2. What is marketing?
What is marketing?
Marketing = advertising
Successful marketing involves getting as many people as
possible interested and excited in your product.
Reach = the potential number of people targeted e.g., more
media platforms advertised on = bigger reach.
3. What is marketing?
STRATEGY
CREATIVE
Trailer, POS, Print,
TV/Radio,
Interactive
RESEARCH
NRG, FAME, TGI
PROMOTIONS
Licensed, Media,
Retail, exhibitor
MEDIA
Budget,
targeting
TV, press,
radio, outdoor,
Interactive
PR
Online / Offline
MARKETING
4. Successful marketing campaigns
Successful marketing campaigns result in large viewing
audiences and therefore, make their production and
marketing budget back.
A marketing campaign is successful if a profit is made. In
Hollywood only 25% of films released actually make a profit
(rule of thumb).
Again, rule of thumb is that a film needs
to make three times its production budget
in order to make a profit.
5. Marketing budget
A huge amount of time and effort goes into the marketing of
a film; this is for many reasons but a pivotal one is that
marketing a film effectively costs a lot of money.
In 2007, the average cost of marketing a Hollywood movie
was 50% of its production budget (Josh Friedman, LA
Times). For example, a film that cost $70m to make would
have a marketing budget of $35m making the total cost of
the film $105m.
6. How do you ensure success?
In order to market your film successfully, you must look at
how you are going to market it.
Look at the marketability of the film;
• Does the film have an exploitable theme?
• Is the cast/director of interest?
• Is it a genre movie?
• Will reviews matter?
7. How do you ensure success?
Marketability:
If you can find some key selling points or unique selling
points(USP) then you can push them on the potential
audience.
8. The marketing strategy
• WHAT – is the film? – defining genre. What similar films
have been released? Is it commercial, arthouse?
- Positioning (image or identity of the target market for the
product)
• WHO – will it appeal to, who is the Target Audience?
• WHEN – Timing is everything
• HOW – do you make your Target Audience aware of the
film. How do you make them want to go and see it?
9. WHAT is the film?
(genre & positioning)
Who is your target demographic in terms of gender (common
sense generally prevails)
FEMALE ----------COMEDY---------- MALE
Romance Period Suspense Horror Crime Action Sci Fi
10. WHO is the target audience?
- Are they men/women?
-What is their social position?
-What age are they?
-What is their media consumption?
-What do they do (occupation)?
11. WHEN?
• When – is the best date for the film’s release?
• When – can/should the marketing start? (phasing)
12. HOW?
• How – do we raise awareness and interest?
• How – do we establish what trigger points there are?
13. What next?
Once you have answered all of the above questions, you
can begin creating.
There are numerous platforms on which you can market
your product and each has the ability to entice a potential
consumer in a different way.
14. Marketing platforms
• Online
• TV
• Cinema
• Radio
• Press
• Magazines
• OOH (out of home: posters, billboards, busses, etc.)
15. Cinema posters and trailers
The first visual materials for a film are usually a poster and
trailer.
These are often referred to as teaser posters and trailers.
Why?
16. Other promotional material
Teaser trailers and posters can appear up to a year before
the film is due to be released.
For Hollywood films, regular or full posters and trailers
appear anything up to six months before the films planned
release.
Trailers are shown in cinemas, on television and online and
posters are exhibited in cinemas, on busses and around
cities/towns (OOH).
17. Other promotional material
Online marketing has proved a valuable tool for specific
markets and for specific films.
For example, films targeted at
younger audiences would be
best suited to online marketing
as a younger audience
member’s media consumption
may be primarily from online
sources.
19. Interactive marketing
Interactive marketing is used in a similar way to online
advertising and potentially appeals to ‘techie’ people.
Interactive marketing includes;
• Official websites
• Social media fan groups
• iPod apps and games
• Downloadable content
• Mobile content and gaming.
20. TV spots
TV spots promote the film at opportune moments.
