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John Marston

Times when you felt poor marketing hindered a film's business

By John Marston, in Box Office Discussion

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DeeCee Global Phenomenon

DeeCee

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The Adventures of Pluto Nash.  Jack the Giant Slayer.  Battleship.  Grudge Match.  47 Ronin.  Transcendence.

I don't really think the marketing was the problem with any of those.
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BoxOfficeFangrl Box Office Gold

BoxOfficeFangrl

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I don't really think the marketing was the problem with any of those.

IDK, I remember seeing some of those Jack the Giant Slayer posters and thinking they had to be having some sort of internal contest to see how unappealing they could make the thing look to the GP:

 

Posted Image

 

Even the ones with Hoult were crappy/generic. I doubt any amount of marketing would've made JtGS a success but there was probably a way to make it look...less bad.

 

I was very surprised to hear Edge of Tomorrow had a lot of humor because that I saw of ton of ads for it but it just seemed like some generic sci-fi action thing.

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Jessie Global Phenomenon

Jessie

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This might sound strange, but I feel Avatar was poorly marketed. The only reason it did so well was the pre-trailer hype from all the Hollywood insiders like Spielberg saying it was the second coming of cinema plus the curiosity factor of 3D. First trailer was 4 months before release and was shitty. 2nd trailer was awesome but only two months prior to release. Now, maybe Fox had the right marketing idea. Obviously, it made $2.7B, but I felt that Fox could have done better. I guess they felt all the pre-hype was strong enough for it. Makes me wonder if VII could try a similar approach with no trailer until 4 moths before release. That would be insane.

Avatar's teaser had some pretty striking visuals, it was only considered shitty by online posters who were expecting the next coming of christ. If anything Fox did a great move by not over hyping this to the GA, what made it do so well imo was how most of the GA knew nothing about this movie 4 months out so their expectations wouldn't have been sky high. I don't seem to remember much advertising focusing entirely on the 3D so the film would have been a surprise to most people creating phenomenal WOM.I remember watching this with a large group of mates upon first viewing, I was disappointed with it but everyone else seem to love it. Only difference was that they knew nothing about it 6 months out, my expectation and im guessing most others on this forum were sky high. Edited by jessie
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ChD Global Phenomenon

ChD

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a lot of people feel this about Edge of Tomorrow. Though it is tough to market

 

 

 

I certainly would add How To TRain Your Dragon 2. The first trailer was great but everything else made it look bland and uneventful

 

Edge of Tomorrow's marketing was god damn awful. They tried to focus on the battle sequences and made it look horrible. The movies big + is the story, so if they gave us the god damn premise, at least, they might've enjoyed some more money. I, personally, didn't even know the exact premise until reading it on wikipedia prior to watching it.

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Jandrew Global Phenomenon

Jandrew

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Every movie. Movies, or I should say studios, arent utilizing their full marketing potential. All movies could do better if they were marketed better. Marketing is a broad term, but Ive only seen it used broadly a few times.

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John Marston Global Phenomenon

John Marston

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Every movie. Movies, or I should say studios, arent utilizing their full marketing potential. All movies could do better if they were marketed better. Marketing is a broad term, but Ive only seen it used broadly a few times.

 

 

I assume you mean they are not using certain media enough to market?

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Jandrew Global Phenomenon

Jandrew

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On 8/12/2014 at 1:18 PM, John Marston said:

I assume you mean they are not using certain media enough to market?

 

Certain everything. You could tap literally everything. This is why Im going into marketing.

- You could put little cards on posters in peoples mailboxes in random neighborhoods across the country.

- if its a character movie, hiring people to "mobile promote." Example. Sony couldve hired say 1,000 men to dress as Spiderman, go to different and random American cities, and just walk around, wave, take pictures. Go to the mall, main street, grocery store, just walk around the city as Spiderman and people will talk, gain interest in the movie, and theyll take pictures and post on social media, which will make even more awareness.

- Make more contests. Particularly on Youtube. Depending on what its about, have people send in videos. I wrote a movie about adults throwing a prom. What could be a tie in? "If youre over 30, submit a video of your best dance to our channel. The funniest and most liked video winner will win a trip to the premiere/have their video in the movie/etc"

- Utilize Vine more, one of the hottest things right now.

- Hire someone to walk around random places putting up posters.

- Hire people to promote on their social media.- More food tie ins.

- Play more full length trailers on TV.

- More (good) publicity stunts.

- More billboards in cities other than LA. Charleston gets a lot of tourists and residents going up and down I-26, slap a billboard there.

- More car marketing. - More utilization of Pandora, Spotify, I Heart Radio, Twitter, Facebook, INSTAGRAM, Vine, and Pintrest.

- Promote characters with common interests. During the 2005 Superbowl, Family Guy characters were shown in a commercial wearing Pats jerseys, while Cleveland wore a Cleveland one. Do more of that. Do a gag of Baymax kicking around a football thatll air on SNF, like the Minions with the World Cup.

- Better in-store advertising.

- Cross-promote

- Give out free toys, posters, merchandise and make appearances in random places. Imagine if Baymax walked in to Trader Joes and started ringing up groceries. Adults who had zero care about the movie would be intrigued and go Google. And young adults would take pictures and post onto social media. "Omg! Baymax from the new Big Hero movie rang up my groceries in Trader Joes!!! #employeeofthemoth" - people will see that and RT and share.

- More promotion at bars, gyms, the beach.

- Better and more thought out tv spots. More people see tv spots than trailers, so they need to make a lasting impression, not be a watered-down trailer.

- More celebrity appearances.

- Coupon type promotions and better rewards points systems.

- More utilization of "coming soon". Makes people have to go online and google the movie to find the date.

- More promotions with sports teams, and even athletes. That Baymax spot I talked about? Have Peyton Manning throw it to him. Or when Charlie Brown comes out, put his CG self in a real world game attempting a field goal, then have Lucy block it.Etc, etc, etc. basically studios need to utilize social media and the real world more. Marketing is not just trailers, tv spots, and billboards. And they usually focus on LA and NY etc. Dont forget Baton Rouge, LA, or Knoxville, TN, or Tucson, AZ, or Grand Rapids, MI. They go to movies too, and their movies are less expensive than NY and LA and theyre more accessible, so advertise! Dont only need awareness when theyre at home or in the theater. Give them awareness everywhere they go. Movie marketing can go so much further.

Edited by jandrew
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Ethan Hunt Global Phenomenon

Ethan Hunt

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Edge of Tomorrow's marketing was god damn awful. They tried to focus on the battle sequences and made it look horrible. The movies big + is the story, so if they gave us the god damn premise, at least, they might've enjoyed some more money. I, personally, didn't even know the exact premise until reading it on wikipedia prior to watching it.

I loved the trailers for EOT.
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