G321: How will we attract the Audience

The way we would attract the audience, as we are a mainstream company, would be through trailers on the internet and on TV, using synergy, cross media convergence, through advertisements, printing and audience research.

In Theaters

• Trailers are a main way of film promotion, because they are delivered directly to movie-goers. (internet as well) They screen in theatres before movie showings. Generally they tell the story of the movie in a highly condensed fashion compressing maximum appeal into two and half minutes.
• Film posters
• Slideshows - stills, trivia, and trivia games from the film, shown between movie showtimes.
• Standees (freestanding paperboard life-size image of figures from the film)
• Cardboard 3D displays

Television and Radio

• Hollywood movie distributors spend about $4 billion a year to buy paid advertising (30-second TV commercials, newspaper ads, etc.) and over half that total is placed on broadcast and cable TV, which are the main vehicles for advertising movies to audiences. TV is effective because it is an audio-visual medium – like film – and can deliver a vast audience quickly, which is crucial because films typically don’t linger in theaters more than 4–6 weeks, according to Marketing to Moviegoers: Second Edition.
• Product placement: paid active or passive insertion (as on-set posters, and action figures) of film brand in drama or sitcom shows, or as passing mentions in dialogue.
• Extended placement: full episodes of television talkshows , entertainment news programs, or network news programs, devoted to compensated exposure of the film, stars, clips, director, etc.
  • In addition, interviews with actors and directors which are filmed en masse at a hotel with local and national entertainment reporters which are featured on local news shows, programs on cable networks, and series such as Byron Allen's series of entertainment series like Entertainment Studios.
• Production and paid broadcast of behind-the-scenes documentary-style shows.
• Advance trailers, longer previews, or behind-the-scenes footage on rental videos and DVDs

Print

• Paid advertisement in newspapers, magazines, and inserts in books
• Comic special editions or special episodes

Merchandising

• Paid co-branding, or co-advertising (for example Aston Martin in James Bond films) of a product with the film
• Promotional giveaways: branded drink cups, toys, or food combinations at fast food chains

Audience Research

There are seven distinct types of research conducted by film distributors in connection with domestic theatrical releases.

When audience research is conducted for domestic release, it involves these areas:

• Positioning studies versus other films that will premiere at the same time.
• Test screenings of finished or nearly finished films; this is the most well known.
• Testing of audience response to advertising materials.
• Tracking surveys of audience awareness of a film starting six weeks before premiere.
• Exit surveys questioning film goers about their demographic makeup and effectiveness of marketing.
• Concept testing that would occur in development phase of a film before it is produced.

Audience research is a strong factor in determining the ability of a film to sell in theaters, which is ultimately how films make their money. As part of a movie's Marketing strategy, audience research comes into account as producers create promotional materials. These promotional materials consistently change and evolve as a direct consequence of audience research up until the film opens in theaters.

By Connor