Film Marketing and how the Internet changed it all – Pt 1

However there is a new and important channel that must be added to the film marketing mix – the Internet.

‘There are thousands of film sites, covering many aspects of film from a myriad of perspectives. Even before an anticipated film goes into production, it may be debated in chat rooms and so the drip…drip…drip of early ‘buzz’ and ‘hype’ begins. Most big films nowadays have one or more dedicated websites, possibly incorporating links to the sites of the appropriate distributor or studio. Reviews of films may be browsed worldwide on the Internet well before the film has opened locally. Internet usage continues to expand rapidly and the facility to book cinema tickets online is particularly useful to the industry.’ (Film Distributor’s Association, 2002)

Promotional websites for films up until the late 90’s were mostly cookie-cutter affairs: the story behind the film, a teaser trailer, bios of the stars and perhaps some images. A small independent film turned web promotion around; displaying that low budget need not be a burden – coupled with canny web marketing it can lead to a monster hit. The Blair Witch Project treated its subject matter (the disappearance of three student filmmakers and the subsequent retrieval of their horrific footage) as a real event – nothing on the film’s site indicated there was anything fictional going on. Word-of-mouth (and possibly some guerrilla marketing from the distributors) began to hype the film to the point where there were 20 web sites, a mailing list, web ring and Usenet group devoted to the film – before it had even opened.

“Internet marketing,” notes Gordon Paddison, director of interactive marketing at New Line Cinema, “is the most inexpensive and efficient mode of marketing around. And it’s available to those with limited resources. Online is all about word of mouth.” (Allen, 1999)

The film was also marketed via a pseudo-documentary The Curse of the Blair Witch which was aired on the Sci-Fi channel and later included in the DVD release. The marketing success of the website inspired the New York Times to dub it:

…’the center of a new form of synergy and an inspired multimedia blitz.'(Allen, 1999)

Websites such as Firstmovie.com, an ‘Internet driven marketing company’ for the UK film industry are attempting to bring cinemagoers and the filmmakers closer together by sharing information. The cinemagoers participate in the site by reviewing snippets of films before they are in general release and commenting on promotional campaigns and artwork, etc before they are widely released. This gives the studios first hand feedback on the initial impact of their campaigns, and also to be able to see if they are reaching their desired target audience. The cinemagoers get offers, information and access to exclusive previews.

‘First Movies provides the film industry with the research on who will see their film and then gives them a direct channel to tell those consumers about it.’ (M2 Presswire, 2001)

Viral marketing on the Internet

After the initial marketing push has (hopefully) enticed visitors to see films, the marketing campaign usually starts to wind down slightly and word-of-mouth becomes a major factor in keeping box office returns strong for a film in the remaining weeks (or months) of its theatrical run.

Ideally, the viral marketing will expand to ever increasing circles to keep the film aloft after the initial marketing burst dies down. Word-of-mouth is one of the most powerful influences on the success or failure of a film, or of a product generally. Hotmail (the free online email service) founders added a link back to the Hotmail service on the bottom of every email that was sent through the Hotmail system and in less than 18 months they had 12 million users. The difference between traditional viral marketing (eg Amway) and viral marketing on the Internet is that a message on the Internet can spread like wildfire. The information delivered between friends is perceived as more trustworthy than that delivered via traditional, anonymous advertising.

Some companies are trying innovative tactics to launch viral marketing campaigns for films by paying fans to hype bands, movies and video games on Internet chat rooms, bulletin boards and fan sites. (US News and World Report, 1999) The fans are paid with tickets, backstage passes, and other promotional items. With customer acquisition costs at virtually zero and the potential payoff high, it is no wonder marketing companies are trying many different variations of viral marketing – with good and bad results.

‘Fake viral marketing is when it’s so obvious you’re marketing something, you tip off the audience,’ notes Ray Simon, author of Mischief Marketing. ‘It has to be a genuine service that people need.’ (Fattah, 2002)

Another thought to consider is this: when a viral marketing campaign is unleashed, the originators of the message lose control over it – it is just as easy to bad-mouth a film as it is to speak highly of it. A poorly planned viral marketing campaign can do a lot worse than no campaign at all, so careful consideration is required.

