Assignment 3: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold

One of the first new terms in the movie “Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold” was Co-Promotion. It means that two or more companies come together to promote
a product under one brand name. Brand collateral as defined by the movie is what you bring to the table and that you are acknowledging that you are a brand. I was also introduced to neuromarketing, which means creating marketing material by targeting parts of the brain that invoke the greatest response. Finally, I learned about becoming brand friendly, meaning to embrace brands

Another term that was introduced was Brand Personality. Meaning what words describe a brand and how do they relate to the consumer. My brand personality is intentional and sensitive. I try to make every thing I do have a solid purpose and to do it in a way that I know will guarantee my desired outcome. I’m sensitive to the way I reach that desired outcome and the way it affects the people around me. A brand I think that fits aligns with my brand personality is Nike. They are very sensitive to social happenings around them for instance with Colin Kaepernick and the take a knee controversy. Nike was very quick to support the player and intentionally made Kaepernick the face of ts Just Do it campaign in light of the situation.

Morgan Spurlock is trying to show the viewer just exactly happens behind closed doors when it comes to marketing and getting brand sponsorship. He wanted to be bold and outright with how marketing and brands can be to get consumers attention and money. But at the same time he wanted to show that you can beat this by arming yourself with knowledge. The other half of the message is to show that you can buy into marketing instead of selling out as a brand. Embracing brands aren’t a bad thing as long as you keep what’s most important to you and
not let it go.

Selling out means to completely lose integrity or letting brands control the way you market yourself or a product. Selling out can also be seen as being underhanded and shady, by doing things that would seem taboo or unthinkable because the brand told you to. Buying in on the other hand is to work with brands, but to do with your integrity intact. To not let them dictate how you market yourself or control you in away that is unthinkable.  Morgan Spurlock created a bottom line and held to it. This is reflected in the end of the movie when the audience is told that none of the sponsors got final approval of the film. This shows that he didn’t sell out to the brands because in the end he kept his integrity intact and made the film he wanted to make versus a film controlled by the brands.

One of the most useful things I learned from the film is that you have to keep your eyes open about marketing. That it can brainwash you. It already is currently brainwashing the next generation of people. It also taught me that were never safe from marketing no matter where we are and that were ever more exposed to marketing than we think we are. For instance at the beginning of the movie they spoke about how there were 12 brand spots in Iron Man and I never noticed those before until the move spoke about it. It’s obvious to most that a movie would have sponsorship, but it was not obvious to me that I was being marketed to during the movie itself. I also learned a lot about brands. How to do business with brands, how to embrace brands, how to think like a brand and finding my own brand personality. All of this will help me to become a better graphic designer in the advertising world of now and the future.