloadable 1080p, AC5.1, DRM-free, world-wide release, costing US$5-10.
Re: Re:
I know I do… It’s my favorite place to shop on line…
Mike, clearly you don’t work in marketing (which is why CwF+RtB turned into another Techdirt dead end).
The idea is that people often do go to physical stores, see something, and decide to buy it online (or worse, pirate it online). Getting them an app in their hands that allows them to scan and go, possibly bypassing ALL of the distribution channels and go right back to the distributor seems like a win. I would bet you that the QR codes have individual tracking back to the stores, allowing them to profit for showing them.
It’s a pretty neat solution – it puts them in direct contact with their customers, gives them a way to talk directly with them, and allows them to fulfill their desires for product quickly.
Too bad you just don’t get it – like so many things, it seems.
Re: Re:
Bypassing ALL of the distribution channels…
But … but … brick and mortar!
Re: Re: Re:
It’s why I find Mike’s attitude here to be snarky. The studios are working to shorten the cycle, to make digital downloads and online ordering easier to do, and to “control the experience” as it were. Instead, all he can do it pick.
Admit it Mike, you just want them to fail. Even if they take all of your advice 100%, you would still want them to fail.
It’s a crappy attitude.
Re: Re: Re: Re:
You really have no idea what “shorten the cycle” means.
Re: Re: Re: Crappy Tude
Yeah, nobody thinks it’s funny when you make fun of retards!!
Re: Re: Re: Re:
And you want them to succeed.
Although apparently you want them to succeed at failing.
While this has clear advantages to the studios (if it could actually work) and if your imagined benefit to the store was true it might have some minor benefit to the retailer who isn’t actually selling anything in this scenario it offers no advantages to the customers, which is what it would have to do to work.
Re: Re: Re: Re:
The studios are working to shorten the cycle, to make digital downloads and online ordering easier to do, and to “control the experience” as it were.
I guess for trying the studios can get the Participation Trophy for showing up…
The reason for the snarky-ness is because their “efforts” are more like a slap in the face to the consumers.
Re: Re: Re: Re:
“control the experience”
Could there be no crasser admission of what the studios want? control
When I want to be controlled I’ll tell the studios, preferably with an extended middle finger.
Re: Re: Re:2 Re:
Yup, the only reason I can conceive of needing a qr code link to a mail-order physical dvd is to keep me from buying it on Amazon. I already have an Amazon account, app, and I trust them with my information.
Re: Re: Re: Re:
Come on, even you can’t be retarded enough to believe the crap you’re saying here.
Option 1: Drive to store, buy DVD, drive home, pop it into player, watch
Option 2: Sign up for digital service or enter in payment info if it’s a 1-time digital purchase, stream/download movie, watch
Option 3: Have iPhone/Droid, download app, drive to mall, scan code, purchase on website, go home, wait for movie to be shipped to you (assuming no major processing time, 3-5 business days until it gets to you), pop it into player, watch
Option 3, which is what’s being pushed here, is actually longer than options 1 and 2 put together. This isn’t making anything easier, this is just crap to make people think that digital is a hassle and they should stick to purchasing physical media, since you people can’t figure out how to do it right Hint: it’s option 2, as long as that service/place we need to enter our billing info is 1 place for EVERYTHING and isn’t stupidly-priced.
And while we’re at it, option 2 doesn’t involve partnering with a mall and can track customers just as well (if not better) than the crap you’re pushing right now.
Re: Re: Re:2 Re:
Excellent points, but you forgot option 2.5…
Option 2: Sign up for digital service or enter in payment info if it’s a 1-time digital purchase, stream/download movie, watch
Option 2.5: Get frustrated at the DRM and proprietary formats of “approved” digital offerings, locate DRM free torrent on thepiratebay, click, make popcorn while downloading, watch… 😀
And for the record, Option 3 is absolutely insane… I thought Ultraviolet was a stupid idea, but this one takes the cake… also… the cake is a lie!
Re: Re: Re:2 Re:
Option 2 sounds suspiciously like MegaVideo. Hmmm..
Re: Re: Re:2 Re:
You really fail when you try to make option 3 sound bad.
How about “see QR code on a billboard, scan it, and order for online digital delivery immediately”? They aren’t doing it yet, but it’s a next logical step – get it streaming now, and the disc to follow in the mail.
Basically, you miss the idea that it’s the first step in a different direction. QR codes can be anywhere (on TV, in magazines, on billboards… even on Mike’s shiny forehead).
