Our first project with new client Amazon Publishing was promoting the release of Penny Marshall’s autobiography, My Mother Was Nuts. The book promotion had to be true to Penny’s personality and deliver her signature brand of quirky fun for a book trailer that would live online.
The winning idea, picked by Penny Marshall herself, came from our Concept Director Dale Alexand er. Next, TMA’s LA team hired Portland ia co-creator & director Jonathan Krisel to work with SNL frontman Fred Armisen to write the perfect script. The final project is a simple appeal to read the book, but with one catch — Fred Armisen is dressed as Penny herself, making the appeal. Armisen first debuted his impression of the Laverne & Shirley star in a 2008 Saturday Night Live sketch.
So far the video is a wild success. Penny Marshall says she “loves it” and hundreds of thousand s of viewers are watching and sharing the 2-minute piece.
In addition, as a fun on-the-ground tactic honoring Penny’s New York roots and keeping the title central, TMA is re-brand ing ten hot nuts carts in Manhattan’s busiest neighborhoods this week to celebrate the launch of the book with an invitation to “Go Nuts!” and have a bag on Penny.
Rounding out the online promotion is a partnership with the popular website Some E Cards. A series of cards celebrating the inimitable ways that only a mother can deliver an insult, cleverly titled Mompliments, teases the promise that there’s no shortage of jaw dropping or eye rolling when your mother is truly nuts.
My Mother Was Nuts, the new memoir by director, actor, producer Penny Marshall goes on sale September 18th.
