The Future of Film Marketing

I have always been interested in entertainment marketing. Recently, I've begun noting upon the shift it is taking from traditional forms of advertisement towards the web.

Today, of the 49% of moviegoers who admit to researching films before they decide to see them, 70% use the internet to for this information. This means that studios are budgeting more and more money for online ads and campaigns, to be focused on the film's key demographics.

Now, in the past, we have seen this strategy fail (everyone remember "Snakes on a Plane"? Tons of internet hype, terrible box office turnout). But recently, advertising agencies seem to be getting the hang of it. This year's "The Hunger Games" was a huge financial success, and their marketing campaign was largely internet-based. This campaign included virtual tours of the capitol where users could register as citizens in Panem, as well as aligning the film with non-profit organizations that fight hunger (smart!).

This is where the distinction between paid and non-paid search comes in, which we discussed in class today. Paid search is usually only utilized for major releases from big studios, or at least that has been the trend so far. Perhaps this is where "Snakes on a Plane" fell behind, and where "The Hunger Games" had the advantage. Lionsgate shelled out the money for clips and teasers to show on Youtube and other video-sharing sites. They hit the social media sites with everything they had (see the NYT video for details). The very loyal existing fanbase from the book trilogy helped spread the hype for Lionsgate for free.

The future of marketing for traditional media (going to see a film at the movie theatre is very traditional by today's standards) lies on the internet. Consider that almost a million people are currently registered as citizens of Panem. That is the result of a marketing campaign that has created lasting investment in the series.

"Lost," In Memoriam

Hello everyone, and welcome to my Internet Marketing blog! Sixty percent of my classes this semester have the word "marketing" in the title, so I hope to be of some interest to those of you with knowledge of the subject. Mostly, I think I'll post about the marketing concepts discussed in class, my impressions and ideas regarding the state of online marketing and business, and references to any cool online campaigns I've seen recently.

Whenever I think about good viral marketing campaigns, the first one that comes to mind is the way they advertised the TV show "Lost." It wasn't remarkable by today's standards, but I remember at the time, I thought that the concept of reaching viewers online with puzzles and riddles was just the coolest thing ever. The "Lost" marketing team created literally dozens of non-fictional looking websites that seemed to belong to corporations or movements depicted in the show. Within these websites were hundreds of "secret pages," where fictitious hackers attempted to expose the lies of companies such as the Hanso Foundation or Dharma Initiative. These sites often had "career" sections where users could register for exclusive access to even more secret pages, often providing a staggering amount of additional content and backstory to what they could watch on the show every week. Dedicated fans, of which "Lost" had many, could spend hours pouring over these websites to find answers to their favorite mysteries. To this day, I think that modern online campaigns for television, even with the countless tools available to them that weren't around in 2004-2010, could not pull off the stunts that Lost's marketing strategists did, purely because the nature of the show provided such limitless opportunities for fan involvement and reward.

Here's a great blog post about the sheer volume of Lost's ad campaign: http://www.nickburcher.com/2008/01/5-great-examples-of-viral-marketing-for.html