Inside Hairspray-It's FANTASTIC!!! — Page 6

Some extra money WOULD be nice...

While I understand both sides, I know what Namo is talking about. People like Tiny Toon (who was even featured in the Times about seeing BROOKLYN so many times) comes online and just plugs the show. While "rampant fan" or something is a more appropriate term, I agree in taht no one is actually getting paid to promote a show on this board. And when Namo said shill, I don't think he implied that money was involved. Atleast for me, when I think of a SHILL, I do'nt think of moeny, I think of someone who just really loves a show and shamelessly plugs it.

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OFF TOPIC:

munkustrap178- Did you get my PM?

Yes, I'm trying to think about what to say....nothing really helpful comes to mind.

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munkustrap178- That doesn't look like a good sign to me.

if anybody knows from shaiman-ating, it's me, i started the thread after all, lo those many moons ago lampooning in a gentle loving way that very act. however, like namo said, perteptually.unknown.wannabe called out mr. big time composer by specifically mentioning him and alleging his blessing for the diatribe. now it would be lovely if everyone could react with dignity and aplomb when someone kicks their baby and says, "what? he said it's ok to kick it." but it's not gonna happen. personally i thought he was far too reserved in his reply, but then i'm foul tempered by nature.

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Papa, are you SURE that isn't Alan Cumming?

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Well the tattoo for starters and that flat tummy as well.

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Please get rid of that Robin Williams picture. I'm going to have nightmares!

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While I don't doubt Viral Marketing exists, I think it's a little ridiculous to think that what is said on broadwayworld.com is going to have ANY impact at the box office. Come on! It may have an impact on much larger discussion forums, but not here.

Even if I came on here to shill, say Good Vibrations, and got everyone on here to see Good Vibrations, that wouldn't even fill the theater for one performance. Furthermore, if a show is bad, it is bad, and talking it up isn't going to do a world of good. If I got everyone to see GV, how many people would come out of the theater and tell others to see it? Not many.

I think it's pretty foolish to think shilling on this board would have any impact, just as it's silly to call people a shill. Over at broadway.com (Macho) I was called a shill because I said I really liked the music of Dance of the Vampires. It was ridiculous.

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Updated On: 3/11/05 at 05:26 PM

There's an unknown factor when considering viral marketing. Loge - in a closed environment, your theory holds water. However, you have no way of knowing the domino effect a negative or positive post can have. It simply can never truly be measured. You could have 10,000 people read your post and not give a damn. But you could have 1 person take it completely to heart and then with conviction pass that sentiment to someone else - hence the term viral. You know, like the shampoo commercial. They tell two friend, and they tell two friends.

I'm not adding nor subtracting weight to this message board or any other. The full on truth is, you just don't know. Not to mention, that the internet is forever. I often chuckle at the fact that people forget this simple item. Once it's online, the entire world has access, and you simply can never know how and when that might come back to bite you in the ass.

You just keep repeating your mantra that it would be "silly" and would "not have any impact" Loge. Ya know, MOST people in our culture feel that they are totally immune to advertising. Which is of coure, ridiculous. As a matter of fact, according to market research, those younger than Gen-Xers actually feel that they are so savvy that marketing has a NEGATIVE effect on what they purchase. Which is why viral marketing is so effective on them. Nike uses the "alternative" market to push Converse Chuck Taylors to rebels who don't want to buy corporate sweat shop made Nikes. The fact that Nike owns those sneakers too is never ever mentioned.

By your logic, or Loge-ic, the investing of any money at all to persuade people to make any consumer choices at all is silly and does not have an impact. But you have to look at the scale of the economy. OBVIOUSLY advertising effects people's choices.

Struggling shows with rapidly shrinking advertising budgets have little choice BUT to rely on shills. I suppose they actually believe that if they can get enough butts in the seats (and they shill not just HERE but everywhere theater fans "congregate" on the web, and that's a LOT of places when you factor in chat rooms on internet services, etc), then a certain percentage WILL have something good to say about the show. And even if not, they get the few people whom they manage to motivate to see the show, most of whom bring somebody else with them. It may not be much, but it's more than they would get without it.

A good example of somebody who is what is called an outlier, is somebody who has posted here for a long time. To protect his anonymity, I shall call him Mr. Yxor. Now, I am not suggesting he is a shill, but if a show gets a bad review, you can GUARANTEE that he will eventually get a ticket, announce that he "will make up his own mind" and if the show is dreadful, he reports back that "it wasn't great but it wasn't the worst." If a show is middling, he points out that the critics have too much power and that the show was pretty good, particularly X prop or yyy bit of business.

I'm not saying Mr. Yxor motivates people to go see shows they have no interest in, but in an environment where going against the bad fortunes of a show can sometimes be presented as being a free-thinker or a form of rebellion, why WOULDN'T publicists use under-the-radar marketing techniques to talk up their shows? What's the worst that's gonna happen if it doesn't work? The show, that was going to close anyway, closes.

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Updated On: 3/11/05 at 05:42 PM