Marketing A Blockbuster Movie

The purpose of marketing is to maximise the audience for a film and to therefore maximise its earnings ie to make as much money as possible.

Most blockbuster movies already have an audience. The studio has pumped millions of dollars into the movie because they already know people will go and see it Š because it is based on a media text that already has an audience. This may be a previous film (eg Spiderman 2's audience will consist of many people who are fans of the first movie), or the source material (the first Spiderman movie was based on the comic book of the same name created by Stan Lee in 1962). However, the studios need a guarantee that the film is going to be make not just a small profit, but a comfortable one, and after spending, say $100 million dollars on a movie they will usually spend around half as much again on marketing it.

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 itÕs 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. This is why they like sequels and franchises so much — a string of movies all based around the same brand are easy to market as audiences have already had a taste of them.

The Star Wars movies are perhaps the most successful example of this, with consumers demonstrating rabid brand loyalty, and the brand being associated with a whole range of merchandising, from pillowcases to happy meals. Although many fans of the first three movies had major “issues” with The Phantom Menace, they all felt compelled to see Attack of The Clones, and no matter how many “issues” they had with AOTC, they will still all go and see whatever the third one is going to be called. They are loyal to the brand, and the marketing of the movie reflects that.

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, The Rock, because they know that they are going to get a specific sort of action movie (lots of pro-wrestling moves, 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 Meg Ryan'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 Tom Cruise or 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 maybe) and where it has come from.

 

Shelf Life

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.

Would you go and see Scooby Doo: The Movie having read the reviews?

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. A marketing campaign may build for as long as it takes to make a film, but it is over once the movie has been released.

 

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 Š films have to fight it out for cinema screens. It would be pointless releasing any big blockbuster movie the same weekend as MIB II simply because cinema goers would choose between it and the competition, thus halving the box office takings
Promotion

Promotion for films takes many forms:

  • Print advertising (posters + ads in newspapers & magazines)
  • Trailers (screened at cinemas + on TV/radio)
  • Internet sites
  • Merchandising — the list is endless books, t-shirts, food, soundtrack CDs, computer games, toys, cars, mobile phones, anything that can be associated with the brand of the movie
Publicity

The publicity department of a studio will expend a great deal of time and money trying to gain maximum benefit from the following forms of publicity:

  • Star Interviews — in print and broadcast media
  • 'Making Of' documentaries add to the hype
  • Gala Premieres — who's wearing what frock
  • Reviews and profiles —Empire front cover anyone?
  • News stories - who did what on set and what records has this movie broken?

 

 

Useful articles about Movie Marketing