Trust me, I share your concern as well. I'm more of an advocate of a balanced approach. I don't think we need to have membership drives, one day classes for the masses, billboards, etc. I think viral youtube videos and the occasional newspaper article/10:00 news coverage about some charity action would be an improvement, arguable enough in that regard.
And while we have had more Hollywood coverage, not everyone consumes the same media. Unlike most people my age, I almost never watch TV. When I do, it's the same couple of shows that I search for. But there are weeks when my TV doesn't even turn on. So, TV ads from a Grand Lodge would miss me. (Which I think delves a bit too far into advertisement for my tastes, personally.)
There are people that don't watch movies. There are people that don't read novels. Heck, I read a lot, but it's mostly periodicals, political, scholarly journals, etc. Still haven't read any Dan Brown books.
I guess the point is, people need to be aware we're out there, and we're not doing a very good job of letting that fact be known.
Also, regarding awareness, how many people would know that Kappa Kappa Psi exists? (My college fraternity.) It was referenced in the [awful] movie Drumline. Virtually every Division I and II school in the nation with a marching band has a chapter. It's about to come up to its centennial birthday. It's old, large, and has a great deal of influence in the music world. But non music majors mostly haven't heard of it. You only know it exists if you're in the band on a college campus that has a chapter.
Much like many people in my generation only know about Freemasonry if they have an uncle, father, or grandfather in the fraternity. And I'm not saying it's bad that we have a strong familial tradition. If anything, that's a strength of ours. I just don't think it could hurt too much to let the world see us going about our activities. If we guard the West Gate accordingly, it shouldn't be that much of an issue.
Then of course we have to hold ourselves to a high standard to prevent the fraternity from being cheapened, something which I think we haven't done a good job of either. And I think it contributes to the retention problem. We tend to be our own worst enemy in that regard.