Web marketing - visit Snakes on a Babe

By Scott Rosenberg Aug 6, 2006, 3:23 GMT

Samuel L. Jackson stars in the intense action feature \'Snakes On A Plane\' from director David Ellis (Final Destination 2, Cellular). Jackson plays an FBI agent who is escorting a witness on a flight from Hawaii to Los Angeles when an assassin releases hundreds of deadly snakes on a commercial airplane in order to eliminate the witness. The FBI agent, along with a rookie pilot, frightened crew and passengers must ...more

Indie producers got it a while back, now the mini-majors are into it and soon the big studios will jump on the bandwagon – using the web as a hype medium.

And ‘Snakes on a Plane’ seems to be the latest success in movie internet promotion.

Will it reach box-office like ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest’ remains to be seen however New Line’s ‘Snakes” which opens wide USA on August 18th  began generating internet “fans” several months ago.

And we are not just talking about mild, sit back and wait for the movie opening type fans – we are talking die hard fans that entered contests creating “Snake” movie trailers, songs for the movie soundtrack, opportunities to talk with the movie’s star Samuel L. Jackson and even an opportunity to host an opening day “preem” at a “hometown” movie complex.

This is not even mentioning the promo for the movies soundtrack (releasing August 15th) three days before movies opening that will surely generate even more interest in the flic with its riveting rock ‘n roll beat.

I can’t get Cobra Starships’ Snakes on a Plane – Bring it! out of my head.

These are some web savvy marketing professionals here!

These same marketing people have created what they call a “viral email”.

You enter the special Snakes on a Plane site at www.snakesonababe.com 

Rescue the poor scantly clad woman (we apologize for the sexism – but we are caught up in the joys of these promos) from the snakes and …..get ready for the climax, I sure was surprised (no spoilers here!).

Once you rescue the woman, the site allows you to send the link on to friends.

Hey, I’m hooked!  I’m going to buy the soundtrack, see the movie and tell all my friends about it UNTIL the next neat marketing promo for a movie comes along……but it is too late, the professional movie marketing folk got me. 

They have another convert in their rink.