Product development has yet to "take off" after blockbuster marketing "

On the eve of the New Year's Eve, the three directors Chen Kaige, Jiang Wen and Feng Xiaogang took a group photo at the Huairou base of China Film Corporation. In the photo, each looked leisurely and happy. However, under this calm and calm appearance, the 2011 New Year competition became the largest marketing war since the marketization of China films.

The most direct competition is reflected in the competition for film schedules. "Orphan of Zhao","Let the Bullets Fly" and "If You Are the One 2" were originally scheduled to be released on December 16, 18, and 22, 2010, respectively. However, considering the overcrowded market, relevant people specially convened three producers for a meeting."Orphan of Zhao" was also staged from the 16th to the 4th. When "Laughing the Jianghu" learned of the schedule adjustment of "Orphan of Zhao", it adjusted its schedule to the 3rd at the last moment, one day earlier than "Orphan of Zhao".

Outside the movie screening, countless topics have also been raised around the quality of the movie, cast and crew lineup, box office PK, etc. Behind the 2011 Lunar New Year's Eve is the shadow of a blockbuster marketing battle. How to break out in the highly competitive Lunar New Year's Eve, in addition to the quality of the film itself, marketing alignment is also the key to success or failure.

"Let the Bullets Fly" is the most creative way to promote each other

The 2011 Lunar New Year can be said to be the largest marketing war since the marketization of China films.& rdquo; Li Zhiqi, chairman of Beijing Zhiqi Future Marketing Consulting Group, told reporters that publicity and marketing is about winning with surprise. If they dare to break into the New Year's Eve stalls, each family will naturally have a lot of skills, and what they show will be a trump card.

The most impressive thing about the QQ emoji show, Weibo promotion of box office theft, and box office theft is the million copies of "Jianghu Express" officially produced and distributed by "Laughing Jianghu". It has a retro and nostalgic appearance, funny text, conspicuous stills, and a strong sense of travel. Under this series of marketing offensives, the box office of "Laughing the Jianghu", which was a strong enemy, actually achieved equal results. The film's distributor, Bona Films, achieved the expected publicity effect.

Co-producer Huang Bin said in an interview that the promotion of "Orphan Zhao" is reflected in cross-border integration, such as the cooperation with "Super Talent"; in addition, some media outlets have been invited to watch the film before it was completed.

Our film has a good reputation. After its release, it caused some controversy among the audience and played a reverse role. We have made calculations in advance that controversial films can actually increase attention even when there are fewer advertisements.& rdquo; Huang Bin said.

Huayi Brothers 'promotion theme for "If You Are the One 2" is love and death, the topics that modern people pay most attention to. ldquo; We have produced several tidbits, including those introducing the differences between Non-1 and Non-2, those introducing attractions in the movie, a love column introducing the creator's concept of love, and tidbits reviewing some of the New Year's films directed by Feng Xiaogang. rdquo; Yang Jun, marketing director of Huayi Brothers, said.

In addition, Feng Tongshe has also become a highlight of the promotion of "If You Are the One 2". Weibo is a platform that allows Feng Xiaogang to directly talk to the public regardless of the media. ldquo; Feng Tongshe talked about the birth of "Fei 2" and began to discuss depth charges. After the movie was released, Feng Tongshe gave a very heroic answer to the situation of half crying and half scolding: what he played was the two extremes of word-of-mouth.

If the promotion of films such as "Laughing" is a routine before and after the release of the film, then the Ma Gang that emerged after the release of "Let the Bullets Fly" can be regarded as a marketing breakthrough.

It is understood that while "Let the Bullets Fly" became popular on the screen, the Ma Gang in the play also became popular. ldquo;A group called Ma Gang appeared on the subway Ma Gang, Ma Gang donated blood, and cinema Ma Gang network. They not only have their own official website, but also have their own Weibo, using various platforms to publish photos and videos.

Nan Liang, the person in charge of planning the Ma Gang hot spot, believes that viral videos and Ma Gang culture are just hooks, and the key point is to have spiritual and emotional communication with netizens. Stimulate-resonate-stimulate, stimulate repeatedly, thereby directly reaching consumers.

Li Zhiqi believes that viral marketing has injected fresh blood into the promotion of the movie. Compared with the other three films,"Let the Bullets Fly" has made certain innovations in the level of virus marketing, and has clear ideas and publicity steps in its implementation. In the early days of the movie's release, the Ma Gang helped "Let the Bullets Fly" become popular on the Internet. Judging from the creativity of publicity,"Let the Bullets Fly" has the latest idea.

Who is the biggest“ winner”? "If You Are the One 2" is the most cost-effective

Tall and hard!& rdquo; is a line in "Let the Bullets Fly", and the film's hard advertising scale is the first among these New Year films, reaching the proportion of Hollywood industry.

Ma Ke, the producer of "Let the Bullets Fly", believes that "Let the Bullets Fly" needs at least 20 million viewers to break the domestic movie box office record. If one out of 10 people who see the promotion is willing to buy a ticket, at least 200 million viewers, or 40% of the urban population, must know about "Let the Bullets Fly."

It is understood that the production cost of "Let the Bullets Fly" is a real 110 million yuan. Thanks to the sponsorship of Red Bull and Canon and the investment of 50 million yuan,"Let the Bullets Fly" has more room to play in marketing. ldquo; The scene of the Hongmen Banquet used 180,000 feet of film, which is enough to make a movie; 15-second and 30-second hard and wide films were released on CCTV, satellite TV and terrestrial channels. In terms of road signs alone, 7 million yuan was invested, covering 1500 road signs in Beijing's Fourth Ring Road.

