Film promotion

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Film promotion is a practice undertaken by most film studios. Studios invest in expensive marketing campaigns to maximize target audience attendance of the released film early in the release cycle. Many promotional techniques, both traditional and modern, serve this end:

• Television and radio

• Paid trailers on television, radio.
• Product placement: paid active or passive insertion (as on-set posters, and action figures) of film brand in drama or sitcom shows, or as passing mentions in dialogue. 20th Century Fox commissioned an I, Robot-themed motorcycle, featured on two episodes (2:17, 2:18) of American Chopper.^[1] The film Memoirs of a Geisha was placed throughout an episode of the T.V. show Medium.^[2]
• Extended placement: full episodes of television talkshows (Oprah), entertainment news programs (ET), or network news programs (20/20), devoted to compensated exposure of the film, stars, clips, director, etc.
• Production and paid broadcast of behind-the-scenes documentary-style shows.
• Advance trailers, longer previews, or behind-the-scenes footage on rental videos and DVDs.

• Internet

• Creation of standalone studio-sponsored per-film websites such as "example-the-movie.com".
• Viral marketing: free distribution of trailers on movie-oriented websites and video user-generated-content websites, and rapid dissemination of links to this content by email and blogs. Includes alleged leakage of supposed "rushes" and "early trailers" of film scenes.^{[citation needed]}

• In print

• Paid advertisements in newspapers, magazines, and inserts in books.
• Cross-promotion of original book or novelization, including special printings, or new cover jackets("Now a major motion picture.")
• Comic special editions or special episodes

• Merchandising tie ins:

• Paid co-branding (Eragon in American Chopper-two episodes), or co-advertising (BMW and James Bond films^[3]) of a product with the film.
• Promotional giveaways: branded drink cups, toys, or food combinations, at fast food chains.

• Promotional tour - Film actors, directors, and producers appear for television, radio, and print media interviews, sometimes showing a clip from the film or an outtake. Interviews are conducted in person or remotely. During film production, these can take place on set. After film release, key personnel make appearances in major market cities, or participate remotely via "satellite" or telephone.

• In the movie theater

• Slide shows - stills, trivia, and trivia games from the film, shown between movie showtimes.
• Trailers and behind-the-scenes shorts, shown prior to the main attraction

• In lobbies and video rental outlets

• Standups (freestanding paperboard life-size images of figures from the film)
• Cardboard 3D displays, sometimes producing sound^[4]
• Film posters

• Audience research

There are seven distinct types of research conducted by film distributors in connection with domestic theatrical releases, according to "Marketing to Moviegoers: Second Edition." Such audience research can cost $1 million per film, especially when scores of TV advertisements are tested and re-tested. The bulk of research is done by major studios for the roughly 170 major releases they mount each year that are supported by tens of millions of advertising buys for each film. Independent film distributors, which typically spend less than $10 million in media buys per film, don’t have the budget or breadth of advertising materials to analyze, so they spend little or nothing on pre-release audience research. When audience research is conducted for domestic theatrical release, it involves these areas:

• Positioning studies versus other films that will premiere at the same time.
• Test screenings of finished or nearly finished films; this is the most well known.
• Testing of audience response to advertising materials.
• Tracking surveys of audience awareness of a film starting six weeks before premiere.
• Exit surveys questioning film goers about their demographic makeup and effectiveness of marketing.
• Title testing in an early stage.
• Concept testing that would occur in development phase of a film before it is produced.

[edit] External links

• Movie Wars: How Hollywood and the Media Limit What Films We Can See, excerpt Chicago Reader. Jonathan Rosenbaum, 2002.
• Hollywood Bitchslap CriticWatch Article series, with analysis of quote whorage, film criticism and press junkets.
• Marketing to Moviegoers: Second Edition

[edit] References