‘Ironically, what made Artisan’s effort on Blair Witch so successful made its sequel to the movie a bomb in 2000. According to various reports, a backlash against Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 began months before the film opened, as negative buzz that Artisan was releasing “just another slasher movie” kept many moviegoers away. And negative reviews circulated on the Net, with many critics congregating on the same fan chatboards that made Blair Witch a success story.’ (Fattah, 2001)

Faking it

The Blair Witch Project boasted many fan sites, each contributing to the massive success of the film. However The Blair Witch Project Fanatic’s Guide fan site raised suspicion when it offered the suggestions:

‘Buy TBWP Stock at the Hollywood Stock Exchange! Rank TBWP at the Internet Movie Database! Rank TBWP at Ain’t It Cool News!’

Another amateur fan site for American Pie 2 featured hastily cobbled ‘trailers’ from the upcoming film well before the official trailers had been released, with the explanation:

‘I scammed some stuff of this movie off friends that work for a movie company in CA and posted some clips up on the net.’

The site also featured an electronic counter labelled ‘Days UNIVERSAL Hasn’t Shut Us Down’. Add to this the fact that the ‘stolen’ previews featured scrolling credits with the names of the writer, director and producers, and:

‘In theaters July 9th!’

…and it began to appear that there was more behind the site than just daring, good-natured fans. (DiLucchio, 1999)

The deception of the public to sell a film is nothing new – Sony no longer even needs real critics to review its films. In 2001 it fabricated a critic called ‘David Manning’ who proclaimed on posters and previews that Heath Ledger was the:

‘…year’s hottest star!’

and of the Rob Schneider film The Animal

‘The producing team of Big Daddy has delivered another winner!’ (Grossberg, 2001)

It was later proven that ‘David Manning’ never existed, and that an unidentified marketing department staff member (who was later fired) dreamed him up.

Manning also heaped praise on the films Hollow Man and Vertical Limit. Sony eventually retracted all advertising featuring Manning’s comments and paid $326,000 to settle charges brought by the Attorney General of Connecticut. The agreement reached also stipulated that:

…’the studio can no longer use its own workers to masquerade as moviegoers for gushy “testimonial” spots–those ads depicting fans being interviewed outside a theater. (Grossberg,2002)’

It did reveal, however, another legitimate (if immoral) form of movie marketing – just make it up!

405

The deceptively simple short film 405 (about an American Airlines plane landing in the middle of a Los Angeles freeway on the top of the protagonist’s car) went on to become the most downloaded film ever. The film has won a spate of awards, its creators have been interviewed on prime-time shows, has seen them signed to Creative Artists in LA, and the film has even had a Stanford academic paper written about it on the subject of web distribution.

The film was made entirely digitally… for $300. The trick of the producers was, that instead of resorting to the usual film festival route, the creators decided to launch the film on their own website. It quickly drew in large crowds, to the point where the film was mirrored on several commercial short film sites, and there it was heavily promoted. This case demonstrates the ability of a film to be widely disseminated via the Internet. It is possible that 405 was simply in the right place and at the right time though – in 2002 it is not such a novelty to distribute a film online and the success of this short film may not be duplicated. This does not detract from the fact that it was a web phenomenon.

Previews

‘The Twentieth Century Fox logo appears, followed by the Lucasfilm crest. The John Williams score begins, its strains low and lilting. Your blood begins to pump… Suddenly the Fanfare blasts in Dolby Digital and a speeder races across desert terrain (Tattooine?) at blinding speed and goose bumps burst out all over your sweat-dappled body…'(Bolton, 2000)

This enthusiastic review for Star Wars – Episode One appeared on a film review website. The only difference to other, later reviews of the film was that the above was written about the preview. Film previews have become celebrities in their own right – cinemas advertised Star Wars – Episode One and Lord of the Rings previews before the main features and were swamped with rabid fans who paid full price – to see the previews.

‘The best part is, for at least the next few months, anytime a movie really sucks we can always tell our friends, “But at least they had the new Star Wars preview!”‘ (Bolton, 2000)

Websites can now be found that offer critiques and reviews of film previews – Trailersworld.com is one such site. Others leverage the distribution of film previews as a way to promote their platforms – Apple.com/trailers has worked with film studios to achieve the impossible – 19 film studios releasing content on the one web page. All the trailers are in Apple’s proprietary QuickTime format. The format promotes the films, and in turn the films promote the format. If viewers wish to view the largest sized previews of Star Wars – Episode 2, they need to purchase QuickTime Pro 5.