Basically, once the structure is there, you can expand it at will.
Also, consider:
“The studio will offer discounts and goodies such as games, trailers, and additional clips for people who use the app. Fox expects to reach as many as 60M people over the next four months with the mall wallscapes.”
60 million views, plus bonuses for people who sign up. Seems like a good way to connect with fans.
Damn it, once again they are following Mike’s ideas, and Mike is upset with them! Damn bastards, trying to make a living!
Re: Re: Re:3 Re:
I will wait until they have the QR Code for the 1080p iTunes, or just go to Youtube and see what they are giving away for free today like I dunno Stealth (2005) and other movies 🙂
ps: Youtube movies for free apparently are only for the US if you are not in the US you need to use a proxy to watch those, so my advice is to use proxytube very good and it works for Chrome and Firefox.
Re: Re: Re:3 Re:
“They aren’t doing it yet”
Is there any announcement that they actually plan to do this at any point in the future? If not, we’re discussing what they’re *actually* doing now, not some hypothetical possibility in the future. But, you can’t help but attack people for sticking to facts, I suppose. I mean, FFS, look at the list of titles on the link. Alien? What in God’s name would stop them offering a digital download of that right now? I’d say it’s quite appropriate for them to be criticised for not offering downloads of movies over 30 years old. Hell, unless US malls are very different to UK retailers, you can probably pick up a box set of the entire Alien series for less than $30 in the mall itself.
Besides which, please explain how on Earth this is easier than simply downloading digitally? I’m not particularly sold on QR codes overall, but I don’t see how this benefits anyone vs. a standard purchase at the mall *or* an iTunes download. Speaking as a consumer, I’d probably laugh at this and continue shopping as I already do.
“Basically, once the structure is there, you can expand it at will.”
What’s stopping them from merely putting QR codes on their existing advertising, which doesn’t require this kind of new deal and new infrastructure? Again, apart from the murals, the structure is already there and already visible to many more people.
“Damn it, once again they are following Mike’s ideas”
No, they’re not. They’re introducing yet another barrier (you must have a QR capable device) combined with further inconvenience (you must go to the mall to receive the benefits at home) for something that can already be done quite easily (existing ads & online marketing), and trying to pretend it’s a new pro-consumer action (it’s not, if for nothing else due to the fact that they won’t be linking to the better priced outlets). Any one of these would go against the ideas usually promoted here. Together, it’s pretty much doomed.
I’d be happy to eat my words in 2 years if this turns out to be a success, but I doubt it will happen.
“Damn bastards, trying to make a living!”
Then they should follow the actual ideas posted here, rather than the fictions you make up. Try with the problems with DRM, region coding and other windowing that provide the biggest incentives for piracy. An electrician who tries fixing your wiring without turning the main power off is also trying to make a living, that doesn’t stop me from pointing out he’s a fool.
Re: Re: Re:3 Re:
“How about “see QR code on a billboard, scan it, and order for online digital delivery immediately”? They aren’t doing it yet, but it’s a next logical step – get it streaming now, and the disc to follow in the mail.”
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand the reason they don’t do it already is because?
…
Anyway, the biggest fail is in the time between the customers desire to watch the movie and the fulfillment of said desire.
Nice, you’re the patient guy, you got used to wait for your stuff, because it wasn’t possible any other way before. But now it is and you still want us to… wait?
Re: Re: Re:3 Re:
see QR code on a billboard, scan it, and order for online digital delivery immediately
Yes cause that’s what the world needs, more idiots using cell phones trying to hold it in place and get it to pick up the qr code while driving. Also, the current logical step is for digital delivery from their site without having to jump through yet another hoop. I can tell you I’ve had an android phone for over two years now, you know how many qr codes I’ve scanned? 1, maybe 2, when they first came out and I first got the phone. There is nothing logical about using them, Leigh did a great story on why they are not a good idea to use
Re: Re: Re: Re:
No, they’re not. They’re working to keep the cycle the exact same, but appear to be “doing something”. If they want to “shorten the cycle”, they would just offer online downloads from home. There’s nothing stopping them from doing this except their own stubborn refusal to actually shorten the cycle.
Sorry – but what?!?!?! How on earth does driving to a physical location to scan a QR code, so that you can be mailed a DVD possibly make digital downloads easier?!?!?
