Phil Bear

Back in 2003, roughly 19 years after Ghostbusters was released in theaters, two Czech film makers decided to create a documentary about the impact that marketing has on people.

Their plan was a simple one. They would create a massive marketing campaign for a shopping mall, and its grand opening. Sounds pretty straight forward right? Wrong! The M Night Shyamalan twist? The shopping mall never has, and never will exist.
 

The two film students, Remunda and Klusák, created a marketing campaign around a shopping mall called Czech Dream that was going to "open" a month from the start of the campaign. We're talking radio, television, billboards, and even a jingle.

When the big day arrived, and the 3000+ people that showed up for the opening walked towards the front of the "store", they found this:
The point the filmmakers were trying to make, from my perspective, is that we are all suckers for marketing. But it didn't strike me that way. Throughout the movie they are advertising legitimate items (be it celery, chain-link, or Ghostbusters on BluRay) with a good price. People in the film were showing up for specific things. They didn't show up because they were brainwashed by marketing.

Consumers have something they want or need. Marketing effectively is the way in which brands reach consumers about the products they, the consumer, already have interest in. How is this a bad thing? If anything, it needs to be done better. Enter Balihoo.

Balihoo, and our local marketing automation software, give national brands the ability to reach consumers that have a want or a need. We provide brands with the tools (via our sweet ad builder software), and the knowledge (thanks to our incredible local media planning team) to market national brands through local stores and dealers effectively.

Lastly, if you only watch one Czech movie about two film makers who market a make-believe shopping mall, Czech Dream is definitely the movie I recommend.