Movie Marketing Glossary

You may find the following words help you describe and analyse a movie marketing campaign:

Awareness	what marketing seeks to create - when audiences know something about the content of a film (stars, plot premise etc) and when it is going to be released
Buzz	Positive word-of-mouth
Day and Date Release	Simultaneous distribution of content on different platforms (e.g. a movie released on DVD and VOD on the same day)
Distributor	Business entity that buys the rights to sell a film to the cinema, video and TV markets. All blockbuster movies are made with the distribution rights pre-sold or arranged as big studios have their own distribution arm. Smaller, or independently produced movies often have to wait till they are completed before anyone will buy the distribution rights
Exhibitor	Cinemas - usually large chains of cinemas (eg UA in Hong Kong, Cineworld or Odeon in the UK)
Hold-over	When a film plays for longer than originally intended, perhaps because of large audiences, or winning an award
Interactive	Building a brand through a 'conversation' with the consumer, usually online e.g. a Facebook fan page where consumers leave comments and download images and videos
Junket	Held either on the set or at a hotel, members of the press are invited to meet the talent, doing either round table or one-on-one interviews. A nice lunch and swag bags may or may not be provided, depending on how much the studio wants to impress the journalists.
Key art	The central concept or design used in posters and print ads
Merchandising	The process of manufacturing, distributing, licensing and sale of T-shirts, toys, posters, key-rings etc that contain characters or designs from a movie
Platform release	A limited opening at key cinemas to develop word of mouth. Once a good buzz has been achieved, the movie will open at more cinemas (wide release)
Playdate	Date of release of a film in a specific market
Press kit	The pack given to journalists containing such things as still photos, press release, biographies of main personnel. Some press kits are unusual and inventive, and contain small gifts as a not-very-subtle persusasive tactice to get the journalist to be nice about the film
Primary Audience	The main target audience of a film, those who are likely to go and see it on its opening weekend, or even start queuing up six months before it is released
Secondary audience	The audience who will only go and see a movie after they have heard about it - either from friends or from reading reviews - and have been persuaded that it is worth seeing. They will not risk it on its opening weekend
Tagline	The one-liner summing up the story which appears on posters ("Same planet. Different scum" etc)
Teaser Trailer	A short trailer which does not give very much at all away about a film. It is designed to arouse curiosity and may appear a long time prior to the release of a movie (6-8 months)
Tie-ins	Promotional campaigns (Happy Meals, car tvcs - you name it) where another company gets together with the film company and they promote their products jointly
Trailer	A 'sample' of the best points of a film which works to create awareness in audiences. Can be anything from 30-180 seconds long
Twitter bombing	Moviegoers now tend to tweet the moment they leave a theater, and the mass of their opinions can have an instant, harsh effect on ticket sales. This effect is noticed when early screenings on the opening day for an anticipated movie sell well, but later screenings are empty.
Viral	use of pre-existing social networks (E.g. YouTube) to "spread the word" about a movie. Like a virus, a short video clip can pass from one consumer to another. This UK Cadbury's advertising spot became a global viral phenomenon, thanks to YouTube.
Word-of-mouth	The general public attitude to a movie - what people tell each other about it. This is thought to be the most important ingredient for box office success