The Metacafe team posted a progress update on its "Bourne Ultimatum" mashup initiative, launched with Universal Pictures on July 23rd. To date, over 1,000 mashups have been posted, with the most popular ones highlighted on the site. Metacafe and Universal teamed up with Diffuse Media Group for the simple-to-use mashup tool.

These kinds of mashups are such a winning idea, it’s amazing to me that they still haven't gained a ton of market momentum. I think it’s just a matter of time, it’s so easy to execute.

Here, Universal provided a collection of scenes and music from the movie. Fans can express their enthusiasm by mixing them up as they please overlaying the music tracks provided. Especially for a franchise like "Bourne", where rabid fans eagerly await each sequel, allowing these folks to participate in the promotional buildup is a real win-win. Tomorrow, when "Bourne" opens everywhere, there will already have been tens (hundreds?) of thousands of people talking up the flick who have seen the mashups or created their own.

Compare this level of fan engagement and promotion to the traditional process of producing 1 trailer and then paying for expensive TV time to promote it. That model seems so yesterday by the standards of what broadband video and Web 2.0 are enabling.

Specifically, broadband is enabling a whole new element of the marketing mix to take root. And the possibilities for where mashups go from here are limitless. Consider: how about letting fans mix in their own voice-overs of certain scenes or mix in their own video clips or have the studio create contests to showcase and reward winning mashups (e.g. Matt Damon-signed, collector’s edition DVD for the winner and such). The list goes on.

I’m expecting lots of smart marketers are going to be increasing their mashup activity quite soon.