Semester Summary

Throughout the semester, I have read countless articles on movie marketing and marketing within movies. After reading and blogging about these different marketing techniques, I feel that I am more marketing-savvy and that I am able to spot marketing ploys when I see them. There are literally hundreds of ways to market a film, some of which include: delayed release, viral marketing, special events, trailer leaks, the use of other media channels, and using the celebrity status of the stars of the film to promote the project.

         There are many reasons why a studio would delay the release date of a film. One reason, as was the case with the war film "The Lucky Ones", is that the studio feels that the film will be better received if the opening weekend is held at a different time. A studio has to assess the movie market at the time of the release for the film because the other films being released that same weekend could either raise or lower ticket sales for your particular film. Lionsgate did not want to release "The Lucky Ones" in March because Stop-Loss was also set to be released then. The studio did not want its film to be associated with another war movies that ended up doing very poorly in theaters.

         Another element to consider when marketing a film is evaluation of the genre of film to be released. If audiences are not running out in droves to see films about Scandinavian Ice Fishing, then you might reconsider producing your film about Scandinavian Ice Fishing in the first place. A critical part of marketing a film is knowing your audience, and knowing if your audience does not exist. Performing adequate research before production begins will save tons of time and money for all people involved. There is nothing worse in Hollywood than when a film bombs at the box office. 

         A relatively new technique that movie-marketing executives are implementing is viral marketing. "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" is the perfect example of a marketing campaign that aims to reach the target audience through unconventional means. Studios are realizing that moviegoers are not affected in the same way by traditional marketing techniques, such as trailers and movie posters. Moviegoers need to be reached constantly and through media channels that no one would expect, such as posters around major cities that appear to be homemade and real, yet in reality, are movie posters distributed by the movie studio. The key to having successful a successful viral marketing campaign is to make the executions appear as real as possible, and to make them not appear as promotional tools strategically by movie houses.

         Although holding special movie events is not a new marketing technique, it is a very profitable one. By having the premiere of a new film in a location other than Hollywood, the film automatically increases its reach and boosts its credibility with moviegoers. A recent example of a special event is George Clooney's newest film "Leatherheads". Clooney chose to follow in his Aunt Rosemary's footsteps by having his newest film premiere in his hometown in Kentucky. This technique does bring added costs to the studio because they have to pay to have the film in a special location, but in the end, it does pay off in ticket sales. Moviegoers like to feel special and like to feel that the producers of the film are trying to target them specifically. By having a special movie event, it is a win-win situation: the moviegoers feel special and the studio house promotes the film in a unique way.

         A new trend in movie marketing is to leak the trailer well in advance of the film release and making it seem as if it were an "accident". This is by no means a new practice in movie-marketing but its popularity is rapidly growing as of late. By releasing the trailer early, the buzz surrounding the movie automatically magnifies, which is exactly what the studio is looking for. The newest installment in the Indiana Jones films released the trailer for the highly anticipated film in order to reach the younger demographic of the target audience that would not be especially interested in a film starring a 65-year old Harrison Ford. Films have also released portions of the trailer, pairing this method with an interactive website that gives the user the power to reveal more of the trailer by solving clues or performing small tasks.

         "Vantage Point" and "The Dark Knight" both had interactive websites that gave the users just a small amount of the trailer and encouraged users to investigate clues in order to release more of the trailer. If applicable to the film, every marketing campaign should include this technique. Not only does it get the moviegoer involved, but it also creates excitement surrounding the film. As mentioned earlier, this method will not work for every film, such as "There Will Be Blood" or even "Dan in Real Life" because they are not the types of films that warrant such user involvement.

         The cutting edge of movie marketing is involving other media channels, mostly non-traditional channels such as facebook. "Untraceable" paired up with Facebook to create a fan page called "Kill With Me", where Facebook users can subscribe and according to the number of users, that determines how much graphic footage will be shown from the film. This was and still is incredibly controversial because of the content of the page and the questionable ethics of the page.

         Although individual films are using the resource of Facebook to promote a film, studio houses are also taking advantage of this large reaching channel. Paramount Pictures struck up a deal with Facebook to market new films or new DVD releases on the social networking site, pairing digital images with thousands of clips of Paramount films. Once again, this technique engages the moviegoer and makes him or her feel special and that they are involved in the movie process.

         The field of movie marketing is growing tremendously and is broadening the scope of marketing channels. It will be exciting to see what is coming next and which medium the studios will implement in order to further reach the target audience of a film. I think it is safe to say that we can expect great, unexpected things from the movie-marketing industry in upcoming months. 

Yet Another War Movie

I know I`m not alone when I say that I am just about sick of seeing movie after movie on the war in Iraq. The most recent of which, "Stop-Loss", bombed in theaters, following suit with similar films that had come before it. 

Lionsgate, the distributor of "The Lucky Ones", a movie about three soldiers back from duty that take a road trip across the country and discover themselves and each other along the way, is struggling with the marketing of this project. The film, according to an article written by David Halbfinger for The New York Times, is a serious film with comedic undertones and an uplifting message. 

The cast and crew are getting antsy because the release date has been pushed back three times so far, with the next tentative release date of October 24th. The studio is worried that people will associate this film with the other war movies that have done outstandingly poor in theaters, but the filmmakers would like to point out that the word "Iraq" is never once mentioned in the film (as if that changes the fact that its about the war).

Marketing any type of film is an exceptionally hard thing to master, but that task becomes even more daunting when the genre is not generally accepted, at least at this time. Lionsgate has the opportunity to market the film as a light hearted, uplifting comedy and completely leave out the part about it being a war film, but that would be misleading to all moviegoers. Essentially, the studio just has to bite the bullet and proceed with the marketing campaign as if Iraq-based movies were popular in the United States right now. 