Cross – promotions

The mass cult of stardom has led to a convergence of film, music, and models. A hit single from a film soundtrack lures theatregoers (The Bodyguard featured the massive cover hit ‘I Will Always Love You’ by its star Whitney Houston – who was incidentally a singer making her first foray into acting in the film) but now music stars are crossing over into films – in 2002 alone there is Britney Spears in Crossroads, Aaliyah in Queen of the Damned as well as many others. Their popularity in music circles helps market the film. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn’t – Mariah Carey’s Glitter failed as a film/music cross-promotion – neither fared well, and the flop of one affected the other. The Faculty, a Miramax horror film was part of a $15 million tie-in deal with Tommy Hilfiger clothing, who paid for the entire cast to wear his clothing during the film. The film also featured popular R&B singing artist Usher making his acting debut. American pop star Brandy has her own TV show Moesha, as did Will Smith in Fresh Prince of Bel Air – Will Smith began as a music star, crossed over to TV and is now a prominent film star.
It seems the future is about convergence – no longer do we have films stars, music stars, modelling stars – we simply have ‘stars’.

Records based on/inspired by TV shows such as Big Brother, Temptation Island and even Sarah Marie’s Bum Dance Album feature a broad mix of vaguely related songs, coupled with a signature tune from the show. Is the music marketing the show or is the show marketing the music? The cross promotion of music, TV and film has become truly dizzying as the following breakdown of the promotional mix from the Australian version of Big Brother shows: –

‘BMG had its Big Brother soundtrack while Sony Music marketed its new Travis album through the show. Advertisers Pizza Hut, Primus, Heineken, Austereo, News Ltd and Freedom all benefited big time. The Ten Network, which earned $30 million in advertising and a 50% cut of the 3 million phone calls to the show, each costing 55 cents) has commissioned a sequel for next year. The Dreamworld theme park saw attendance leap in the last three months (each episode attracted up to 2,000, some paying $120 for the pleasure) while the house is to open up from this weekend as a tourist attraction. The park has made a killing on the sale of Big Brother merchandise.’ (Eliezer, 2001)

It is worth noting that films and music are available at the very same file trading services such as KaZaA and the multitude of others – so film and music marketing is growing cosier all the time.

Films and video games have also enjoyed a close relationship, from the humble beginnings of E.T on the Atari, to Star Wars. Films have become games and vice versa – Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy, and Resident Evil were all popular games before they were made into movies, launching new versions of the games as the films are released so both film and game push each other.

Nowadays it is de rigueur for blockbuster films to Harry Potter, Monsters Inc, Atlantis to be accompanied by video game releases starring characters and scenarios from the film.

Special editions and DVD extras

The ‘Special Edition’ of a film, often used to mark the anniversary of a classic or blockbuster film is often tagged as a ‘Director’s Cut’, or with additional footage.

In the beginning this was actually true – films such as Blade Runner that were released at a time when the director did not have the clout required to oversee the final edit were being released later in director’s careers which Ridley Scott did, with substantial changes. Now it is a common ploy to plan the ‘Special Edition’ when the film is still being made to add value to the DVD release.

Or in the case of music, the soundtrack to Moulin Rouge was released and some of the core songs from the film were noticeably absent. Nearly eight months later the second CD of the soundtrack was released, to much fanfare (and some dissent!).

DVD releases of popular films are fast becoming hot ticket items for the studios as they represent an entertainment experience that is still difficult to pirate. The only problem is that stars and agents are beginning to recognise this as well and are starting to charge exorbitant fees for usage on the additional DVD promotional material.

So important are the extras on DVDs that websites exist solely to rate the quality of the DVD transfer as well as detail and critique what is contained as extras – thus adding an extra dimension to the film itself. To give an example of the kind of content users are now expecting, the DVD for Dinosaur not only contains the feature film, but also an alternative ending, a music video, audio commentary, animated menus and interactive computer games, such as Aladar’s Adventure and Dinosearch.

Another example is the DVD for The Mummy – Ultimate Edition, which contains an interactive Mummy game, screensavers and a Mummy Returns premiere live webcast. The Moulin Rouge DVD features extensive interviews with cast and crew, picture gallery, documentaries, cut scenes, animations, and a ‘green fairy’ who can be switched on to pop up whenever a scene in the film contains extra elements which can be viewed.

Studios realise that while films are easy to pirate off the Internet, a DVD laden with extras, games, images and soundtracks on one disc is far more convenient to purchase than attempting to download all the disparate elements and reassemble them yourself.

However, recordable DVD players are now on the market and their prices will almost certainly fall in the same way as that of CD burners, which are now commonplace – leading to a similar piracy crisis on the DVD platform in the near future.