The Woman in Black was very successfully marketed through extensive social media campaigns, billboards, radio advertisements, and appearances by Daniel Radcliffe, the star formerly known for Harry Potter. This wide-reaching marketing spent about half of the film's $17 million budget and generated significant buzz among the target audiences of males and females aged 25 and younger. The mass marketing was highly effective, as the film became one of the most successful horror movie openings ever and the highest grossing British horror film in 20 years.

1. AUDIENCE AND
INSTITUTIONS: THE
WOMEN IN BLACK (2012)
Directed by: James Watkins
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe
Liz White
Janet Mcteer

2. WHO DO YOU THINK ARE THE
TARGET AUDIENCE FOR THE
WOMAN IN BLACK?After watching the film, I believe that the film distributors decided on
a younger audience. Along with the 12 rating on the film, it has a
simple plot and features many jump scares, the main character is
further acted by Daniel Radcliffe, famously Harry Potter, so will draw
in the fans of this film who are predominately in the age group of
25’s. I believe the demographics of the film targets males and females
of 25 and younger. The secondary target audience aims for males and
females over 25, however in the middle class. I have based this idea
around the film originally being a book and a play, this certain class
fitting the theatre as the stereotypical audience.

3. HOW WAS THE WOMAN IN BLACK
MARKETED?The film distributors promoted this film constantly over social media sites
such as Facebook and Twitter, further having their own group on such
sites releasing information of the film to a wide reach. Billboards, YouTube
and even newspaper advertised the film worldwide, creating a massive
reach and buzz. YouTube in particular was used to create a competition for
the target audience, allowing them to win related prizes permitting they
had submitted a ghost story of their own. This would’ve drawn in the
target audience, thus making them more interested in the film upon
release. Taking marketing a step further, they advertised across many
famous radio stations including Kiss, Heart and Radio 1. The primary
target audience of 25’s and under would’ve been heavily exposed to all
forms of advertisement on social media sites, making the sites a prime
source to achieve more reach. Daniel Radcliffe used YouTube himself to
create a buzz for the film, attracting in Harry Potter fans who would’ve
grown up with the films creating an even larger marketing campaign. Due
to all the marketing the film distributors did, about half of the $17 million
of the film box office budget was likely to be spent on the advertising of
the film, subsequently attracting a huge target audience and generating an
even bigger buzz.

4. DO YOU THINK THE MARKETING
MATERIALS FOR THE FILM WERE
APPROPRIATE?The mass marketing materials made the film a crazy success. It
created one of the largest hypes for a horror film the world has seen
in a while, making appearances in magazines, talk shows, all over
social media and so much more. The marketing materials, overall,
were highly successful in creating a large, interested audience
worldwide. During the opening weekend, the film earned $20 million
making it the biggest opening for a Hammer film in all Hammer
history. The Woman in Black made approximately $127,730,736 just
five months after it’s release which made it the highest grossing
British horror film in twenty years. The marketing they did was
necessary and appropriate to create such excitement over a
paranormal horror film.

5. WHAT KIND OF RELEASE DID THE
FILM HAVE?
The release of the film featured a huge world wide premiere, inviting
many celebrities to bring in even more attention to the film. They did
this in hope of general positive feedback before the film was released
into cinemas, just like the marketing campaign, the feedback would
primarily be posted on social networking sites – such as twitter;
creating an even wider reach. On the week of the horrors release it
was shown in 2,855 cinemas.

6. WHY DO YOU THINK THE FILM WAS
SO SUCCESSFUL?
A big part of the films success was due to the main character being
played by Daniel Radcliffe, who was already a well known actor at the
time of the films release due to his work on the popular franchise
“Harry Potter”. Radcliffe further created a YouTube page, answering
Q&As as well as giving snippets of the film to create more of a buzz
online. The aforementioned interviews, talk shows and social media
sites created an even larger hype around the horror film.