There you go – the purpose of this Fox fiasco has nothing to do with making it easier for the customer – it’s all about maintaining control.
Re: Re: Re:2 Re:
You Nailed It.
+1 to you!
Re: Re: Re: Re:
Because it was so hard before? No, this isn’t about making this easier to do — it can’t possibly be much easier than it already is.
This is about control, pure and simple, and the ability to sell an inferior (DRM’d) product for an inflated price.
Re: Re:
Best troll ever? Ok, I’ll feed ya some nibbles…
Getting them an app in their hands that allows them to scan and go, possibly bypassing ALL of the distribution channels and go right back to the distributor seems like a win.
Ok, so what’s in it for the customer that makes their life better? There are plenty of ways today that someone can see something in a store and buy it from Amazon or their favorite online store. This works anywhere for anything.
Now they have to walk up to a special wall, scan for something they want and use a dedicated app they have to get (assuming they remember to download it). And get it shipped from who knows where and how long?
The latter part of what I quoted shows how it might be better for that distributor. But, doing things that’s good for yourself isn’t a way to get customers.
Re: Re: Re:
What’s good for Fox is good for Amerika.
Only communist kenyan muslims and their fellow travellers including the freetardskis would think otherwise
Re: Re: Re:
“Best troll ever?”
The key part of being a good troll is actually upsetting someone or getting under their skin. Saying stupid shit so people tell you that you are stupid isn’t really trolling. It is just looking like an idiot. Now if he gets people all worked up and covered in a fine nerdrage lather then he is a good troll. But you notice most people skip the insults and attacks he throws out and just point out how stupid the rest of it is.
Looking stupid is half the battle, getting someone worked up is the key part.
How come their are no good female NES heroines? Mario, Samus, Zelda all men.
Re: Re: Re: Re:
Looks like someone never bothered to finish Metroid.
Re: Re: Re:2 Re:
Because girls in games, like cake, are a lie.
Re: Re: Re:2 Re:
I think that was his point. He threw that in as an example of a troll getting people worked up. Nerds like us would instantly snap back with, “Samus was a girl!” and the trolling would be successful.
Re: Re: Re:3 Re:
Samus was a girl?!? Since when?
Re: Re:
So, let me get this straight.
A hypothetical customer goes to the mall, presumably not specifically to buy a DVD. This customer is on the way to buy clothing or books or jewelry or grab lunch when they see an advertisement for a bunch of DVDs.
At that instant, they decide on impulse they want to buy one or more of the DVDs. Then they pull out their smartphone. Then they download an app. Then they scan a code. Then they are directed to a website. Then they complete/confirm the purchase. Then they wait days for a physical DVD to be shipped to their address.
Sounds great.
Re: Re: Re:
You didn’t know that impulse shopping works great when people have to wait nearly a week to get what they purchased?
Re: Re: Re:
If they see an ad for a DVD, why not pop into the DVD store to buy it there and then? Surely that would be easier.
This is just a convoluted way of doing things and indicative of how the media industry thinks.
Re: Re: Re:
It would be innovative but for the fact it was done by a gate-keeping legacy company. If done, say, by a small indie band it would likely be lauded as such.
Frankly, right now it is too much of a chore to order online. First, I have to walk upstairs to my den, turn on my computer, logon, open my browser, navigate to a site like Amazon, enter a search term for what I am interested in purchasing, wait for the results to appear, send my selection to a shopping cart, go to the cart, etc., etc. Whew, that is a lot of work.
Re: Re: Re: Re:
No, it is not innovative because it is not new. QR codes have been used this way for a long time, without even requiring a dedicated app.
Re: Re:
If I’m deciding to buy it online (or pirate it) then I’m also deciding to look for the better price. Amazon doesn’t require an additional app on my smartphone, nor any other service I buy from. I may look at their offer, but if I can get it from amazon cheaper, faster, or with better service (I already have Prime, so that’s a big factor) then why bother with this extra service?
Re: Re:
If you’re trying to appeal to consumers so tech savy they have and regularly use devices that read QR codes and are comfortable with ordering products online while checking them out in a store why on earth would you offer to mail them a plastic disc? If you’re trying to appeal to consumers who want plastic discs why not just sell them the plastic disc right there?
I guess your theory that they’re really trying to trick people into thinking they’re getting one of ‘dem online deal things!’ does sound more like the way MPAA thinks though huh.
