How does Hollywood market blockbusters? Internet promotion is replacing TV advertising

Film marketing plays an important role in the box office performance of a movie after it is released. Will unsuccessful film marketing hinder audiences from entering the movie theater to watch movies? Film company decision-makers have been troubled by marketing-related issues.

Hollywood is the most mature film industry system in the world today, and its film marketing process undoubtedly plays a pivotal role in its entire film ecosystem. Take the production of a mainstream Hollywood PG-13 action movie as an example. The film company usually spends about US$30 million in marketing costs, which is a huge expense even for mainstream Hollywood film companies with deep pockets.

"Little Yellow Man" has been extremely successful in marketing online, far exceeding offline advertising. Since movie marketing plays an important role in the box office performance of the movie after its release, decision makers in film companies have been troubled by marketing-related issues: How to allocate huge marketing investment to different channels?

How many shares do different channels contribute to driving box office? How big is the difference between online and offline platforms? How to reconcile the relationship between marketing and film production itself? Will unsuccessful movie marketing prevent audiences from entering cinemas to watch movies?

TV platforms are still the main force of marketing, driving an additional 15 million box office on average. Google and MarketShare recently collaborated to use their respective online statistical tools and analysis software to study this question that many movie marketing decision makers want to understand-TV, digital, How do different advertising channels such as video, social networks, search engines, and other channels affect the box office performance of summer action movies in the United States?

Among them, the core question that everyone is most concerned about is: Is digital marketing really effective compared to other traditional marketing models for action movies around the world?

The overall conclusion of the study is: From the perspective of film companies 'marketing investment, TV platforms still account for the largest share of the U.S. film marketing market; TV platforms are still the foundation of film companies' marketing, but as investment in TV platforms continues to rise, after reaching a "point of diminishing returns", more marketing investment will not continue to bring higher box office results. At this time, the film company will invest money in other digital channels. Overall, for a PG-13-rated action film, studios can earn an additional 34% marketing-driven box office growth through marketing investment, or approximately $15 million.

All in all, if major U.S. film companies want to further increase marketing-driven box office revenue while maintaining total marketing costs unchanged, they should cut advertising investment in TV platform channels and increase investment in print advertising and online video advertising.

From posters to stills to trailers,"Terminator: Genesis" has made a series of marketing mistakes. Poor marketing is becoming a barrier rather than a bridge between the film and the audience. Film companies are very interested in the benefits brought by different marketing channels, and may not be so interested in the means of marketing itself and the impression it gives to the audience.

But now, many filmmakers, including Alan Taylor, director of the new Terminator: Genesis film, are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the current American film marketing market itself.

Back in 2014, the marketing team for Terminator: Genesis made a big mistake when it ran an Entertainment Weekly ad for the film: not only were the character photos cheap and wrong (they looked like Sundance Independent Film Festival knockoffs), but the marketing team even spoilt an important part of the film's plot in a trailer that was released publicly later. Director Alan Taylor said: "I certainly didn't want the audience to know what was going on when I first shot that episode. I know it's challenging work for movie marketers--they have to make the decision to put this in the trailer, and they think it's the right thing to do. I think the marketing team wants to send a strong message to viewers who are hesitant to watch the trailer." The director's words were very reserved, but it was obvious that he was not satisfied with the film's marketing team's approach.

"Shocking" movie posters are not uncommon. Ironically, what happened to director Alan Taylor is not uncommon: movie marketing, a very important part of Hollywood's mature industrial system, is slowly becoming like a perfunctory practice of lazy people following cats and tigers.

Even though major Hollywood film companies are still spending a lot of money on film marketing, the results are often like family workshops created by unknown people with high ambitions and low hands.

The most common mistake is the very amateur PS level of movie posters: the general problem is nothing more than the incoordination of the characters 'light and shadow. What is worse is the incoordination of the size of different parts of the characters' bodies. Even worse marketing treatment can even turn "movie promotion" into "movie ridicule." For example, in a poster in the movie "X-Men: Reversing the Future", Professor X's suspended image is almost like sitting in a burning wheelchair. For example, in a poster in the movie "The Second Coming", the male protagonist somehow held a gun in one hand, which was completely incompatible with the style of the entire poster.

Spoilers or misleading trailers are endless. There are also countless mistakes in trailers. For example, the previously mentioned "Terminator: Genesis" spoilers too much movie content in the trailer.

However, this practice is not uncommon in the current movie marketing industry: many movie trailers now reveal the outline of the entire movie, such as the happy ending of a sad movie, and how the initial baggage is relieved later. This practice is so common that some busybodies have created a collection of videos where "trailers are always spoilers".

Of course, some industry operators will say that it is helpless to keep spoiling trailers. Who makes the current audience become more and more depressed and impatient. But there are also many movie marketers who choose another method: mislead viewers in trailers, and then let the audience see the film in the movie theater before realizing that it is not what they thought before.

Film companies can't let marketing companies let their marketing companies go. Films whose marketing strategies have failed and have resulted in box office losses are not uncommon in recent years. This is true for films such as "Clash","Cloud Atlas","Green Lantern", and "Battlefield of the Other Stars".

Sometimes the media accuses the director of his personal influence for not having enough, but generally speaking, the most directly responsible party for the unexpected box office defeat of a big-budget movie is the film marketing team that is directly oriented to the audience. On average, for every $2 spent by studios to produce films, they currently spend about $1 on film marketing.

In the United States, the market for film marketing costs $4 billion a year. Considering the high costs paid by the film company, the current performance of the marketing market is indeed unsatisfactory, but at the same time, the film company itself should also reflect on and adjust its attitude towards film marketing. Film companies should not just lament that fewer and fewer audiences are entering theaters or the proliferation of pirated film sources, but adopt a laisse-faire attitude towards film marketing.

More importantly, mistakes in marketing strategies are not very difficult problems, but are problems that can be easily solved: carefully prepare the promotional poster materials and copywriting pictures for the movie, take as many high-definition static photos of the characters as possible, and take as many high-definition promotional photos as possible of the protagonists on the same stage as possible, and then hand them over to the marketing company.

The trailer of the movie is shown simultaneously with the film's pre-screening, and relevant posters are arranged outside the venue. After the pre-screening, feedback from the audience is collected through questionnaires; based on the tastes of different specific groups of audiences, relevant consulting companies or consultants are hired to make targeted adjustments to ensure that the trailer will attract the audience rather than offend the audience. Of course, the most important thing is to ensure that your sharp-eyed staff will check the materials at the end to ensure that the final marketing product attracts an audience.

Editor: vian