After big production and big investment, we finally ushered in big profits.& ldquo; Bullet surpassed the same period of "If You Are the One 2", which now has box office reached 650 million yuan. In addition to the box office, the online rights of "Let the Bullets Fly" are also selling at an industry-high price. Currently, Sohu Video has used the film to try out a paid model; there is also news that a Hollywood film company has invested in the remake of "Let the Bullets Fly". The price is rumored to be tens of millions of dollars.

The success of "Let the Bullets Fly" has also been recognized by its peers. Huang Bin believes that the large-scale, large-coverage, and high-density hard-and-wide strategy adopted by "Let the Bullets Fly" actually has rules to follow. When it comes to publicity and marketing, Huang Bin uses the four words of high cost performance to measure its results.

As of now, the box office of "Orphans of Zhao" has approached 200 million yuan. Huang Bin believes that "Orphans of Zhao" cannot be regarded as a commercial film, but a cultural film with historical themes. This theme will have a transparent ceiling in the domestic market. No matter how big the promotion is, the results may be the same. ldquo; The current box office results are quite satisfactory. rdquo; Huang Bin said.

In addition to the daily expenses of setting and crew and post-production, industry insiders believe that the cost of "Laughing the Jianghu" is not large. Zhao Benshan and Xiao Shenyang are both their own actors, and the remuneration will not be a big cost. In addition to box office revenue, copyright and other revenue,"Laughing the Jianghu" also has revenue from games and theme songs in the wireless value-added field. A movie with an investment of more than 50 million yuan and a box office of nearly 160 million yuan are already a big profit.

Huayi Brothers, who have always attached great importance to marketing, chose to use ingenuity in "If You Are the One 2". ldquo; The focus of our publicity is still to tell the audience: Feng Xiaogang's New Year movie is here again. Just zoom in and remind Feng Xiaogang's brand.& rdquo; Yang Jun told reporters that the marketing cost of "If You Are the One 2" only accounts for 20% of the investment.

Previously, it was reported that "Non-2"'s advertising placement revenue in the early stage alone had reached 60 million yuan, recouping its costs. However, Wang Zhonglei denied the amount.

Yang Jun told reporters that it was rumored that 20 advertisements would allow "If You Are the One 2" to receive 60 million yuan in sponsorship, but in fact there were only 8 cooperative sponsors. The only place for planting urban attractions was in cooperation with the Beijing Tourism Bureau. Hainan did not have commercial cooperation; and for the sake of the plot, Huayi also rejected the implant requests from most brands such as banks and alcohol.

"If You Are the One 2" should be the most cost-effective movie this time.& rdquo; Film critic Zhang Xiaobei said that since "If You Are the One" has become a brand, the cost of "Africa 2" this time is far less than the scale of "Tangshan Earthquake". Feng Xiaogang's New Year's Eve movie is a gold-lettered sign and audiences have always bought it. The investment of 50 million yuan has now reached a box office of 470 million yuan, which has exceeded the box office score of 325 million yuan for "If You Are the One" in 2008.

Each's gains and losses "Zhao's Orphan" becomes a servant girl's life”

Although the four New Year films have performed well in marketing, they are not without regrets.

In the view of Gao Jun, deputy general manager of the New Film Federation Theater,"Laughing the Jianghu" has been in alignment with the schedule. Although the quality of the film is not dominant, it is released one day earlier than "Orphan Zhao", which gives them a great advantage: "Laughing the Jianghu" is the price of tofu sold for meat, but "Orphan Zhao" has become the life of a young lady's maid. rdquo;

In Gao Jun's view, the filmmakers of "The Orphan of Zhao" made a small mistake and chose to premiere on December 4 (Saturday). As a result, after the film started, they were always overshadowed by "Laughing the Jianghu", which was released a day earlier. They lost 20 million yuan in box office, but later took a week to overtake it, earning 190 million yuan in box office. Gao Jun believes that the first half of "Orphan Zhao" is the best among the four New Year movies, but it has the least profit.

Huayi Brothers, which has recovered its investment costs through product placement, still has its own troubles. In the film, the actors eat, wear, live, travel, and use mobile phones all questioned by the audience as advertising implants. ldquo; In Feng Xiaogang's films, especially modern dramas, product placement is a constant topic. Maybe one day there will be no product placement in Feng Xiaogang's movie, or if the products in the play are mosaic, will the audience feel uncomfortable again?" rdquo; Yang Jun said that anything can be combined with the product, but if it affects the plot, Huayi will give up.

Zhang Xiaobei believes that the entire film marketing includes many aspects such as publicity, hard and media investment, business implantation, and post-product development. At present, most of the films are still in publicity rather than marketing, and post-product development is relatively lagging behind. The current film marketing in China is still in the initial stage of a concept.

It is understood that Hollywood's movie marketing is already very skilled. Taking "The Dark Knight" as an example, it adopts a website marketing platform that interacts with virtual and reality. At that time, Warner Bros. designed nearly 30 websites related to the movie plot, including Gotham City's police station, railway company, taxi company, bank, church, newspaper, television station, etc., covering all aspects of urban life.

However, post-product development in China is still considered to be restricted by the market environment. Yan Yunfei, publicity director of "Let Bullets Fly", said that after "Let Bullets Fly" was released, the Ma bandit masks in the film sold very well, but all of them were pirated. ldquo; In fact, Ma bandit props have long been thought of before, but hemp and silk materials are used when designing, and the production process is very complicated. The cost of a mask is as high as 300 yuan. Considering that putting it on the market may not be suitable for consumption levels, I had to give up.& rdquo;

It is understood that the marketing investment of domestic films usually accounts for about 10% of the investment, while the marketing investment of "Let the Bullets Fly" is as high as one-third of the investment. It is a typical Hollywood industry standard and is also considered to be quite risky. However, in Zhang Xiaobei's view, this ratio is not high, but the risk lies in the fact that we still lack a complete film marketing evaluation system.