• Extensively researched
• Spots cut for specific programmes/audiences
• Weight of TVRs (television viewer ratings)
21. Promotion – the potential
Ideally, if marketing a film, you would aim to promote over
every avenue available;
• Licensing
• Third parties
• Retail
• Media
• Screening Programmes – Word of Mouth
• Online
• Exhibitor
• Film Education
22. Word of mouth
Word of mouth is the most powerful tool when promoting a
film and no matter how much money you throw at
advertising, if the buzz is bad, it can bomb the film.
Smaller budget films and independent productions don’t
have the money to reach as many people as Hollywood
does. Therefore, they must market the film cleverly to
create a buzz and get people talking about it.
The Blair Witch Project (1999) had huge viral marketing.
23. Successful marketing cont’d.
So, how can you ensure that your marketing campaign will
be a success?
What can you do to create a good buzz and positive word
of mouth?
market research and test market material
In market research, informal feedback is (generally) not
used.
24. How to use market research
Pre-production stage
• The studio gets an idea of how a concept is received. This
can happen by requesting a research agency conducts an
online survey.
• The survey may include questions on familiarity and
engagement and how popular certain actors are (Tom
Cruise is HUGE in Japan).
At this point, it is still just a concept.
25. How to use market research
Post-production
• Test screenings (several) are held
• Marketing materials are tested
• Positioning is decided/discussed
26. How to use market research
Release date looming
• Monitor awareness and interest in seeing the film. Has it
shifted?
• Should the distributor look at re-positioning?
• Release dates can be moved as a result of research e.g.,
of competition with other films.
27. How to use market research
Released
• Exit polls – handing out questionnaires in screenings and
finding out what is the reaction? What were the hooks?
• This can be used if re-positioning is looking likely.
• It is possible for half of a film’s revenue to come from DVD
sales so information from exit poles can aid in marketing
DVDs.
28. Utilising word of mouth
Getting people to talk positively about your film is a sure
way to guarantee ticket sales.
How can it be achieved?
29. Key areas for word of mouth
Test screening of the film
• In regular cinemas with regular cinemagoers from a wide
age and socio-economic range.
• Attendees are given a questionnaire after the screening.
• A focus group is held by the researcher(s) and sometimes
the distributor, director and producer will sit in behind.
30. Key areas for word of mouth
Test screening cont’d.
• Looking for;
• Pacing issues
• Humour (laughter moments are recorded)
• Does the ending work?
• Areas of confusion
• The results can affect changes (and cause friction
between the director and distribution company).
• The test screening leads to a next day debrief.
31. Key areas for word of mouth
Material testing
Trailers and posters are also tested in the same way the full
film is. Monadic testing is the term used when marketers
ask audiences to test one product and review it individually.
Monadic testing may include questions like;
• What is this film about?
• Would you watch it?
• What would you like about it?
• Is there any suspense in the material?
• Is it recognisable but also unique?
32. What next?
Once the test screenings and materials testing is complete,
distributors can then look at what they can do to maximise
audiences.
For example, if a film has tested particularly well to
females, what can they do to draw in males (secondary
audience)? Or, if a film is primarily targeted at kids
(primary audience), is there anything in the film that can
be pushed to cross-over and appeal to adults? e.g., Shrek.
33. Marketing: audiences
In Hollywood audiences are placed in one of four
categories;
• Younger males (25 and under)
• Younger females (25 and under)
• Older males
• Older females
This is known as the ‘four quadrant’ format.
A film that appeals to each of the four quadrants is likely to
make more money as more bums will be on seats.
34. Some key points / trivia
• Critics still hold a bit of power over audiences
• A large scale test screening, to 400 people, costs around
£10,000 (booking a screen costs £1000)
• Horror test screenings have entry criteria
• Market research is all very confidential - don’t let the
competition know that you’re flogging a dead horse
• Spielberg doesn’t tend to test his films
35. Marketing: Donnie Darko
Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly, 2001) was positioned as a
horror movie even though it is a fantasy. Audiences were
drawn in with the horror element because it was more
relatable.
36. Sources
Unless otherwise stated, information adapted from;
• ‘Inside Audience Research’ Lucy McDonald (seminar,
2011)
• ‘Star Trek, Marketing a Blockbuster’ by Deborah
Sheppard, Marketing Director at Paramount Pictures UK
(2009)
