The marketing campaign for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey began in 2011 and utilized both traditional and new media techniques. It engaged fans through video production diaries and milestones. A major publicity push included a Rolling Stone magazine issue and US television programming. An online media blitz preceded the worldwide premiere, driving early ticket sales. The film pioneered hyper-realistic 48fps and Dolby Atmos sound, creating buzz. Extensive use of social media, viral videos, merchandising and fan events effectively promoted the blockbuster franchise prequel.

1. The Hobbit:
An Unexpected Journey
Marketing a Blockbuster

2. The Hobbit – Facts & Figures
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Distributor – Warner Brothers
Producer – New Line Cinema
Director – Peter Jackson Writer: Guillermo Del Torro)
Stars – Ian McKellan, Martin Freeman
Genre – Fantasy / Action
USP – Adaptation, Franchise Prequel, New Tech (48
FPS, Dolby Atmos, Imax 3D)
• Budget – $180 Million ($540 for all 3 films)
• Box Office - $825 Million (after 3 weeks)
• Opening Weekend - worldwide total of $223M
• US Opening figure $84 Million
• (US Highest opener $204 Million – The Avengers)

3. Hobbit – Star Cast
• Sir Ian McKellen returns as Gandalf the
Grey, Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, Ian Holm as
Old Bilbo, Christopher Lee as Saruman, Hugo
Weaving as Elrond, Elijah Wood as Frodo, and
Andy Serkis as Gollum.
• Martin Freeman plays the central role of Bilbo
Baggins, with Richard Armitage as Thorin
Oakenshield.

4. Promoting The Hobbit
• Official Website
• http://www.thehob
bit.com/
• Main Trailer: (2.30
theatrical trailer)
• http://www.thehob
bit.com/#content=vi
deo&section=mome
nt&media=trailer_1
• A Range of Posters

5. Hobbit – Campaign Overview
• The marketing campaign began back in 2011 on Facebook with a
series of video journals from Jackson’s POV, engaging fans
throughout the year by taking them into the production activity
leading up to the announcement trailer at the beginning of 2012.
• Jackson also marked milestones like Hobbit Day and the novel’s
75th anniversary. Publicity included the first ever film-themed
Rolling Stone magazine standalone issue and a week of late night
US television programming on The Colbert Report.
• The Hobbit also received major treatment from Autumn and
Holiday previews. An online media blitz kicked off in early
November with an advanced ticketing campaign across
YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to drive early ticket sales.
• Warner Bros live-streamed the world premiere from
Wellington, New Zealand, to a record-setting audience of a million
views.

6. The Hobbit & Hyper-real
• A big buzz has been created around The Hobbit due to the
fact it is the first film to push the hyper-real look & feel.
• Three features combined to create the hyper-real effect:
• the gradual maturing of 3D into a technology that is less
intrusive than it once was;
• Peter Jackson’s controversial decision to use the hyperrealistic 48 frames per second rate (or high frame rate
• and the unique chance to watch the film with a sound
system called Dolby Atmos, (which the sound business
claims is the future of cinema, because it offers more
realistic presentation of effects and music than ever
before).

7. IMDB MovieMeter
(Measures Film Popularity over time)
In the chart you can clearly see how from 2011 The Hobbit is in the Top 100
and at the end of 2012 (film release date) it is at number 1.

8. The Hobbit – online marketing
• The official Facebook page of the movie
started on the 15th of February of 2011
and the official blog was revamped
around that time.
• Only later a YouTube channel, a Twitter
profile and the official website of the
movie would have been created.
• The Hobbit Production Diaries and
Video series, started first on the blog
then.

9. Hobbit Production Diaries
• The Diaries manage the expectations of the
fans, following the basic rule of suspense: inform
without really showing anything about the story itself.
• Yes, we see the actors during the shootings, the FX
specialists preparing the CGIs effects and so on, but no
real sequences of the motion picture or, better, bits of
them that we will remember when watching the
movie.
• The videos first published by Warner Bros have been
viewed more than 10 million times thanks to their
sharing and syndication in other YouTube profiles.

10. The Hobbit – online marketing
• The Director’s personal Peter Jackson YouTube
account the one that most success had in
promoting the two series: with over 4 million
direct views.

11. Hobbit Fans
• Comic-Con (even Danny Sullivan tweeted about it), an
already classic on-off marketing event;
• On Site engagement asking the fans to vote the best
possible ending for the new trailer;
• Launch of the second trailer (2.6 million views and
gazillions shares and republishing);
• Reinforcing a collaboration with the biggest Tolkien’s fan
based site: www.theonering.net, with initiatives like this
one;
• Creation of the Twitter profile and start of the real
interaction of Social Media;
• Fans engagement on Facebook (i.e.: the celebration of
the 75th Anniversary of The Hobbit publication);

12. Hobbit Fans
• Merchandising (i.e.: maps; figures; the Lego “The
Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” sets or video
games as “The Hobbit: Armies of the Third Age”);
• Wallpaper generator, plus many other fans
goodies, such as Bombur Recipe Book; Dwarf
Combat training game; Facebook’s ‘The Hobbit:
Kingdoms of Middle Earth’ game app.
• Fans events as the “Hobbit Day Fan Photos”;
• Viral videos, as the “An Unexpected Briefing”
with Air New Zealand;
• Apps for iPhone and iPad, etc. etc.
• And a massive word of mouth fan endorsement!

13. Research Task – Word Document
• You now need to explore how Shifty and The
Fifth Estate were marketed. You need to make
notes based on the following:
– Facts and Figures/ Star Cast
– Traditional Marketing techniques
(posters, trailers, magazine articles, reviews)
– New Marketing techniques
(YouTube, twitter, audience participation, pull
marketing, apps, ties in etc)
– Use of stars
– How effective do you think the campaign was.