Re: Re:
People who shop in stores and then buy online are doing it because it is cheaper online. Are you telling me a store is going to sell a movie at X and then have a wall outside where you can order the movie for less than X? Somehow this is going to help the physical store? Great, you managed to make this idea sound even stupider.
But this next bit is just piles of stupid?
“it puts them in direct contact with their customers”
If by “them” you mean walls, because yes this puts walls in direct contact with customers
“gives them a way to talk directly with them”
A link that lets you order something online is talking? Do posters talk to you?
“allows them to fulfill their desires for product quickly.”
Quicker then buying the physical copy from the store and going home with it? Or quicker than staying home and ordering a physical movie online? Or quicker than staying home and getting a digital movie online?
Re: Re: Re:
Quicker than *not* getting the product, of course.
Re: Re:
Yeah, note that they are at a physical store, looking at a physical product and then they check online and see that even with shipping, it’s cheaper to buy online, so they do. If they are pirating as a result of this it’s because either they can’t purchase the item legally in their area; can’t afford the high price; andor they want to stick it RIAAMPAA.
None of these behaviors are altered by putting a mural up on a wall at a mall. (Not in a store, on one of the mall’s blank walls.)
Re: Re:
Yeah, because the last thing anyone wants to do at a shopping center is actually buy things, amirite?
Re: Re:
You sir have a rectal inversion problem… Signed the web…
Re: Re:
It’s a “neat” solution but it’s baby steps compared with what they could be doing, plus it’s not catering to what the consumer wants.
This innovation might have been better suited for the 90s
Re: Re:
Mike, clearly you don’t work in marketing
It seems clear that Fox’s marketing execs shouldn’t be working in marketing. Nothing about this proposal is convenient or worthwhile to the end consumer.
The idea is that people often do go to physical stores, see something, and decide to buy it online (or worse, pirate it online). Getting them an app in their hands that allows them to scan and go, possibly bypassing ALL of the distribution channels and go right back to the distributor seems like a win.
It really is a shame that Amazon has already beaten them to the punch. In fact, Amazon’s app doesn’t even require special QR codes, you can simply scan the bar code on the DVD itself to see the availability on Amazon. Why would someone go through the trouble of downloading a proprietary app that works only with specific QR codes that may not be available in their area, to buy a DVD from a source that is most likely not the best price in town?
It’s a pretty neat solution – it puts them in direct contact with their customers, gives them a way to talk directly with them, and allows them to fulfill their desires for product quickly.
How does that work out? I really don’t see how this does anything you say it does.
Talk directly to and contact customers? You mean the same customers who are abandoning QR codes in droves? The same customers who are more willing to simply log onto Amazon or iTunes than drive to the mall and scan a QR code on a wall?
Fulfill desires quickly? By making them drive to a mall and then wait for days while the DVD is shipped? How does that work?
Too bad you just don’t get it – like so many things, it seems.
You’re right. Mike has a hard time figuring out just why execs at movie and music studios are so disconnected from their fans and reality. If they actually understood the market, this proposal would have been tossed in the bin the moment it was proposed.
Re: Re:
The idea is that people often do go to physical stores, see something, and decide to buy it online (or worse, pirate it online).
If that’s their idea, it’s an idiotic idea. If you decide to buy the DVD while at the mall, you’re not going to buy it online when there’s a Suncoast/Best Buy/etc. within 100 feet of you. Does your statement actually make sense to you? Because to anyone with half a brain, it’s asinine.
Also, you fail to realize that there are already apps on most everyone’s smartphone (at least the people who would be willing to scan QR codes) like Google Goggles and Amazon’s app which let you take pictures or scan barcodes and then order what you want online, for cheaper than the movie studios will be trying to sell it for, I’m sure.
Two words for this initiative: Epic Fail.
Re: Re:
What in the world is the benefit of ordering “direct” versus buying from a store that might live…I don’t know…BEHIND THE MURAL?
How does using the QR code “bypass . . . the distribution channels and go right back to the distributor?” Who do you think is shipping these things, the President of Fox?
Re: Re:
Too bad you just don’t get it
Says the guy who thinks this scheme wil actually work. LOL, let’s see you come back and whine in a year or so.
Re: Re:
I see its easy for you to talk down instead of engaging in the discussion.
Start up your own blog and lets see how many hits or money from the blog you make.
Copyright Industry Mentality -- A Brief Summary
I came across the following in Eric Flint et. al.’s new novel 1636: The Kremlin Games.
