Audience & Institutions Essay

Q: Assess the importance of marketing in the media area you have studied.

The success and popularity of a film/product is one of the most important factors for marketing. Mostly because it helps distribute and create more recognition of the film itself. Simply put, in order for a film to be successful and to do great in numbers, there must be a great amount of marketing put in place. The marketing of a film will undoubtedly be a benefit for a film, making it a more recognized film and increasing profits for the crew members who worked on the film as a result of increased popularity. Without proper marketing, film recognition could be very low, resulting in low profits for the crew members and people who worked on the film. There are many different ways to market and promote movies out in the world, using many different platforms. 

Firstly, the main motivation for filmmakers to even promote and market their upcoming films is to make a profit. This is especially important because if a movie does not perform well financially, it can cost the company a lot of money and their reputation. So they go all out and try to make their upcoming films recognizable to the average consumer, who they hope will view the film and purchase any products that promote and advertise the film. A very clear example of this is from Columbia Pictures, who worked hand in hand with Sony Pictures to help distribute and market their film “Spiderman: Homecoming.” During the distribution process from Sony Pictures, they stirred up many ideas on how their upcoming film can reach audiences and people of all kinds, ages, and demographics. For the digital marketplace, for example, the distribution team developed a video game based entirely off of the film. This was in order to reach different kinds of viewers and a wide array of interests. In this case, gamers and people who just simply would like to have fun. They also decided to create toys for the movie in order to attract younger viewers, for instance. This is an example of “cross-media promotion,” which simply means to try and promote a film using multiple different platforms, whether at stores, online, television, etc.. As mentioned before, the toys created by the production and distribution team was specifically aimed towards young children, who would then be exposed to the movie in a fun and enjoyable way in hopes of wanting to see the film the toys are based off of. As well as clothing and souvenirs and typical household items (cereal, chips, mugs, etc.) were also made based off of the movie, in an attempt to reach older viewers, who would likely wear the clothings or use the products, further promoting the movie. All of this in its entirety greatly helps promote the film, which is exactly what the crew intended. Production teams work hard to make their upcoming film recognizable among the public, especially through making products that average people will consume, exposing them to the film.

Furthermore, in our modern world it can be very easy to spread information around. With the help of many tools, especially technology. Filmmakers take advantage of this uniquely powerful platform in order to market their films. Walt Disney Studios, for instance, uses many of these platforms to their advantage. Whether that be through promoting and marketing through television or the internet. Nowadays, it is quite difficult to not see an ad or promotion for a Disney film when browsing the internet, whether through social media or regular websites. The same applies for television. Furthermore, one of Walt Disney Studios’ subsidiaries, Marvel Studios, always finds a way to promote their upcoming films to the public using “cross-media convergence.” This is the ability to advertise and market across different platforms and devices. And in this case, two different companies work together to help each one another with a similar goal. There are countless examples of this, one being products showing and promoting the upcoming films on their packaging in grocery store chains all throughout the world, such as Walmart, Target, and more. This helps get the image and face of the films to average consumers around the world, ultimately hoping they will notice and find the film intriguing. Pretty recently being done with the Marvel film “Black Panther '' whose promotion and marketing was handled by Walt Disney Studios. Many of the companies who handle marketing for upcoming films create budgets on how much they can spend, in an attempt to maximize profit without over-doing the promotion. All of which is also an attempt to reach their ultimate goal to build excitement for the film itself through their marketing. As well as aiming for all ages and demographics using different products to get their message across and heard. Furthermore, this can also be seen in Universal Pictures and their franchise “Fast and the Furious.” Similar to how Disney & Marvel market, Universal Studios tries to reach out to people of all ages and demographics. They even created video games and opened up new rides at their amusement parks in an attempt to help promote the movies. Technology has had a big impact on the way that these giant corporations get the public interested in their films and products, with very clear and visual examples all throughout the world.

In conclusion, marketing and promoting films are a significant part of a film’s success. Many companies and moviemakers work hard in an attempt to reach out to the average consumer and people of all kinds of demographics. Without any of this work, the film can be deemed unsuccessful, damaging the company’s financial status and reputation. It is very important for them that people go and watch these movies, buy their products, and help promote it, as their careers may depend on it.