The Corpuscle

Okay, my dear regular readers, my loyal Corpusculites, here is your chance to participate in the parliamentary monarchy that is this blog. You get to vote! Of course, I am the king so however you vote, I'm going to do whatever I want anyway.

Those of you who have blogs will know of the "comment marketing spam" phenomenon. Somebody does a blog-search on a phrase that indicates interest in a particular topic that relates, however absurdly, to whatever it is the comment marketer is trying sell. For example, somebody might search on "rising medical costs", and get a whole list of blogs wherein that phrase appears, then they go visit that blog and post a comment that usually takes the form of: "Interesting blog! Check out www.midnitemedicalinsurance.org for an interesting discussion of this topic." Of course, when you visit the site, you are marketed-to until your pants fall down. Or, it's one of those link-accumulator sites that makes money through ad revenue, I guess, that comes of large numbers of people hitting the site.

I delete these things regularly. It isn't such a hard job because I'm about a 10th Tier blog and so they don't pick on me as much as they might others. I get maybe one or two of these things a week.

Sometimes you get comments that leave you scratching your head. The comment seems to be coming from left field, you don't see how it relates to anything in particular, it might not even make a lick of sense. I hate to delete comments and try to avoid doing it if I don't have to, so I puzzle over these strange comments. Generally, if there is no link to another website I will leave them. I mean, who knows? Maybe this incomprehensible comment is the first piece of published prose of an undiscovered genius. Or, maybe the guy was just drunk out of his mind and thought he was IMing some chick he met on a sex site. It is not for me to say, generally. I like to encourage dialogue, even if the dialogue resembles First Contact between two alien civilizations.

So this morning I discover this comment in response to my post "I bin Havin' the Creeps". Don't bother clicking on the comment link; I include herewith the comment in its entirety:

Hey there, interesting blog... check out www.u93.org... I have found quite a bit of information concerning the way we handle terrorism.

Posted by: Bri | May 11, 2006 at 02:48 AM

Since it so exquisitely fit the standard "comment marketer spam" form, I at first reached for the "delete" key. But soft! I have to check this site out anyway. I mean, yeah, it fit the form, but what if...?

I'm not going to actively link to the site. Paste the url into your browser if you want to go there. In the meantime, I will tell you a little bit about the place.

First thing you notice is that it is a professional job. This isn't just some clown with An Urgent Message to pass on, proper html coding be damned.

Second thing you notice is the link line near the top of the page which reads:

HOME | MOVIE OVERVIEW | TRAILERS/VIDEO | FREE DOWNLOADS

Hmmm...

Other links take you to the LATEST NEWS which apparently runs a search on news articles that (mostly) have to do with the movie "United 93", and to the PRESS ROOM for which you have to register to "gain access to the Media Room containing everything from movie trailers to photos and press releases", but it is at the RADIO RESOURCES link where we get our next big clue about what is going on here.

For College Stations

Faith Matters: A Muslim and a Christian discuss the questions that divide them and the answers that may bring them together.

Here is a 13-minute discussion between students Faizzan Ahmad and Dan Kopp. They address:

• A response to extremist or fundamentalists groups
• The idea of coexisting
• Religious zeal as both good and evil
• If religion can ever act out in violence
• How their generation will make a difference

Feel free to download and pass along this MP3 file to friends, family, or co-workers. If you represent a radio station, this interview is ready to be used on the air.

and

For Commercial/Private Radio

Radio stations feel free to use the answers below as on-air features for local promotion of the film. These four questions were posed to experts and Christian leaders:

Dr. Douglas Culver - Professor of Old Testament and Semitics, Erskine Theological Seminary, South Carolina

Robert Schuler II . - Pastor, Crystal Cathedral Ministries, Anaheim, CA

Erwin McManus - Pastor, Mosaic, Los Angeles, CA

James Reitveld - Scholar of Religion, Claremont Graduate University, CA

Download all files in one ZIP...

Hmmm....

So who's behind this site?

In the lower left corner of the home page we find: "(c) 2006 Universal Studios". And in the lower right corner we find: "Created By MOTIVE ENTERTAINMENT".

Following that link, we discover the story of MOTIVE. Herewith, some stuff from their site:

Motive was founded by Paul Lauer, who has pioneered the development, production, sales, marketing, and distribution of media, entertainment, and consumer products worldwide for the last 20 years. Lauer is also one of the most well connected entrepreneurs in the Faith and Family Market, having most recently designed and executed the highly-successful marketing campaign for Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" for Icon Productions.

and

Motive's strategy for The Passion was based on a unique system of highly effective marketing "formulas" that connect with consumers at a deeper, cause-based level, an approach which the company calls "motive marketing".

Motive can help you develop, market, and distribute your film (or other product or service) - whether it's an independent endeavor or a big company release - for maximum success, using targeted strategies to niche audiences.

Motive's entertainment division specializes in:

• Film Marketing & Business Plans
• Market Testing / Script Analysis
• Publicity & Advertising
• Grass Roots Marketing...

And so on. I'm especially fond of a link elsewhere called "The Faith Market".

"Grass Roots Marketing". Would those be the roots of grass located in the field United 93 vaporized when it crashed in Pennsylvania? No, they would be the grass roots living in the comment sections of blogs you've dug up by doing a search on the phrase "September 11th 2001".

So, my dear Corpusculites, the question has been called. Should I delete this comment? Vote or simply Speak Out. As I say, no matter which way the vote goes, I'll do whatever I want anyway. I am the king.

But my own view is this: since there is no active link in the comment, and since I've written this long post about it, I probably won't delete it. However, I am open to persuasion.

Is it too early to marketing-spam this movie to what they presume to call the "Faith Market"?

I guess not.