Assess the Importance of Marketing in the Media Area you have Studied?
Marketing in film, to me, is one of if not the most important step in the film process in terms of captivating an audience's attention. The marketing aspect of a film not only tells the audience “hey here’s an amazing new movie we just produced please go watch it” but it also manages to portray to an audience the most important and action or drama-packed scenes that would make someone want to go view the movie. Marketing also helps a ton in the film industry as it works to reach out to all of the age ranges the movie is suited for and also getting them to want to watch the movie. The extensive marketing campaigns films and franchises put in place from not only the beginning of the release cycle but even during production of the movie amplify and seek out maxim revenue for the movie being produced. Marketing, in a sense, can never hurt a movie as its only meant to gain attention for the movie however if marketing is placed incorrectly or distributed late or at the wrong times its effect on the movie and audience could take a toll.
The use of Marketing through merchandise like clothing, games and toys, and even posters gets an audience pumped about a film and reminded of its glory, or failure. The merchandise released after or before a movie is placed in theaters makes a big difference on the audience depending on what it is. The movie Jurassic World which was released back in 2015 and made 1.7 billion dollars worldwide released limited edition posters, video games, lego toys, and even an app. All this marketing put them out in the world to access all audiences and age range starting at 3 years old (with legos) up to any age. However, another movie, The Lego Movie, grossed about 469 million dollars worldwide and marketed much less than Jurassic World. They used their lego platform to promote the movie and worked with Warner Bros yet still made significantly less. This can be because it didn't reach out to such a wide range of audiences, however, they could have marketed in a vaster way to reach out to more age ranges. The brand could have tried marketing themselves and the movie on more adult consumed things and areas. For example, laundry detergent, in partnering with a brand to promote themselves or everyday household items that are typically used by adults.
Marketing in film also manages to work seamlessly in immersing an audience into the movie by releasing sneak peeks of what’s to be seen either on their own or through the use of other platforms. Merchandise is one way an audience can see what to come, through the use of pictures or game characters, however, so is a trailer or the release of something before the movie even comes out. For example, the live-action Beauty and the Beast movie was seen to be putting out posters to promote the movie months before it had been even released or in production. In July of 2016, the official Beauty and the Beast twitter account released a poster of a single rose encased in a beautiful glass cover with the title of the movie and read “Coming Soon March 2017.” This got many fans extremely excited to see what’s to come as it was a brand new remake of such an iconic Disney movie with such an extensive and creative cast. The movie then was released and used another multiple marketing schemes like games, toys, merchandise, and more just like any movie however, grossed only 357 million dollars worldwide. Although their marketing tactics were phenomenal in getting an audience immersed into their movie almost a year before it was released, it still didn’t attract many people and overall made less than the Lego Movie which reached out to a much more limited age range audience. Another movie, Spiderman Homecoming, was seen to have followed in some similar marketing footsteps like Beauty and the Beast. They strategized by releasing merchandise before the movie came out to create hype and generate buzz and when the movie first came out there was a huge premier held to promote what was to come. They then released the movie along with any other games, toys, clothing, and synergy uses (they partnered with Cinnamon Toast Crunch on the cereal boxes) back in July of 2017 and generated a gross amount of about 880 million dollars worldwide.
Overall, the use of marketing in all four of these movies worked in their favor as it generated buzz about each movie and also all, with the exception of Beauty and the Beast, met the average amount of money a movie makes in the box office worldwide of 373.2 million dollars. I believe that although all marketing strategies don’t work to reach some goals of movies it is still an extremely important process for not only any film to be released but products as well. Without the use of marketing and telling people a new film is coming, generating excitement around a long-awaited sequel to a saga, a stand-alone movie, or an original movie, much less money would be made by companies and producers. Although the process of making a movie is not always solely for the making of money and more for entertainment the production studios still need to make back the thousands, millions, and billions of dollars put in to even make the film. This is primarily a reason why all of the marketing aspects come into play for people to buy, use and wear as a way for them to get excited but also in a way promote the movie for the company. Clothing, toys, video games, websites, and even apps are all used as marketing strategies to reach out to all age ranges suited for the movie and as ways to create excitement or suspense to see what’s to come.
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