That’s the MPAA, the RIAA, most book publishers and every collection society on the planet in a nutshell.
How can I sue for making my brain hurt so fricken much?!
Re: Re:
I’d like apply for this lawsuit aswell, the MAFIAA owes me trillions of dollars in lost braincells.
i'm sure some morons would actually try it too
I’m just waiting for their next ‘legitimate alternative’ to actually involve physical hoops.
Re: i'm sure some morons would actually try it too
Each movie being sold will have its own hoop on display outside the store. Customers wishing to purchase a DVD will jump through the hoop, which will scan their identifying features, allowing it to charge their credit card and ship the movie to their permanent address without any hassle.
Re: Re: i'm sure some morons would actually try it too
Actually I can see them going for that, after all it is convenient and the technology already exists. WOW
Re: Re: Re: i'm sure some morons would actually try it too
Said hoop also sends mall security a nude photo of you if you happen to have on you any object sold in the mall, but not a reciept.
I’m pretty sure there’s already a place in the mall where I can buy dvds.
Re: Re:
Yeah but this way involves a wall, don’t you hate those mall store clerks? Now you don’t have to deal with them, in exchange for paying more and waiting a week to see your movie.
Other uses for that question
Perhaps before (re-re-re-)making a movie, they could ask themselves, “Would I ever actually watch this?”
If the answer is “not in a million years” perhaps it’s time to move on to filming movies that consumers actually want.
Re: Other uses for that question
You think they’d watch the tripe they make? Hell no, that’s for the peasants.
This made me think of the asinine way Sony sold DRM-free music tracks.
So you had to drive to an actual store. Buy a card. Go back home. Sign up for the MusicPass service. And then choose between 37 albums you could buy. Or you could buy nearly any album you wanted free of DRM from Amazon or iTunes without ever leaving your house.
Re: Re:
Clever Sony, lots of points of potential or even likely failure which they can then blame on piracy.
Pretty smart people, do you know that their reader store in the UK makes pretty much no money on account of not actually being available. This kind of thing doesn’t just happen you know, it takes a lot of smart people and a lot of effort to find ways to not make money when people want your product.
Re: we all know how much they like exclusivity
But this is platinum. It’s exclusive! And if that’s not enough, well uh…. PLATINUM!
Re: Re:
Where does it say there is no way to buy directly from the website?
“Other videos that will be part of the mall sales effort include X-Men: First Class, Alien, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, Sons Of Anarchy, Rio, Gulliver?s Travels, and Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules.”
All of these are one to two years old, if not more… at least offer new movies then with a direct download. That would’ve been innovative.
Why would I get my phone out, down an app, scan a code, fill out my details, wait for mail… when the movie is lying right there in the $5 discount bin?
Re: Re:
Because the online price is $19.95, duh.
maybe some people like wasting time
Also: how many people compulsively scan QR codes? I don’t even have a capable phone at the moment, but i wouldn’t unpocket it to tediously visit some unknown website on my phone. That makes as much sense as visiting the URLS on my cereal boxes or random image links dumped to an IRC channel… using my old 133 MHz PowerBook.
Re: maybe some people like wasting time
My phone can scan QR codes, and I do so once or twice a week. Never for major commercial stuff, though (why bother?) I scan them from amateur flyers to find the location of some underground happening, to find out when the bus is due at a given stop, or other, similar informational reasons.
by their works ye shall know them
This doesn’t look like the work of a single individual trying to think up a good marketing campaign. This looks like
1) Upper management comes up with a list of Forbidden Things, like digital versions of films delivered by wire, or promotional “content” put online where any grubby teen can link to it without paying.
2) The corporate culture quietly assumes the false economy of waste (i.e. we payed millions for this steam engine, so we must use it instead of a diesel engine or else we’d have to count that money as a dead loss).
3) A mandate comes down from on high: “think of a new way to sell things to the unrich; use what we already have, avoid Forbidden Things.”
4) Someone comes up with a combination of mall space, QR codes, physical signage, controlled apps, web site, online purchase, DVDs, Blu-ray, shipping.
5) Several levels of management consider the idea, see that it can be pitched to the next level up. Final decision made by Senior Manager who hasn’t set foot in a mall since 1983.
6) Press release, launch, managers distance themselves from project (cleverest first). Scapegoats already selected but don’t know it.
7) quiet death (begins at launch + 3 days)
Re: by their works ye shall know them
8) Upper management blame the ridiculous amount of money they wasted on “piracy” and panic about the resulting falling profits.
