Since 1999, the Golden Trailer Awards have recognized “the creative people who make movie trailers and the best examples of their unique art.” The 2006 winners were announced last month.

We were particularly intrigued by one category: the Golden Fleece. This is the award for “the best trailer of the worst movie.”

The winner: the Jessica Alba flick Into the Blue. Go ahead — watch the trailer.

Indeed, it’s a great piece of work — promising lots of action and thrills that the film (and yes, we’ve seen it) doesn’t come close to delivering.

Which reminded us that this is how many people see the PR business — as creating false impressions about products or companies. In reality, this is no different from thinking that all trailers promote bad movies; it’s simply not the case.

A trailer is like every marketing vehicle — it’s designed to communicate a product’s essence in a compelling way. And so, we’re sure the folks at Craig Murray Productions who made the trailer for Thank You for Smoking are proud that they won the award for Most Original Trailer. Thank You for Smoking is a creative film with an original approach — and the trailer was able to capture that essence and communicate it to moviegoers.

That’s what we try to do at the Idea Grove. One of the things we’re always careful to advise our clients is to accurately position themselves in the market. That means putting their best face forward and doing it consistently — but not overselling.

We’ve learned over the years that the quickest way to kill a bad product is through good marketing.