Movie Marketing
SEE ALSO: Movie Marketing GlossaryAfter spending millions of dollars on making a movie, the studio spends millions more on letting audiences know about it. Marketing a big product like a movie can be a very expensive business, especially when that product has a limited shelf life. Movies have to be a hit on their opening weekend, often on their opening day, otherwise they tend to disappear very quickly, and the studio stands to make a loss on their investment.
Most blockbuster movies already have an audience. The studio has greenlit a huge budget for the movie because they already know people will go and see it - often because it is based on a media text that already has an audience. This may be a previous film (eg Iron Man 2's audience consists of many people who are fans of the first movie), or the source material (the first Iron Man is based on the Marvel character of the same name created by Stan Lee in 1963). This is why remakes and reboots are so popular. Original movies like INCEPTION and AVATAR are the exception to the rule, and represent a huge risk for the studio backing them. Studios have a huge operating overhead, and put out a lot of flops that make no money at all, so they need a guarantee that a blockbuster movie is going to be make not just a small profit, but a comfortable one. After spending $100 million dollars on a movie they can spend 50% as much again (or more) on marketing.
That's a lot of money. Is it really necessary?
Selling a Movie and Brand Loyalty
Most cinema tickets are one-off purchases. You don't buy a cinema ticket in the same way as you might buy a particular brand of soft drink, knowing that you will go back to this brand again and again and again (ie you have brand loyalty). You base your decision to buy a ticket on the basis of the marketing you have seen for an individual movie. You might be quite loyal to that brand while it lasts (you might buy a t-shirt, a soundtrack CD and the DVD when it's released), but in most cases, it's a short-lived loyalty. And that's a loyalty that is very expensive to purchase. With each new movie release, a studio has to create a new brand. Studios like genre movies (romantic comedies, horror) that already have a form of brand identity, as they can market them to a specific audience. This is also why they like sequels and franchises so much — a string of movies all based around the same brand are easy to market.
The success of the brand is obvious from looking at the poster on the left; no faces of stars appear (although Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson are all very popular), the actual title of the movie isn't clear, and the enigmatic image could be associated with many different genres or narrative possibilities. The one thing that shines out is the brand, "Harry Potter", using typography that has remained a constant design feature of all the movie posters, and a lot of the book covers. This alone is enough to attract an audience.
Stars may also be considered brands, particularly if they are associated with only one type of movie. Audiences feel comfortable going to see a movie starring, say, Jason Statham, because they know that they are going to get a specific sort of action movie (lots of fighting, not much talking). However, stars as brands go stale after a while, as audiences tire of actors doing the same thing over and over again (think of how Tom Cruise's career has faltered of late). People may be fans of an individual actor, and will go to see a movie because he or she is in it, but actors do not like to be restricted in their choice of scripts, otherwise they will quickly become typecast. Just consider the variety of movies that Johnny Depp has done in the past couple of years. Therefore the marketing of a movie is all about creating instant brand identity. A movie's brand is established by signalling to consumers what it is like (another movie?) and where it has come from.
Shelf Life
Films have a limited distribution window, and therefore a limited shelf-life. They may play in cinemas for as long as six months, sometimes only for a week. The marketing has to happen at absolutely the right time to get audiences into cinemas, and keep them coming. The movie studio may begin marketing a movie as long as six to eight months before the release date, especially to create anticipation for an event movie, using teasers (enigmatic posters, short viral videos). Most movie campaigns begin two to three months prior to release. A marketing campaign may build for as long as it takes to make a film (and keep changing, once it becomes clear how different audience segments are responding to the message), but it is over once the movie has been released.Films can only be marketed effectively prior to their release. Once they have been shown in cinemas, the cat is out of the bag, and word-of-mouth takes over from the marketing department in persuading audiences to go and see a particular movie. Certain movies screen at festivals for select audiences before they go on general release. It is not uncommon for a movie to be recut between a poor festival reaction and the actual release date, with plenty of attendant publicity.
Word-of-Mouth
Word-of-mouth has always been a factor in a movie's success or favour, but in today's socially networked world, it has become vitally important. People tweet, post status updates and blog reviews as soon as they leave the theater, and their reactions spread globally and instantly. If the consensus spreads that a movie is bad, it can have an immediate impact on ticket sales, even for screenings later that same day. BRUNO (2009) was the first movie to suffer this phenomenon (known as Twitter bombing) - early screenings were booked out, thanks to the buzz created by the studio and the success of Sacha Baron Cohen's previous movie, BORAT (2006), but ticket sales took a nose dive once the first audiences tweeted their negative reaction. Equally, positive tweets and social network comments can promote a movie - for free - by building up buzz.The Marketing Mix and Movies
You may be familiar already with the 4 Ps of marketing, which are
Product Price Placing Promotion
Price aside (the price of a cinema ticket varies between movie theatres, not necessarily films), the other three are all vital elements of a film marketing campaign. It is possible to add in publicity to a film marketing campaign although this is technically a part of promotion which is not the direct result of a financial deal made by the studio, although money may change hands...| Product | A film needs to be clearly identifiable in its marketing — genre, stars, story, special effects, style all need to be presented to the audience so they can select the film on the basis of content |
| Placing | A film has to have the right release date — Christmas for a Christmas movie etc. Its release date will also depend on what else is being released at the same time - films have to fight it out for cinema screens. It would be pointless releasing any big action adventure movie the same weekend as another one simply because cinema goers would choose between it and the competition, thus halving the box office takings. It makes more sense to put a romantic comedy in that release slot, to mop up the movie-goers who are not interested in big screen action |
| Promotion | Promotion for films takes many forms:
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| Publicity | The publicity department of a studio can use the talent (actors, director, screenwriter) attached to a movie (they have contractual obligations to do what the studio asks) and will try to gain maximum benefit from the following:
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Further Reading
- The Best And Worst Marketed Movies of 2013 according to Scott Mendelson at Forbes
- Iron Man 2's $100 Million Dollar Marketing Campaign
- Movie Marketing Q&A with an anonymous expert
- How Much Does Movie Marketing Matter? - lots of 2010 marketing budgets quoted in this Hollywood Reporter article