9) Corporation lobbies for new laws to “protect” their industry at the expense of free speech and smaller industries everywhere.
10) Public further revolts, further reducing sales, revenue and the saleability of their products.
11) GOTO 1
Re: Re: by their works ye shall know them
And I thought the only step in this process was:
“OMG the kidz love QR codes. QR codes are the new marketing meme. We must use QR codes. “
Actually it’s last year’s marketing meme.
This year it’s Pinterest.
Re: Re: Re: by their works ye shall know them
I detect a hint of “Netflix is the new big thing! We have to send movies through the mail, too!” in this one. That puts them only 2 or 3 years out of date.
Walmart
I suspect that the “take a DVD to the store” concept is what Walmart announced today. You bring in your DVD, pay them $5 and they give you a link to a digital copy in the cloud. I’m guessing having the DVD is just to show that you already bought the DVD. I see a business opportunity for sitting in the parking lot and renting out physical DVDs for 1 hour to be used to get $5 copies of movies you don’t actually own. The kicker here is that the digital copy they give you isn’t a digital copy but just a link to the ultraviolet service for that movie. So the digital copy will only play on whatever devices ultraviolet is choosing to support on that day (assuming the service is still up).
Brain dead idea. Hope Walmart loses a fortune on this.
Re: Walmart
And don’t forget they keep the DVD, so you don’t have that anymore.
Re: Walmart
“Hope Walmart loses a fortune on this”
Unfortunately there really isn’t anyway for them to lose money. You hand them a movie one of their minimum wage employees types in the title and then prints out a code. Not really a lot of money pits in their for Wal-Mart.
Of course the studios probably spent a decent chunk of money (a stupid amount of money I imagine, anyone with the skills to do this knows how stupid it is and hopefully has a stupidity tax) setting up the database and the code algorithm. But if it tanks they can just put that in their piracy losses column.
Re: Walmart
Sadly I think there are a lot of Walmart customers that will go for this. They don’t even realize they can put a DVD into their computer.
If we didn’t have such an entitlement problem to expect good products and services for our money we’d think this is a great idea!
“The studio will offer discounts and goodies such as games, trailers, and additional clips for people who use the app.”
Good job Mike, skipping over the RtB part of the equation you’re so often touting as necessary. At least they’re trying.
Re: Re:
Fox will be making a big push for Alvin And The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked…
RtB?
Re: Re:
Woot shitty games and more advertising, fucking sign me up. Discounts on 2+ year old movies? Awesome!
Re: Re:
The whole post is about how ridiculous Fox’s RtB offering is in this context! Seriously…what is the RtB for the customer? What advantage does the customer gain by going through the myriad of steps listed over googleing the movie, comparing prices, and ordering it from the cheapest website, all from wherever they happen to be at the time…not physically at the mural?
Re: Re:
No reason to focus on RtB when Fox is glossing over the CwF part of the equation. Seriously, how does this convoluted mess of a system connect with fans or give them a reason to buy?
Re: Re: Re:
>Seriously, how does this convoluted mess of a system connect with fans or give them a reason to buy?
We’re talking about an industry whose reason to buy, for many years, has been “buy our stuff so we won’t sue you”.
Re: Re:
Wait, wait, wait… “discounts and goodies such as games, trailers, and additional clips” are a RtB?
I don’t think that RtB is what you think it is.
Re: Re: Re:
It’s too complex. He forgot that RtB doesn’t simply mean “reason to buy” as per the acronym. It means “offer a good reason to buy that benefits the customer’s needs and/or adds additional value to the product”. This scheme appears to be “offer trailers and clips (a.k.a. ads) to try and push further sales”. I wonder if he understands the difference, and why customers wouldn’t want to buy to receive these?
(I’m not sure about the “games” part of the equation, but I’d bet they’re just promotional games for the movies rather than “real” games)
Re: Re:
At least they’re trying.
Too shoot themselves in the foot (again)?
So I wonder what happens when the stores in the mall who sell DVDs get wind of this.
People who work in retail do get a bit annoyed with people who use their stores as Amazons showroom, but putting an Amazon kiosk in the mall would REALLY cross the line.
The malls are now giving up real estate to someone paying much less for the same exposure. If the Fox offering isn’t MSRP the brick and mortar store will be forced to lower their price to compete, because many consumers don’t figure in shipping costs when shopping online.
