Assess the importance of marketing in the media area you have studied.
Personally, I believe marketing through the media is essential to the film industry. Now and even before the age of advance technology that we live in, films can’t rely solely on word-of-mouth for advertising. Promoting films through different forms of media can be effective and makes movies more likely to be successful.
To begin with, cross media convergence is one method used to help films gain publicity. Before ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald’ was released, there were many reruns of the Harry Potter series. Harry Potter merchandise was distributed alongside the ‘Fantastic Beasts’ merchandise is stores such as Walmart. By marketing the ‘Fantastic Beasts’ movie with close relations to the Harry Potter franchise, this attracted Harry Potter fans to the film which increased its number of viewers. As a Harry Potter fan, I found myself being drawn to ‘Fantastic Beats’ because of the correlation between the films; I even saw ‘Fantastic Beasts’ as soon as it was out in theaters. In short, cross media convergence was impactful for marketing ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald’ and was most likely the reason for the film’s great profit.
Moreover, music has also been used to market films. The nostalgic soundtrack of ‘Jurassic World’ captivated new and old fans of the ‘Jurassic Park’ to the new film. As a child, I watched ‘Jurassic Park’ so when I discovered that ‘Jurassic World’ had music based off the iconic theme of the film, it made me want to see it even more than I already did. As a cross promotion technique, Kendrick Lamar preformed “All The Stars” featuring SZA, a song off of the ‘Black Panther’ soundtrack, at the College Football Playoff National Championship Game. This was a good strategy because there were many viewers at the event so the movie could gain more exposure. Kendrick Lamar is also a popular artist so it makes fans, like myself, excited about ‘Black Panther’ since he was one of the movie’s main features. Therefore, music can bring in more viewers and generate buzz which can help films gain more popularity.
However, advertising through the media doesn’t mean automatic success for films. ‘UglyDolls’, a film based off of a toy line called Ugly Dolls, didn’t make as big of a profit as STX hoped it would. The film had characters voiced by well-known singers such as Nick Jonas, Kelly Clarkson, and Janelle Monae which attracts viewers to the film and made creating a soundtrack for the movie an easier process. A synergetic relationship between Cold Stone and ‘UglyDolls’ because Cold Stone made an ice cream flavor and candy toppings specifically for the movie. ‘UglyDolls’ was launched on 3,562 screens but only brought in a net of $8.5 million despite its substantial advertising. What also lead to its demise was that the film was released only days before the movie ‘Pokémon Detective Pikachu’ was out in theaters which would take away the spotlight from ‘UglyDolls’. This demonstrates that media marketing doesn’t guarantee that films will be a blockbuster hit.
In conclusion, marketing through the media is vital asset for films. Promotions through different methods of media advertisement can help films entice viewers and make good profit. However, sometimes media marketing just isn’t enough for a film to prosper.
