Marketing is a very important part of the film production process. It greatly influences how much money the movie makes and it also controls the film’s relationship with its audience, making it a major role in the overall success of the film. The amount of exposure the film gets heavily affects the money it makes and its relationship with its audience.
First off, marketing is very important for films because it increases the amount of money that the film makes. People need to know about the film in order to attend a showing and buy the merchandise. Along with the amount of marketing, the strength of the marketing strategy is also key to the success of film. For example, the film Black Panther (2018), used many types of marketing to make the movie known across different media types. One part of their strategy was to feature unique fashion pieces inspired by the film at a New York Fashion Week event hosted by Marvel. Merchandise was another aspect of their marketing strategy. Clothing, toys, accessories, and more were all sold in order to reach out to their audience and get them excited for the upcoming movie. Also, Lexus teamed up with the film to make an advertisement for the 2018 Lexus LS 500, which was partly inspired by the movie. Black Panther made strenuous efforts to make sure they got their name out there across different media styles. Websites, posters, radio shows, and soundtracks were all made to go along with the movie.
In contrast, the effort put into the marketing of the movie Ugly Dolls (2019) had much less strength than that of Black Panther. Many digital posters were made for the cartoon, along with the usual trailers, but no great efforts were made in getting the movie out. They could have created a website for kids with interactive games that featured the characters and setting of the movie. This would get children more involved in the movie. The movie partnered with multiple food service businesses, such as Cold Stone Creamery which added two flavors to their menu that were character themed. Although they did make some efforts, if more marketing had been done before and during its release, the film would have been more successful. This can be shown when comparing how much money each film made. Black Panther made around $361 million in its first weekend, while Ugly Dolls only made about $31 million worldwide. This difference could have been lessened, had the marketing been stronger for Ugly Dolls.
Additionally, marketing is very important to the film process because it builds relationships between the film and its audiences. For instance, Beauty and the Beast (2017) started their marketing journey long before the movie released, just to get their crowd riled up. The poster of a single rose encapsulated in a glass jar gave the audience something to look forward to. As the release date came closer, merchandise began to be mass produced out of stores like Target, Hot Topic, and the Disney shop. This merchandise targeted people of all ages. Kids costumes, T-shirts, mugs, and figurines were all produced to help engage audiences with the film. Additionally, the soundtrack for the movie was released just a week before the movie was released. This allowed audience members to indulge in the music even before they saw the movie. Stickers were made for iMessage so that people could text using the stickers in their day to day life. Lastly, synergy was utilized when a special episode of The Bachelor was aired which was hosted by the stars of Beauty and the Beast. All of these efforts were made in order to connect the film with its audience.
Another film that also strived to engage their audience through marketing was Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017). Just like Beauty and the Beast, the movie featured a sound-track which got fans excited for the movie. Marvel has already created a great relationship with their audience, but along with the usual trailers and merchandise and such, a video game was also released before the movie was. This got the gamer fans of the movie excited and ready to watch it. Not every movie has a video game to go along with it, and this was another great way of getting in touch with their audience. To get the younger kid’s attention, the movie exercised synergy and partnered with the cereal brand Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Spider-man was featured on the box and small toy web shooters were found in the boxes. They aimed to encourage all ages to join the fandom and get excited about the new movie.Engaging fans is a really important part of having a successful movie released and marketing allows it to happen.
In conclusion, marketing is very important to films because it makes the film more profitable and it helps connect the movie to its audiences. Without marketing, no one would ever know about all the amazing films that have been produced. In film production, marketing is just as important to the process as actually filming the movie scenes for the overall success of the film.