Run, Fatboy, Run!

I am a HUGE Simon Pegg fan. When I first saw the trailer for his newest romantic comedy, "Run, Fatboy, Run", I knew I would be there opening night with my best friend and fellow Pegg-lover, Sarah. Although Pegg was at his finest, the film was less than exceptional, leaving a sense of emptiness as the final credits rolled. After much thought, it became a possibility that my friend and I had inflated our expectations of the film as a result of the long waiting period between first viewing of the trailer and the actual release date. According to this article on theglobeandmail.com, the studio had originally planned to release the film in the UK in December and then shortly thereafter in the United States. The film did debut in the UK right around Christmas but was delayed until March 28th here because of the Oscar race. When marketing a film, you have to be careful about when you start promoting it because too much build-up can lead to large fan disappointments and subsequently, awful reviews from critics. 

Another thing to note about the film was the incredibly large amount of Nike product placement. The entire film was based around the Nike River Run in London, in which both Simon Pegg's and Hank Azaria's characters participate. This article states that the producers wanted to use the London Marathon as the race but couldn't because it is owned by another company, so the studio decided to get in talks with Nike to do some company sponsoring. Overall, I could have lived without the constant image of the Nike logo in almost every frame of the film, but I still love Simon Pegg and will undoubtedly be there on every opening night with Sarah laughing right along with me.

Poor Sarah Marshall

Universal Studios has decided to do something quite unique in terms of marketing its newest comedy "Forgetting Sarah Marshall." Stephen Becker writes for the Dallas News that the studio has gone the "viral-marketing route" in that it has posted signs throughout major cities, including Dallas and New York, that say horrible things such as "You do look fat in those jeans, Sarah Marshall" or "My mom never liked you, Sarah Marshall." Along with these, and countless other 'hate' signs, the studio has launched a handful of websites that fall in line with the Sarah Marshall-bashing theme.

Although this form of marketing could not possibly work for every film out there, in the case of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall", a film about a love-sick man who just can't seem to get past his ex-girlfriend, it does. 

It's nice to know that studios are actually working on creative techniques to get our attention...it makes being a moviegoer that much more fun.

Movie Buzz

When marketing new films, having dynamic trailers and flashy posters helps but what is essential for getting the word around about your new film is BUZZ. Buzz is exactly what George Clooney is doing with his newest film 'Leatherheads,' which is a comedic take on 1920s professional football. According to this article from USA Today, Clooney has decided to premiere the film at the Washington Opera Theatre in Maysville, Ky, which is about 16 miles from Augusta, Clooney's hometown. This theatre has special meaning for Clooney and his family, because 55 years ago, his aunt, actress Rosemary Clooney, premiered her film 'The Stars are Singing' at the exact same venue. 

Maysville's Mayor, David Cartmell, suggests that Monday night's premiere will be the biggest event to happen in this town since Clooney's aunt premiered her film. 

There will be about 300 tickets available for locals to acquire, allowing some of Clooney's hometown pals the chance to experience Hollywood in this Northern Kentucky town of only 9,000.

By staging a marketing stun such as this, Universal studios has killed two birds with one stone: they will premiere the movie (a must) and at the same time, they will generate buzz for the film's nationwide release on April 4th.

If done correctly and tastefully, an event such as this will provide immeasurable benefits for the success of the film. 

Not-So-Private Lives

In this day and age, there is no such thing as 'privacy' for A-listers in Hollywood. The personal lives of almost every celebrity worth writing about are plastered all over the tabloids, with readers paying little attention to the actor's actual work. 

The Boston Herald wrote this article about the impact that actors' personal lives have on the marketing of his/her most recently completed film. Using Owen Wilson's suicide attempt and Ryan Phillippe's divorce-prompting affair, the article highlights the problem that movie marketers face when publicizing films with leading stars plagued with controversy. Films like "Drillbit Taylor" and "Stop Loss" depend on the star-power of the leading actors to boost ticket sales opening weekend, but is it realistic to go see a comedy starring funny-man Owen Wilson when you know he's so depressed that he tried to kill himself? Do you really want to sit through two hours of Ryan Phillippe showing on-screen affection to the woman that broke up his marriage to Reese Witherspoon?

The marketers of these films decided it would be best to promote the movies as if they had no stars in them, as opposed to stars with major real-life problems. 

It is an unfortunate situation for all parties involved, but with movie marketing, taking risks is never a reliable option.

The Super Bowl For Women

Sex and The City:The Movie is quite possibly the most anticipated movie release of 2008. Set to hit theaters at the end of May, this uber chick flick has defined target marketing to a tee. Stuart Elliott writes in this article for the New York Times that "when it comes to products helping to promote the coming film based on the popular TV series “Sex and the City,” it seems the sky is the limit." 

"The partner brands are included in the film in ways that range from mentions in lines of dialogue to numerous appearances on screen. In exchange, the owners of the brands will help publicize the movie with commercials, posters, sweepstakes, viewing parties, events in stores, contests, ticket giveaways and even products with labels inspired by 'Sex and the City.'"

New Line Cinema has decided to position this movie "as a Super Bowl for women" in that the products that are marketed within the film are targeting at the viewing audience. "Executives at New Line and the partner sponsors met frequently to coordinate how the brands’ efforts can amplify the campaign planned by New Line."

If you've seen the TV series that inspired the film, you`ll know that designer brands were frequently mentioned throughout the six seasons of the show, so having a bit of name dropping in the film is not much of a surprise. 

The key to New Line Cinema's success with this marketing plan is that all of the products are geared directly towards the people that are expected to see the film. Other movie houses can learn a lot from the marketing techniques used on this film.