Oh Thommy boy, the DJs, the DJs are calling...

Thom Filicia had a quick phone interview with WNND radio ("hits of the '80s and '90s") in Chicago last evening! I was driving home and just happened to flip to that station at the right time.

I wondered if he was in Chicago too, but his greeting was "How's Chicago?" so I guess not. They ended the call by saying he had to catch a plane, so does anyone know where he was?

The pair of DJs were complimentary about the show and Thom was his usual friendly self. They played a snippet of "All Things" just before they put him on.

Some stuff I remember:

1. The male DJ asked what Thom would tell a guy like him who had all-white walls but was maybe kinda thinking about color. Thom's response was that people often think they have to paint the whole house, but you don't even have to do a whole room...painting just one wall in an interesting color can have quite an effect on its own.

2. The female DJ said that many people seem to think that when they decorate, they have to match everything. Thom said the trick to is to coordinate, not match. He used the example of someone wearing jeans: you don't also have to wear a jean jacket and a jean shirt and a jean scarf and jean socks and jean shoes. You just have to find what coordinates well.

3. The male DJ insisted he looked better these days thanks to QE!

4. Thom mentioned his design firm, and that a second book was in the works.

It probably lasted no more than five minutes. All in all it was a pretty neat, if not deep, interview, and I appreciated that they asked Thom's advice on real questions and gave him time to answer fully. Plus the DJs seemed to really like him.

Oh Thommy boy, the DJs, the DJs are calling...

Thom Filicia had a quick phone interview with WNND radio ("hits of the '80s and '90s") in Chicago last evening! I was driving home and just happened to flip to that station at the right time.

I wondered if he was in Chicago too, but his greeting was "How's Chicago?" so I guess not. They ended the call by saying he had to catch a plane, so does anyone know where he was?

The pair of DJs were complimentary about the show and Thom was his usual friendly self. They played a snippet of "All Things" just before they put him on.

Some stuff I remember:

1. The male DJ asked what Thom would tell a guy like him who had all-white walls but was maybe kinda thinking about color. Thom's response was that people often think they have to paint the whole house, but you don't even have to do a whole room...painting just one wall in an interesting color can have quite an effect on its own.

2. The female DJ said that many people seem to think that when they decorate, they have to match everything. Thom said the trick to is to coordinate, not match. He used the example of someone wearing jeans: you don't also have to wear a jean jacket and a jean shirt and a jean scarf and jean socks and jean shoes. You just have to find what coordinates well.

3. The male DJ insisted he looked better these days thanks to QE!

4. Thom mentioned his design firm, and that a second book was in the works.

It probably lasted no more than five minutes. All in all it was a pretty neat, if not deep, interview, and I appreciated that they asked Thom's advice on real questions and gave him time to answer fully. Plus the DJs seemed to really like him.

Away to the cheating world go you, where pirates all are well-to-do.

Huh. Been reading TWOP's "Commercials" thread, particularly that bit right around the holidays (it's a looong thread) where there was ton of backlash for the ubiquitous Cat in the Hat product tie-ins (CITH shilling umpteen household cleaners, Kit-Kats, Sierra Mist, Burger King, etc.).

And then someone remarked that they were glad POTC hadn't gone through the same marketing blitz and killed all interest beforehand.

Which reminded me of the discussions at this year's MW, where at least one person explained the reason why there wasn't much marketing for POTC, and zero merchandise (t-shirts, toys, etc.): The plans for marketing are worked out ages before a movie's release, and Disney figured that POTC would be a modest success before falling off the radar. Therefore not much money needed to be spent developing marketing for it. The budget went to what Disney expected the real hits to be: Brother Bear and Haunted Mansion.

(Take the above paragraph with a grain of salt, because simply by being filtered through me, it's at least 2nd-hand. But you get the idea.)

Grumblings about Disney not knowing a hit if it painted itself purple, etc., etc. aside, that brings me to the point I started this post for: Maybe we got lucky that Disney didn't hype POTC much. By the time POTC2 rolls around, you can bet it'll come with its own sizable chunk of the merchandising budget. Will it be swamped by promotion before it even starts, pun half-heartedly intended?

OTOH, Shrek 2 and Spiderman 2 have been promoted there and back again this summer, and yet have managed to stay more or less untainted by it, unlike the Cat's face obnoxiously showing up everywhere, backed by ersatz-Seuss jingles. So here's hoping.

Away to the cheating world go you, where pirates all are well-to-do.

Huh. Been reading TWOP's "Commercials" thread, particularly that bit right around the holidays (it's a looong thread) where there was ton of backlash for the ubiquitous Cat in the Hat product tie-ins (CITH shilling umpteen household cleaners, Kit-Kats, Sierra Mist, Burger King, etc.).

And then someone remarked that they were glad POTC hadn't gone through the same marketing blitz and killed all interest beforehand.

Which reminded me of the discussions at this year's MW, where at least one person explained the reason why there wasn't much marketing for POTC, and zero merchandise (t-shirts, toys, etc.): The plans for marketing are worked out ages before a movie's release, and Disney figured that POTC would be a modest success before falling off the radar. Therefore not much money needed to be spent developing marketing for it. The budget went to what Disney expected the real hits to be: Brother Bear and Haunted Mansion.

(Take the above paragraph with a grain of salt, because simply by being filtered through me, it's at least 2nd-hand. But you get the idea.)

Grumblings about Disney not knowing a hit if it painted itself purple, etc., etc. aside, that brings me to the point I started this post for: Maybe we got lucky that Disney didn't hype POTC much. By the time POTC2 rolls around, you can bet it'll come with its own sizable chunk of the merchandising budget. Will it be swamped by promotion before it even starts, pun half-heartedly intended?

OTOH, Shrek 2 and Spiderman 2 have been promoted there and back again this summer, and yet have managed to stay more or less untainted by it, unlike the Cat's face obnoxiously showing up everywhere, backed by ersatz-Seuss jingles. So here's hoping.