Since the movie and TV show’s industry spends a lot of money in order to launch a film, it is easy to understand why a well-done marketing is so important in this case. Movies are like brands, and to reach the success of a film, it is indispensable to create assimilation with the public before and after a movie’s launch. Which means that, promote the film and create connections with the audience is extremely relevant in order to avoid loss of money (that big amount which was spent on the production of the movie).
A movie marketing campaign involves many steps, but one of the Medias with the best cost-benefit to promote a film or tv show is, without question, the internet. And it is not difficult to understand why: you don’t need large investments such other medias claim, and you will be able to reach an expressive range of people.
Obviously, it is important to spread the movie over other medias and platforms, and here we have another reason why planning a marketing campaign to your project is so important: define your public target. Once you know well your audience, you will be able to define the best medias to promote your film and catch them up.
To figure out how efficient a good marketing campaign can be to movies and TV shows, nothing better than real examples. Check it out the successful marketing of recent titles back in 2015:
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Release date: May 1st Production Budget: $250 million Opening Weekend Box Office Sales: $191,271,109
This movie was expected to be a great success, due to the huge and loyal fanbase of Marvel. This is why some people affirm that The Avengers: Age of Ultron it is his own marketer – which means it sells itself. Even though, that didn’t stop the film’s marketers from associating with brands such as Gillette to promote the release. The commercial launched by Gillette for Avengers was well received and could successfully reach their male audience with ads for The Hulk Razor. Moreover, the new movie of Avengers were very effective on social media, with the most popular characters running their own Twitter accounts.
Mad Max: Fury Road
Release Date: May 15th Production Budget: $150 million Opening Weekend Box Office Sales: $45,428,128
One of the smart gestures of Mad Max was to target a public that is not frequently attracted to this kind of film. This could be done by endorsing the feministic theme with Charlize Theron in the front of movie posters, showing a real strong and powerful image. About the male audience, the movie reached them with commercials backed by an estimated advertising budget of $9.2 million, spent on 858 national airings all over 45 networks. Though MTV and Comedy Central were responsible for almost all the transmissions, the NBA basketball playoffs received the most spending at over $1.5 million. The film also engaged its Facebook and Twitter fans with questions related to the movie and by involving them into the post-apocalyptic world of the fiction.
Pitch Perfect 2
Release Date: May 15th Production Budget: $29 million Opening Weekend Box Office Sales: $69,216,890
Pitch Perfect 2 was the first film to use Snapchat in its marketing strategy, obtaining more than 300,000 followers with this gesture. The Snapchat filter made for the movie overcame the volume of 6 million views. Fragments of the movie’s premiere, by the way, were even livestreamed on Periscope, the video streaming app for iOS and Android.
Jurassic World
Release date: June 12th Production Budget: $150 million Opening Weekend Box Office Sales: $208,806,270
The association with important brands such as Mercedes-Benz was not the only responsible for Jurassic World’s success. The launching of a website designed as a virtual theme park, highlighting brands like Hilton Hotels and Margaritaville also was decisive to the well succeed marketing of the film – once they showed the fictional park as it was a real destination where people could visit and have the whole experience. A smart effort to weaken the lines between fiction and reality, increasing the audience’s experience.
With the TV series the same applies – a good marketing makes all the difference. And no one is more expert to show it than Netflix: the efforts on promoting its original programs — from House of Cards to newer shows like “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” and “Bloodline” – was a really good strategy that have been increasing the empathy with its audience.
Moreover, recently HBO Now, SlingTV and Sony have all entered the streaming market, showing that they are aware of Netflix’s skills in changing not only the market, but also the consumers’ mindset. They want us to break up with the traditional pay TV.
Talking more specifically about their marketing strategies, Netflix has reduced, in the last few years, the amount of money invested on paid advertising in the U.S. through traditional media such as television, radio and Internet display ads. The brand spent about $121 million on advertising in 2014, $143 million in 2013 and $218 million in 2012, according to Kantar Media.
The decision to favor online marketing it is explained by Netflix as a better way to target audiences, especially on mobile devices. “We have migrated over the last two to three years to be more content forward in our marketing, more digital in our marketing, we’re getting smarter and more efficient about how we put those dollars to use,” said the Chief Financial Officer David Wells, in reply to a question about the decision to cut back on U.S. marketing spending.
We can take as lessons a lot of the marketing strategy of Netflix, but in summary, what makes them experts are:
It’s personal
Their algorithms make the section “Recommendations for you” possible for us. Which means: thanks to that, we can have a micro-genre just for us, based on our own personal interests. This increase the engagement between the consumer and the company, and gives Netflix the opportunity for strategically targeted marketing.
Their own voice
As an entertainment brand, it’s totally understandable that they have a unique and fun voice. We can see that in their social media accounts, mostly in Twitter and Facebook, with their funny posts and easygoing language.
Netflix and chill? No, really. pic.twitter.com/ezcZ7V0peN
— Netflix (@netflix) July 22, 2015
Finally: an efficient use of data
After Netflix find out that 76 percent of viewers enjoyed binge-watching episodes and about the same number said that doing so actually made following shows more enjoyable, they decided to start releasing all of a season’s episodes at once. This gesture started with the Netflix original series House of Cards, and has continued with other popular shows such as Orange is the New Black and Jessica Jones.
Here you can have more 5 lessons in content marketing from Netflix, by NewsCred
Want to know how manage the marketing of your film or audiovisual project? The site Film Making Stuff have a tutorial for it!
Webgraphy
How Netflix Is Shaking Up Its Marketing Strategy, 2015 http://blogs.wsj.com/cmo/2015/04/16/netflix-marketing-strategy/ last accessed in April 8 2016
17 Tips For Marketing Films & TV Shows Online, 2014, https://www.ventureharbour.com/ultimate-guide-marketing-films-tv-shows-online/ last accessed in April 9 2016
2015’s Most Successful Movie Marketing Campaigns: Summer Blockbuster Edition, 2015 http://www.mavrck.co/2015s-most-successful-movie-marketing-campaigns-summer-blockbuster-edition/ last accessed in April 10 2016
How Movie Marketing Works http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/movie-marketing1.htm last accessed in April 10 2016
How Netflix is Winning at Content Marketing, 2015 http://www.paceco.com/netflix-winning-content-marketing/ last accessed in April 10 2016