Movies and Marketing| How Hollywood Movies Are Excellently Marketed.
Almost every business markets their products or services. Some businesses advertise mildly, nothing more than a banner stating the name of their business.
Others adopt an aggressive approach. Eye-catching commercials, flashy posters, celebrity endorsements — are some of the many tactics they’ll undergo to successfully market their brand.
The Film industry is no stranger to furiously marketing movies. Big-budget Hollywood movies, undertake an extensive marketing strategy. Studios need lots of people to go watch the movie, if they have any hope of breaking even, better yet, generating a profit.
The studio’s best shot at racking millions in dollars at the box office, is to firstly, produce an entertaining movie. Secondly, heavily promote the movie, raising as much awareness as possible so that everybody knows about it.
Studios of employ a variety of creative marketing tactics, when marketing their movies. And as the decades go by, studios are only getting more and more creative.
Movies and brands:
Movie studios have been partnering with brands for centuries. And there’s a good reason why this partnership so frequently occurs. It’s a win- win for both parties.
The business selling the movie- inspired product, receives strong demand from customers ( many of whom are fans of the movie) for their limited edition product. Of course this is great for the business. Not only does their sales revenue increase, but they generate more notoriety around their brand. They may even create new customers, from the single limited edition product they launched.
For the movie studio, it’s equally as beneficial. Having a brand sell a movie-inspired product ( especially a large brand) raises more awareness for the movie. Brands with strong customer bases, are alerted about the movies release. In my opinion, the biggest advantage, is that movie fans get to engage with the movie beyond the cinema. It provides an enhanced fan experience, where the viewer can continue their enjoyment beyond the cinema.
The Spider-Man and Burger King collaboration executed this perfectly. Spider-Man fans rushed to Burger King to try out the new product. Fans enjoyed seeing their favourite superhero in one of America’s most popular fast-food chains. It’s a great example of why movie studios and brands, are an awesome synergy.
Talk shows & Interviews. Making good use of movie stars:
Studios are notorious for hiring A-list celebrities to feature in films, with the hope, that they’ll attract greater attention to their movie.
After all, celebrities are individuals who possess strong amounts of popularity and influence, and can easily sway people into watching an upcoming movie.
Talk shows and interviews are an effective way of doing just that. Interviews and talk shows, usually take place during an actors promotional tour for a upcoming film. Interviews and talk shows are a subtle way of turning consumers attention towards an upcoming films release. They’re causal and intriguing conversations, that eventually bring up the actor’s new project.
The marketing of their latest movie, doesn’t feel forced and explicit in the interview. Their usually just great conversations, that eventually bring up their latest gig.
Traditionally talk shows have always been the most common platform for actors to visit. Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Ellen DeGeneres show, Good Morning America. Are all popular talk shows, where actors are interviewed.
Interestingly, with the birth of the digital era, there’s a rise in creative and unorthodox interviews, that are highly entertaining. YouTube Talk show “ Hot ones” is a great example. The talk show features guests participating in a formal interview, while eating increasingly hot — spicy chicken wings. It’s a fun & unique way of interviewing, and it’s no surprise the show’s gained extreme popularity over the last decade.
And Hot Ones isn’t the only new and interesting talk show. YouTube channel Mythical Kitchen has an interview series called “Last Meals”. With more of an sombre undertone, interviewee’s are asked about what their last meal would be, and their thoughts about death.
Decades later, talk shows are still serving their marketing purpose, and their only getting more entertaining and enjoyable to watch.
Trailers:
I couldn’t end this article without mentioning the most essential movie-marketing tactic in the book, trailers.
Trailers are an persuasive art, a quick sample of excitement, designed to stimulate a desire to watch a film, upon it’s release.
They thing about them, is that they work, usually really well.
Let’s take a look at the 2018 Avengers Infinity War trailer.
It’s a trailer remembered by many, 5 years later. And it’s easy to see why.
Firstly it’s the trailer for a major blockbuster movie, with an enormous IP and fan base. Naturally, these trailers are always going to draw in viewers, since the IP is so popular. But there’s other works of magic that make this trailer great.
One of which being the tense music that lingers in the background of the trailer. It’s sets the perfect tone for the movie. The heroes are embarking into a high stakes mission, that if not successful, will doom humanity… forever.
What makes trailers an persuasive art, is their ability to strategically show off specific scenes from the film, in order to raise interest. The Infinity war trailer, is an excellent example.
The trailer purposefully includes scenes of : short important dialogue, snippets of fast-paced action scenes, and character reveals. The trailer is giving us little, while also giving us a lot.
We (the viewers) learn about the plot, what characters are in the film, and what characters are going to be fighting one another, through a multitude of small glimpses.
The best trailers are perfectly engineered creations of excitement. And in my opinion, it’s the most effective method of marketing for movies.
