If you sell two separate products, for example a video game and a film, they could both do very well, giving you a profit of £200 million each. However if the video game and film were linked, i.e. both Harry Potter projects, this is synergy because the profit value of each will be more, perhaps £300 million each. Therefore the product value of intertied products is more than the value of two separate products.
As film students, of course you do not have to worry about mathematics, but you do need to understand the importance of synergy for the industry and to be able to identify and discuss examples. Jill Nelmes, in ‘An Introduction to Film Studies’ defines synergy strategy as: Combined or related action by a group of individuals or corporations towards a common goal, the combined effect of which exceeds the sum of the individual efforts. (Nelmes, 1996: 42)
Synergy can come in a number of different forms:
- Product Placement Companies pay to feature their product in a film, which often leads to a deal in which the film’s protagonist or other characters are featured in their advertising campaigns. Tie-ins Promotional Partnerships, where the film or its characters will feature on existing products. This may be in the form of competitions.
- Spin-Offs Products based on the original, i.e. the Film. A film may be a spin-off of a television series, or a television series may be created as a spin-off of a film. We can also think of this as media convergence.
- Pre-Existing Property If a film is based on pre-existing material (for example a video game, novel or comic book) the pre-existing material is often re-released featuring imagery from the film on its cover, or a special edition is released in synch with the film’s scheduled cinematic release.
- Merchandise Companies created products specifically for the film, for example toys, calendars, video games. These products not only help market the film, but the audience’s knowledge of the film brings their awareness to the merchandise.
- Vertical Integration When distribution and some forms of exhibition are kept in-house, meaning other subsidiaries of the conglomerate (who owns the production company) distribute the film and create DVD releases of it.
Looking at the synergy of particular case studies allows us to analyse the structure of Hollywood, how major high concept releases get the funding and profit they do and how they are able to dominate, through their distribution campaigns, over independent films. It is an important facet of Hollywood because it enables the conglomerates to continually accumulate large sum of profit, thus enabling them to continue to make major releases and dominate over the global market. Another key issue with synergy is that it is in part responsible for the repetitive nature of Hollywood films. To encourage corporate partnerships, merchandise deals and other pre-sales, enabling large budgets to be sought means the films Hollywood produce have to be viewed as low-risk by the partners. Safe films are those which seem to be almost guaranteed to succeed (remember there are never any guarantees in the film industry!).
Partners and investors will want to see evidence that similar films have done well in the recent market, that the directors and stars’ recent films have been profitable and any pre-existing property or clear genre conventions help this. Therefore, if you look at your local cinema listings, or a film magazine like Empire and Total Film for upcoming releases, you will see there are many similarities between the major Hollywood films. Filmmaking at this level is a business and films have been potential for synergy, therefore more potential for profit if they are safe investments. Whilst we often say a film’s profit is dictated by the opening weekend box office figures; in today’s global society film’s often make as much, if not more profit, from the longevity of the film’s brand as a presence in the public sphere - this happens through synergy.
So to sum up:
•Synergy is an important part of a film’s marketing campaign- making the public aware of the film’s existence.
•Synergy is an integral reason for the success of the major conglomerates, who own Hollywood, and for their dominance over independents worldwide.
•Synergy is also a key reason for the studio’s preference towards safe films, because the safer the investment the more likely it is that they will be able to attract corporate partnerships.
•The synergy opportunities developed for a film can often be more profitable than the film itself and keep the film brand in the public sphere constantly- ideal if the studios are planning a sequel, which is more than common in contemporary Hollywood!
Case Studies: Casino Royale was produced by Metro Goldwyn Mayer (M.G.M), Columbia Pictures, United Artists and EON Productions. MGM and Columbia Pictures are both subsidiaries of Sony Corporation. Sony Pictures Entertainment and MGM then distributed the film. This is the first level of synergy we see behind Casino Royale - vertical integration. However, the sound track was released on Sony Classical and the artist Chris Cornell (of Audioslave) who performed the title song “You Know My Name” is signed to Epic Records, part of Sony BMG. The film was released on Sony Blu-ray, PSP UMD Video, as well as on DVD, and was offered as part of a package deal for customers buying the Playstation 3 (another Sony product). These releases were organised by Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment, yet another Sony subsidiary. There is a lot of product placement in the film; in fact this is how a large percentage of the budget was raised. Several Sony products include the Vaio, Sony blu-ray and Sony Ericsson phones all appear in the film.
However other companies engaged in a synergy partnership and their products featured in the film: FedEx, Omega Watches, Martini, Heineken Beer and Ford Car. The image of Daniel Craig was used in the advertising for Heineken, Martini, Omega Watches and Ford Car. The Sony Ericsson website also featured Daniel Craig as the character of James Bond.
The Avengers is perhaps one of the greatest examples of the extremes synergy can be taken. The film is based on pre-existing property and has raised the profile of its comic book characters, most of the characters have been features in spin-off television animation series, re-issues of the old comic books, or re-branded new comic book series. Tie-ins have been arranged with fast food restaurants such as McDonalds (for their happy meals), Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin Robbins and fizzy drinks, such as Pepsi. However, the most unique facet of The Avengers marketing and synergy campaign is that each of the protagonists has their own film(s) which have been used to market The Avengers. Each of these films has had tie-ins, product placement, merchandise, computer games and spin-offs and each is based on pre-existing property - which has been exploited and promoted by the film’s release. Iron Man, Thor and Captain America have been film franchises in their own rights, but from the build up to the release of Thor it has been clear that they are all part of the campaign for The Avengers. Marvel was bought by Disney, however a pact was organised between Marvel and Paramount Pictures to produce a slate of comic book films.
The inter-relationship between two organisations owned by two different conglomerates: Disney and Viacom respectively, expresses the oligopoly nature of Hollywood. From 2012 this relationship will end leaving both with sizeable profits and Disney will continue to distribute the later films, including Iron Man 3 and The Avengers. Synergy Activity Marvel Comics and Disney-Buena Vista (who now own Marvel Comics) have decided to release a new film on their character Ms. Marvel (see her profile here: http://marvel.com/characters/bio/1010338/ms_marvel). Look at a range of existing comic book examples, www.moviemarketingmadness.com could be a helpful resources, research the different inter-linked products they have i.e. merchandise, spin-offs, cross-promotions, etc. Mind map synergy potentials for the film Ms. Marvel remember to consider the different potential audiences you could appeal to and how you could develop pre-existing property.