Re: Re:
They print out a sticker with a standards-based QR code that works with google goggles and point it at their store’s website, and paste it over top of the QR code on the poster.
At least, that’s what I’d do, if I worked in a Brick & Mortar store and my job depended on selling DVD’s.
Re: Re: Re:
Oooh setup a layar store on top of it
Better Idea...
This gave me an idea for an awesome app and cuts out all of the middlemen. It will scan the QR code to see the movie and price, then instead of a “Buy Now” button, it will have a “Pirate Now” button and the movie will be waiting for you when you get home. Way easier. Thanks Hollywood.
Will they put the movie on to a VHS tape for me? I am an analog sucker.
Re: Re:
You get much better fidelity on VHS than that digital blu-ray crap.
This plan totally makes sense in Hollywood...
you have to remember they refuse to embrace new technologies.
Look how long it took them to love the VCR.
The really considered up until about 2000 that the internet was just a fad that was going to go away. Then they made websites what would have made even the most diehard GeoCities fan weep.
If you look at what they are doing with a minimum 1 decade filter, they are on the cutting edge.
This plan works in a world where those young hip kids are just getting their first smartphones and QR codes are the latest fad. DVD’s are the most awesome thing ever and online shopping is just starting…
Re: This plan totally makes sense in Hollywood...
You have a point. This sounds like one of those ideas that started with, “you know what my 12 year old daughter is really into? Smartphone apps and malls.”
I suspect that this is intended to fail from a marketplace standpoint, because that isn’t the intended audience.
I believe that the intended audience are lawmakers/lawyers and the press, and the purpose is to vilify the concept of ripping DVDs and to make sure that no DVD-ripping exception is granted from the DMCA.
As part of an exclusive one-year partnership with Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, the malls will have a wall with cover art and QR codes for many the studio?s home videos.
There’s a joke somewhere in there about paywalls, right?
…Right?
Re: Re:
I didn’t see bob yet, so we can’t have any proper paywall jokes.
What a great idea
Malls renting out wall space that is. Did the mall owners go to the movie industry and spring this in them?
Can it be expanded to Starbucks, Barnes and nobles, McDonald’s, any place people congregate.
Re: What a great idea
more visual pollution
I forgot....
…this idea came out of Hollywood, so it probably looked great with hookers and coke.
It would be funny if one of these gets put up within 20′ of a Redbox kiosk, wouldn’t it.
Re: Re:
If someone is smart they’d put a Redbox next to each one.
Re: Re: Re:
Studios HATE Redbox, rentals, libraries, Netflix, Hulu (streaming in general). “Consumers should never give up buying physical media … “
Big box
So many big box and retail stores are just trying to grasp at everything they can to slow Down them loosing their business to the Internet. My mall has 0 music stores now. One movie store. At some point it will close. Walmart still sells censored music… Yet I see unrated movies and rv shows all the time there. Most the music sold at my walmart is: christian, country and Spanish. The rock, r&b, rap etc section is just as big as the others combined though. Those people are more likely to be effected by the censored music and know how to get the music online. I work here I see it first hand every day. Why go to a store to buy any media, half the time they won’t have what you want, they can’t order it, etc. You could have just went to a website and downloaded it.
Piracy?
And then studios blame piracy for loosing money…
This is mock advertising
This is another addition to the list of “ways we make it easy for consumers” to counter the arguement that piracy has reasons.
Re: This is mock advertising
Except that it doesn’t actually make anything easy for consumers. It doesn’t even look like it makes anything easy for consumers.
another rhetorical question
Does anyone ever go to “the mall” any more?
I don’t. When they closed the bookstores, the model shops, the toy stores, the game stores, and everything else that might’ve interested me, I had no more reason to visit a mall.
And after all, who needs these shops anyway? It’s all online.
Re: another rhetorical question
…I go there to buy Craftsman tools, and have an air conditioned 3/4 mile track to walk. If my Sears hits the cutting block, I will quite literally only go to the mall to walk.
Re: another rhetorical question
Better clothes at Target anyway.
Watch a movie at a theater, buy it on the way out.
There have been lots of times that I have seen a movie at the theater and thought after that I would buy it when it gets to DVD. If there was a QR code on the way out of the theater where I could pre-order it, especially if I could get it a bit early, I would probably own a lot more DVDs.
Re: Watch a movie at a theater, buy it on the way out.
