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THE MARKETING CHUTZPAH OF “A COMPLETE UNKNOWN”

Writer's picture: Hans EbertHans Ebert

What is “creative” is usually something very subjective.


Or can this “creativity” be sold through clever and strategic marketing as it’s been able to do with “A Complete Unknown”, the movie that traces the journey from Minnesota to Greenwich Village of Robert Zimmerman to see his dying idol Woody Guthrie, meets Pete Seeger, Suze Rotolo and Joan Baez along the way, and goes about transforming himself to the enigmatic and mysterious Bob Dylan?



One of the most entertaining movies I have seen in a very long time- don’t expect an art house film that tries to play at being deeply meaningful- the simple story has a brilliant cast that includes Timothée Chalamet, Elle Fanning, Monica Barbaro, Edward Norton, Scoot McNairy and Boyd Holbrook. Their performances draw you into those times that certainly were a-changing.



This isn’t a movie for all hardcore Dylanophiles of which I am probably one. It’s an introduction to an important time in the history of America and with music, especially the music of a twentysomething Bob Dylan, leading the way.



Directed by James Mangold and with the soundtrack being the music of Bob Dylan from the Freewheeling days to “going electric” with Highway 61 Revisited, there’s been a relentless marketing and promotional campaign for months- extremely savvy marketing that stays true to what Marshall McLuhan once advised about the importance of the medium of the message, and, these days, having the smarts in how the content created and produced is made available in every online platform. 



Of course, all this is fabulously crafted and succeeds in making you want to see the movie no matter how well you might know the story so far of the chameleonic Bob Dylan.



Apart from the entertainment value, what the movie has achieved is creating a resurgence of interest in Bob Dylan and his recordings from the early to the mid sixties, and these finding their way to two generations who are introduced to the artist in a voice and storyline that they can follow and understand.





It’s a lesson in marketing and advertising to those who continue to try and keep certain companies and industries alive these days by playing Follow The Leader.


Either that, or they simply don’t know “the new” and so settle for “Me Too Creativity” that is holding many captive, because there’s extremely little around today that cuts through the clutter, and at least interests someone enough to know more about it- and buy into what’s being sold.


This is what some of us in advertising learned about all those years ago about teaser or pre-launch campaigns and which led to making the final sale.


For “A Complete Unknown”, the final sale is the product- and which is the movie. 



All the lead up work seen pretty much everywhere for all these months has resulted in some extremely important word-of-mouth advertising making this one of the most talked about movies in a very long time and with plenty of room to be expanded if approved by Dylan.


For the entire cast and crew, “A Complete Unknown” has no doubt provided them with new career opportunities and a certain courage to embrace and explore new projects without fear of failure. 


This is what new projects and products need-more holistic creativity that trumps the tired and listless ways of looking at marketing without any understanding of what this is and how and where it fits into today’s social media driven world.


This world is often where everyone knows everything, and which is why what usually stands out are just bibs and bobs of more of the same thinking with overnight “digital creators” believing that this something that’s nothing is what everyone wants to see. 


It’s not.


Why this herd instinct?


Because there’s extremely little out there that’s truly special and made to be special and which is then brilliantly “curated” so that it doesn’t fall through the cracks.


 


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