Your dream 2011 Muppet Promotions

[Gonzo's Hobbit]

I know i mentioned this earlier in this thread, but more in passing among several other ideas but i really want to "highlight" this. Muppets need one of those "Scene It" games as well as other trivia type games. Would like to see the smaller desktop trivia calendar brought back as well as larger wall calendars (GOOD ones, not ugly poser photos and photoshop messes we've seen 100's of times before)

I'd say yes to both of those. I saw one Muppet based Calendar this year but it was only Kermit and the theme was "It's Easy Bein' Green," and was about being eco-friendly.
As for the Scene it thing I thought they already had one That's be great to see one. And neither of those seems too hard to do.

 

[Speed Tracer]

I'm still really hoping for that Muppets Revisited album we were promised, with artists like My Morning Jacket, Andrew Bird and Weezer doing Muppet songs (it was unclear if they were doing them WITH the Muppets or just doing covers - either way I still want it!). Not sure how eager I am to hear the Fray's version of Mahna Mahna, but hey.

 

[minor muppetz]

A few people seem to have pointed out that there hasn't been any news of any new Muppet viral videos in awhile. I wonder if Disney is holding off on viral videos so we can whet our appetite for the new movie. It seems appropriate that we don't know of any new viral videos, since the movie is about the Muppets being seperated and getting back together. Then again, the virals usually only have a small number of characters (and usually supporting characters at that). So I don't think that would affect the plot much.

Though it would be cool if they made viral videos of the Muppets doing what they do after going their seperate ways... Maybe a video of Fozzie doing what he'll do before being reunited, and Animal in his therapy, and Gonzo being a plumbing magnet... Those would be good preparation.

 

[Drtooth]

The problem with the virals is that, well, I'm sure they could have taken some time to do them during the movie (much like how Jason was still doing HIMYM at the same time), but I think its best they didn't. Now that the movie's over, I'm sure the puppeteers deserve a rest. After that... that's when to strike and make a bunch of new ones. Even short stuff... even if they just take stuff from XD or Muppets.com or whatever and put them up to show that they're still doing stuff.

Sigh... I wish they had a vlog of Behind the scenes stuff.

 

[minor muppetz]

You know, as far as virals go, maybe after the movie comes out they could produce a series of videos hosted by Walter, in which he makes his own video blog. That would be cool... He could announce news regarding the Muppets, spotlight certain characters, talk about his favorite moments, and so on.

It would also be cool if they did a web series or a series of television insertials of Walter interracting with real Muppet fans, similar to the "Breakfast with Bear" concept. Though I feel that idea would be better done with hardcore fans; Casual fans might not be aware of the difference in character ownership, so if by chance Walter asked something like what a fans favorite character is, I'm sure Disney wouldn't want them naming somebody from Sesame Street or Fraggle Rock.

 

[beaker]

You know, as far as virals go, maybe after the movie comes out they could produce a series of videos hosted by Walter, in which he makes his own video blog. That would be cool... He could announce news regarding the Muppets, spotlight certain characters, talk about his favorite moments, and so on.

It would also be cool if they did a web series or a series of television insertials of Walter interracting with real Muppet fans, similar to the "Breakfast with Bear" concept. Though I feel that idea would be better done with hardcore fans; Casual fans might not be aware of the difference in character ownership, so if by chance Walter asked something like what a fans favorite character is, I'm sure Disney wouldn't want them naming somebody from Sesame Street or Fraggle Rock.

Seriously. The Diz really needs to run loose with the whole meta-viral-tiein to the movie and get some buzz going. There's not ONE teaser, poster, or anything and this thing comes out in only 9 months. Most Diz films we see a teaser over a year(sometimes two) in advance.

Hopefully they really go the distance with the whole Walter viral muppet online thing.

But this film has a few fail safes to ensure at least it has a good opening weekend:

1. It's Disney
2. It's a Disney fall tentpole film, usually reserved for Pixar or other films
3. It'll have a Toy Story short

I'd love to say the fact it's Muppets alone, but the Muppets so far are total unknowns to most kids sadly.

When does the hype machine begin?

 

[minor muppetz]

When does the hype machine begin?

Maybe the guy who contributes to The Muppet Mindset's "?" series of articles (I can't remember his name off-hand right now) should do an article asking that question. Pretty much all questions spotlighted in those articles ended up getting definate answers (though reportedly he did not expect to get an exact answer to his first question article).

 

[Drtooth]

When does the hype machine begin?

That's what I wanna know. The last 2 years it was set out a little, bring it back, set out a little bring it back. There's a difference between being careful, and being Wembley. And this is real Wembling right here.

Releasing a few small, bean bag sized plush will not derail the train. Some new T-shirts that feature characters besides Kermit and Animal will not hurt. Even if they just did a couple simple virals here and there.

So far ending the Boom comics license to NOT have Marvel publish them doesn't seem very much like a big push. Not even sending anything out in Toy Fair because they want to pimp out Cars 2 (it can stand on it's own 4 wheels) doesn't look good. They want this movie to do well, we ALL want this movie to do well. A LOT is riding on this film doing well.

 

[dwmckim]

I'm also very disappointed and concern with how much Disney's dropped the ball as of late. They really seemed to have a great overall gameplan slowly building the Muppet hype and love and putting them out in general public's consciousness...then things slowed down - to where everything really came to a grinding halt. Some insiders have hinted that they wanted to do some things closer to the movie so the viral videos stopped, the dvd releases stopped, major merchandise stopped.

Now there's a difference between being careful and holding back to be careless and putting the brakes on the momentum. And let's face it, Disney's done the latter. So when the hype machine is turned on again, they'll have to work all the more harder because they've "lost too many turns" and "taken too many steps backwards".

Disney's really gained my trust and admiration with their handling of the Muppets overall but they've really lost some of it recently though. They better have some impressive all-scale multi-pronged p.r. going into effect soon.

 

[Drtooth]

That's exactly how we're all feeling. They've been doing a good job until recently... Sure, the film was busy filming, and I'm sure the Puppeteers need rest. But HEY, why not make 2 or 3 more virals between now and the movie. Those things dried up last year because they weren't exactly sure when the movie was starting up. Even if they were to take some Muppets.com stuff and post it on their YT page in the mean time.

I know that the movie is a matter of months, but it'll be here before you know it. Dropping SOME Kermits and Piggys in the Disney Store will not overexpose anything. Maybe some new shirts... I know DVD's are a problem if that stuff about music rights is true, but why not re-release the movies in some sort of set. Really, do SOMETHING already. Put them on that Blu-Ray gizmo... add some special features and movie preview stuff.

Again, taking away the Boom license was just... unbelievably stupid. Marvel is NOT going to publish a monthly. Best we can hope for is a crappy magazine reprint that will have one issue.