SWIFT BOAT GROUP GETS BEHIND STONE'S 'WTC'...FILM FINDING TEEN AUDS (NYT, LAT)

By Stephen Saito

The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times both have articles this morning about the marketing of Paramount's $62 million "World Trade Center." According to the L.A. Times' Claudia Eller, the film has found an unlikely teen audience. According to the New York Times' David Halbfinger, there's also an unlikely marketing firm handling the Oliver Stone drama. Creative Response Concepts is the same firm that backed the conservative anti-John Kerry group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

Halbfinger writes that the politically notorious Stone was unaware that the group is helping to market the film. The Times reporter also cites many positive notices for the film among conservatives, writing:

L. Brent Bozell III, president of the conservative Media Research Center and founder of the Parents Television Council - best known for its campaigns against indecency on television and for stiffer penalties on broadcasters - called it "a masterpiece" and sent an e-mail message to 400,000 people saying, "Go see this film."

Cal Thomas, the syndicated columnist, wrote last Thursday that it was "one of the greatest pro-American, pro-family, pro-faith, pro-male, flag-waving, God Bless America films you will ever see."

(Mr. Stone, for his part, has insisted in the past that the film is "not a political movie," while acknowledging in a recent interview that this "mantra" had been handed to him by his employers.)

To top it all off, a writer on The National Review's Web site, Clifford D. May, actually wrote the words "God Bless Oliver Stone."

Halbfinger also writes about Creative Response Concept's conservative past:

Such glowing reviews for an Oliver Stone movie might have seemed blasphemous to many conservatives until recently, when Creative Response Concepts, on retainer for Paramount, began pitching "World Trade Center" to pundits who would not normally be considered part of Mr. Stone's core audience.

A screening in Washington last week, for example, drew members of the Family Research Council, the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and the evangelical Wilberforce Forum, along with a producer for William Bennett's radio show, writers for The Washington Times and a reporter for the Web site of Human Events, which first reported the event. Creative Response Concepts has played a prominent role in promoting conservative causes.

But it was in the 2004 campaign that Creative Response Concepts made its biggest mark on the political landscape, advising the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which assailed Mr. Kerry's Vietnam record as a Navy officer and as a leader of the antiwar movement after he returned home. Its well-funded attacks were among the most damaging blows to the Kerry campaign.

In an interview with The Times, Stone was surprised:

Reached in Boston, Mr. Stone said he knew nothing of the public-relations firm's background other than that it had helped to promote "The Chronicles of Narnia" last year for Walden Media and the Walt Disney Company. "Believe me, I didn't cave," he said. "They do it their way," he said, referring to Paramount's marketing executives.

Mr. Stone said that he condemned the "Swift-boating" of Mr. Kerry, but cautioned that he himself had "hired publicists in the past that had skeletons in their closet." He added: "It's not a holier-than-thou street here. It's an impure market."

And Paramount's Rob Moore defended the marketing efforts, as Halbfinger writes:

Rob Moore, president of worldwide marketing, distribution and home entertainment for Paramount, said he would have hired the firm regardless of who had directed the movie, because of its strong elements of Christian faith and its depiction of men sacrificing themselves for one another: "the definition of patriotism," he said.

In a telephone interview, Mr. Moore cited Creative Response Concepts' connections in the evangelical and conservative movements, and its work promoting "Narnia." "You need somebody who has credibility with those groups," he said.

As it happens, the strange bedfellows in this marketing relationship include Tom Freston, Viacom's chief executive, who with his wife Kathy contributed at least $14,000 to help Mr. Kerry's campaign in 2004, federal records show. (All told, Viacom executives gave more than $69,000 to Mr. Kerry, far more than to Mr. Bush, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.)

But Mr. Moore said that marketing a movie is, after all, strictly business. "When we walk in that door and put our Paramount business cards in our pockets, our job is to get as many people as possible to come see a movie," he said. "When we walk out the door, I could be leading rallies for John Kerry."

Meanwhile, the marketing efforts seem to be working better than expected as the Los Angeles Times' Eller reports:

In Hollywood, where blatant sales pitches tend to be the norm, the studio's approach to marketing the movie that some are calling Stone's triumphant return has been unusually low-key. Call it respectful hype.

But for all the challenges Paramount Worldwide Marketing President Gerry Rich has faced on this project - chief among them, he says, is avoiding looking like "Hollywood trying to cash in" on a tragedy - he also caught an unexpected break. So favorable has been teenagers' response to the film, Rich says, that Paramount completely reworked its $35-million marketing campaign to also court the most faithful and frequent moviegoing demographic: young people.

"Every generation has a defining moment," says the voice-over of a 30-second TV spot aimed at the under-25 crowd that began airing this week. The melodic "Fix You" by rock group Coldplay plays as the screen goes black and three words appear in stark white letters: "This Was Ours."

The company is also planning to use corporate synergy to air a town hall special on MTV with young adults speaking to Stone and other filmmakers about 9/11. Eller also outlines the film's marketing strategy, which has had some positive results:

While the terrorist attacks provide the backdrop for "World Trade Center," the focus of the film is the bravery and valiant rescue of two Port Authority police officers - Will Jimeno (played by Michael Pena) and Sgt. John McLoughlin (Nicolas Cage) - who were buried in the rubble.

It fell to Rich and his senior vice president of creative advertising, Josh Greenstein, to highlight this theme and shake off the preconception that "World Trade Center" is another bleak tale about the horrors of 9/11. On another front, Paramount marketers worked closely with consultants linked to conservative commentators and public interest groups to head off speculation that Stone's film was a liberal political soapbox.

To distinguish the movie from "United 93," they emphasized the uplifting, emotional and inspirational aspects of the story in trailers, TV spots and posters, which read, "A True Story of Courage and Survival."

Then, rather than hosting a traditional press junket, which involves flying journalists to a single city to interview the principals in a posh hotel, Paramount is taking the movie, the filmmakers, some cast members and the two survivors on a two-week, 10-city tour across the country that ends Friday.

In the interest of good taste, it was decided that there would be no celebratory party after the movie's red-carpet premiere in New York on Aug. 3. And the studio has posted no outdoor advertising - on subways, billboards, construction sites or the sides of buildings - in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

According to industry tracking numbers reported Wednesday, as Paramount's media campaign was just getting rolling, 40% of teen girls and women in their 20s who were aware of the movie said they had "definite interest" in seeing it. Teen boys were close behind, with 37% reporting definite interest.

SWIFT BOAT GROUP GETS BEHIND STONE'S 'WTC'...FILM FINDING TEEN AUDS (NYT, LAT)

By Stephen Saito

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