Film marketing is also known as movie advertising and movie promotion, and its goal is to try to get people to buy movie tickets, says Dave Roos. Film marketing is essentially using the media to try to get people interested in a film enough that they want to spend their money to go and see it. Media sources used in film marketing include the trailers, posters, other print ads, billboards, interviews with the cast, an online presence, and social media interaction. The marketing team uses all these things to get people to want to see this film. The true test of a marketing strategy is how well the film does on opening weekend. Roos also says the gross box office sales of the first weekend are directly related to how well the promotional campaign gathered interest. If a film does not do well its opening weekend, it is very likely that the marketing campaign was to blame. It was not effective enough in getting people to become interested in the film.
A successful marketing campaign often leads to a successful film. A marketing campaign that truly engages and interests people is going to gather buzz for the film. An interesting campaign makes the film itself appear interesting and will get people to want to go see it. People need to have a reason to go see a film, and the advertisement and promotion of films is what creates this reason. If the promotions for the film are made interesting and gather a lot of attention, it is likely that the film will do well, if not only on opening weekend. On the other hand, if the marketing for a film does a poor job of getting interest and just doesn't appeal to people, that film is going to suffer for it.
Dw Dunphy says the film's advertising did very little to show what it was actually about, other than show it had a character named John Carter(Taylor Kitsch) and whatever was happening to him took place in the desert. The marketing team tried to appeal to multiple audiences, but missed the mark on all accounts. The marketing did nothing to make the film seem interesting, in fact most trailers didn't even give a clear idea as to what the overall plot was. People who watched the trailer ended up being more confused than interested, as the overly vague trailer didn't show them much of anything. This caused the film to suffer greatly, earning only $30,180,188 its opening weekend and $73,058,679 total as of June 2012 in the United States, according to its IMDb page. IMDb also says the film's budget was $263,700,000. This means the film only earned about 28% of what it spent back, whereas films usually make at least 40% back, according to Dave Roos. This is a terrible percentage, and this film being a flop is in large part due to the ineffective and uninteresting marketing strategy.
A marketing campaign that gets people interested enough to want to go see the film allows for the film to be commercially successful. An important thing to consider when marketing a film is audience. The marketing team needs to know who they are trying to appeal to with their advertising. As the packet “Teaching Trailers: Touching the Void” explains, when the marketing team knows who their target audience is, they will try to make the film looking appealing to that specific audience. Another thing marketers will try to figure out about the film is the Unique Selling Point. Finding out what about that film is different than every other film of that genre or is coming out at that time really helps the marketers sell the film. People want to see something new and exciting, and marketers make sure that people view the film as just that.
The film Cloverfield (2008) had a marketing team that knew what they were doing.
The film's theatrical trailer was first shown in front of Transformers (2007), and showed a lot of explosions and people screaming and running. According to Mike Reyes, the website created for the film was a huge reason for the film's success. The website, 1-18-08.com, provided a parallel to the actual film. The website's story was about Teddy and Jamie, two people in love and how Teddy secretly worked for corporation that was deep sea drilling where it shouldn't have been, waking up the giant monster. The monster then attacked New York City. The website focused mainly on the monster, not about the characters, creating an interest and expectation for it, as summarized by Reyes. This strategy worked out insanely well for the film. Cloverfield managed to earn over double of its budget back within four months of being released in the United States alone. IMDb says the film earned $80,034,302 in the United States by April 2008 while its budget was only $25,000,000. This is a great accomplishment for any film, and was largely due to the interest generated from the website created for promotion.
Research is a very important aspect of the marketing campaign. The marketing team has to decide who their target audience is and then figure out the best way to appeal to this audience. Trying to leave a film open to seem interesting to multiple audiences tends to just make the advertisements vague, like John Carter. This makes no one want to go see it rather than everyone, like the company was hoping. Deciding on a particular audience is better because being able to target that particular group's interests gives the film a more likely chance of getting people to see it. There's also the possibility that even people outside that target audience will be interested and end up go seeing the film as well. Dave Roos says this is done by researching the interests and media-involvement of the target audience. Roos then says they use this research to decide how to budget their spending for each different media source.
A good way to make sure a marketing campaign does its job well is to have a good marketing strategy. Marcus Taylor says, “Timing is incredibly important – you must build up as much hype in the short space of time leading up to and around the launch as possible.” A good marketing strategy takes timing into account and makes sure every second they have to promote this film is being put to good use. While there are many ways to do this, Taylor lists some of the best. To him, the best thing you can do is a crazy, attention-grabbing publicity stunt. Taylor's example for this is when Game of Thrones was marketing its latest season as of the time he wrote his article, they erected a huge dragon's head on a Dorset beach. Taylor also lists letting the viewers experience the story as a great marketing strategy, like how Cloverfield had the website to engage its viewers. However, Taylor uses the example of The Hunger Games (2012) and its 'Virtual Hunger Games', which allowed users to compete in a district against the others. Dave Roos says a good marketing strategy is to hold a press junket. Roos explains that for a press junket, “...journalists, entertainment reporters and movie critics are flown out to a special location for a day or weekend of interviews with the stars and creators of the film. The actors, directors and screenwriters sit in separate rooms and the reporters are brought in one by one to ask their questions.” Press junkets are good for the movie because they're very controlled and only highlight the good aspects of the film.
Following an effective strategy is how a marketing campaign becomes successful. The strategy is what makes the campaign; without it the promotions wouldn't connect or draw people to go from one advertising platform to the next, like watch the trailer and then go to the film's website. The strategy is the backbone of the whole campaign, creating a cohesive group of advertisements and promotions that work to sell the film as much as they possibly can. Following a strategy is the best way to make sure the marketing campaign is as good as it can be, which is something the entire film's success is dependent upon.
Without marketing, it is likely that no film would ever be a commercial success; a film can't be successful if no one knows about it. Alan McGlade says that marketing is so important to a film, that a company will pay one dollar for marketing for every two dollars spent to make the actual film. That means they are willing to risk even more money on this film because if they don't, it's possible that they won't see any back at all. The extra risk of spending more money on marketing is outweighed by all the money marketing the film well could cause the film to make. A film needs to be marketed for people to become interested in seeing it, it is a way for them to learn what the film is about in a way that makes them want to see the film to understand even more about it. Or just to enjoy it, either way. If a film is not properly marketed, the profits from the film will suffer. The marketing campaign needs to make sure it can gain the attention and positive feedback it needs in order to get people interested in it. If the marketing campaign does not do this, then it is very likely that many people who could have possibly enjoyed the film won't go see it. Basically, marketing will either make or break a film, and to have a successful film, you need to have an awesome marketing campaign.
Sources:
Alan McGlade - "Cracking the Code for Film Marketing"
Cloverfield's IMDb Page
Dave Roos - HowStuffWorks
Film Education - Teaching Trailers: Touching the Void
John Carter's IMDb Page
Marcus Taylor - "17 Tips for Marketing Films & TV Shows Online"
Michael Sarko - "Movies Ruined by Their Own Marketing"
Mike Reyes - "10 Best Movie Marketing Campaigns Ever"
This is my first time visit here. From the tons of comments on your articles,I guess I am not only one having all the enjoyment right here! marketing1on1
ReplyDelete