This is a idea that will never happen. Many times I was ripe for buying a DVD after walking out of a movie I loved. To date, not one single time has there been that opportunity.
I suspect theaters would have a fit if the studio was selling the DVD right there after the movie ended. The worry about no one ever coming back (Ignoring the possibly “wonderful” theater experience.) once they have the movie in hand would be enough to make sure that Never happened.
Re: Watch a movie at a theater, buy it on the way out.
The MPAA isn’t interested in any of your GOOD ideas. Please propose something stupider.
Best idea!
Clearly the only way to go here is to do as roughly half the comments here have suggested and change the QR codes to something else. But the big question is, change them to what?
I humbly propose changing them to a QR code that directs to The Pirate Bay. Imagine the hilarity! The irony! AND it would be a simpler process for the consumer. Instead of downloading custom apps and ordering crap, and waiting on snail mail; they could just click a magnet link and BOOM! there’s the stuff you want!
Re: Best idea!
Best idea?
Torrents were also already mentioned way up in the comments.
This “service” was never meant to succeed; it is a ‘fail by design’ scheme conjured up by the brilliant folks in Hollywood in order to help create the illusion that they’re being killed by piracy.
Peek-a-boo! Hollywood, I see (through) you!
“It’s like shopping at the mall, but online, but at the mall!”
This article is false on the steps needed so I will clarify it for everyone.
1.Wake up
2.Make Coffee
3.Drink Coffee & Smoke
4.Get a soda.
5.Use your soda to wash down some vicodin.
6.Go to the adult sex store to buy some KY.
7.Go to Wal-Mart and buy a chainsaw.
8.Fire that bad mofo up.
9.Lube your ass up real good.
10.Hand the chainsaw over to your local Warner Bros rep.
11.Bend over and beg him to go easy.
12.Beg for forgiveness for ever doubting their ways.
13.Pay the 36 thousand dollar fine for questioning their ways in the first place.
14.Buy Warner Bros approved dvds.
15.Refer to the original steps listed in this article.
16.If you’re still confused by them go home and take a nap then refer to step one of this guide.
17.If you’re forced to do it a third time you will have to refer to my other guide on prison survival.
18.After your twenty year prison term is up and you pay the 3 strikes fine of 6 million dollars off refer back to step one.
19.If you want to send a complaint to Warner Bros for any of the steps listed. Please make a list of your objections and why you object. Now take that list crumble it up and stick up your ass.
20.If you had to do what 19 said refer back to step 17.
Want me to buy your DVD or bluray? Bundle it with a free IMAX ticket.
Sound like an “entitled” perspective? From here, the idea that DVDs and blurays are valuable items to own is the delusion.
Are you sure this isn’t just some big social experiment like rats running through a great big maze to get to the cheese… but there’s bigger and better cheese at home and the smarter rats know that? Because really, why would anyone actually leave their house, go to the mall, and jump through all their ridiculous hoops, just to order a DVD ~online~… which they could have done without ever leaving home in the first place. Yes, they’re taking notes… those who order from The Wall will get left behind when the Aliens come in December.
Indulge me...
Were it legal to rip DVDs in the comfort of one’s own home for one’s own use, we wouldn’t see mold-on-dog-poop business models such as this. The only thing that gives this business model any long-term viability at all is the existence of the DMCA.
Outlawing an activity amongst one’s customers, and then selling the product of the activity that has been outlawed back to said customers is a very profitable, time-tested business model attested to by a long and successful track record. (The sale of indulgences to Catholics is/was a particularly clever variation.) So one has to ask: Why did it take the MPAA so long to figure this one out? (Yeah, yeah. Conservatism. Stupidity on a billion-dollar scale. Etc.)
But what’s particularly interesting about this business model in this context, is the possible side-effect of legitimizing (perhaps a slightly) rights-holders’ assertions that all infringing copies represent loss of revenue to the rights-holders. (i.e. making a copy of your legally-purchased media using your own tools is, in fact, depriving rights-holders of revenue that they would otherwise collect from the act of selling consumers legal copies of media they already own.) When will we see such an argument in court? One might expect that a few orders of magnitude is going to appear here and there in content-cartel-style calculation of losses due to file sharing. And then the jackboots will get involved…
Given the circular nature..
of the model, the fact that it involves many useless steps, and yet again found a way to waste money on fuel (shipping? really?), I can only conclude that this was designed by a civil service agency, Congressional Committee, or military contractor.