1. Marketing A Film
• When a new film is made, it has to be advertised like any
other new product, to let people know it exists and to
encourage them to go to the cinema to see it
• The advertising of a film is known as film promotion or
film marketing and the people who are responsible for this
are the distribution company
• This is because they distribute (give out) the films to the
cinemas and distribute the promotional material around
the country

2. Marketing A Film
• The way in which a film is
promoted can have a huge
effect on whether or not it is
successful
• Why is it important that
films are marketed
properly?
• Films are expensive to make
and if the public do not buy
tickets at the box office to see
the film, a lot of money will
be lost

3. Types of Marketing
• What types of marketing are
used to promote films today?
• TV Trailer
• Chat shows
• Posters
• Newspaper ads
• Magazine ads
• Magazine interviews
• Give-aways
• Tickets promotions
• Online – virals, social media
• Music
• Branding

4. Marketing A Film
• What films have you seen recently?
• What made you want to go and see them?
• Make a list of all the factors that influenced you and put them in order
of priority
• Make a list of all the different ways in which you might hear about a
film
• Put these in order as to which give you the most information
• Now re-order them to show which are the ones that make you really
want to see a film
• What does this say about the way you personally make choices about
your film viewing?
• How does this compare with your friends

5. Cinemas!
• What cinemas are there in your local area?
• Are there any differences between them?
• How do you find out details of what films are showing and
when?
TASK: Visit the websites for several cinemas
• How do the websites reflect the different nature of the
organisations?

6. Planning A Marketing Campaign
• When the distributors
agree to market a new
film, they will watch it
several months before it
is released into the
cinema and plan a
marketing campaign
• This includes deciding
what should go into the
posters, trailers, websites
and other material that
will market the film

7. Big Budgets…
• Modern campaigns have
three acts: a year or more
before the film debuts, you
introduce it with ninety-
second teaser trailers and
viral Internet ―leaks‖ of
gossip or early footage, in
preparation for the main
trailer, which appears four
months before the release;
five weeks before the film
opens, you start saturating
with a ―flight‖ of thirty-
second TV spots; and, at the
end, you remind with fifteen-
second spots, newspaper
ads, and billboards.

8. Big Budgets…
• Studios typically spend about ten million dollars on the
―basics‖ (cutting trailers and designing posters, conducting
market research, flying the film’s talent to the junket and
the première, and the première itself) and thirty million on
the media buy
• Between seventy and eighty per cent of that is spent on
television advertising (enough so that viewers should see
the ads an average of fifteen times), eight or nine per cent
on Internet ads, and the remainder on newspaper and
outdoor advertising
• The hope is that a potential viewer will be prodded just
enough to make him decide to see what all the fuss is
about

9. Independents…
• Independent filmmakers don’t have the luxury of the
publicity divisions employed by studios
• Yet smart filmmaker know that a film’s marketing is crucial
to its success or failure—and doing it well requires an
enormous amount of time and effort
• So, they tap the passion, wherewithal, determination, and
moxie that drives them to make films in the first place to
create posters, generate buzz, start an online viral
campaign, and do whatever else is necessary to get their
work in front of audiences

10. TASK!
• Think of an innovative way to promote an independent film
with a limited budget
• Think of the marketing tools you will use
• What platforms are available
• What different types of media will be useful (and cheep)
• Consider the three marketing strategies we have just
looked at…

11. Things Consider
• Who will be the most likely to want to see this film?
• Anyone may decide they want to see the film but there
are some cinema- goers who are more likely to want to
see it than others
• These people are called the target audience and the
marketing will aim to make the film look attractive to
these people
• Many films are aimed at ages between 15 – 24, because
statistics tell us that this is the group that visits the
cinema most often
• Pick a trailer, any trailer… think of the target
audience and how the trailer has targeted its
audience

12. Genres
• Films can often be put into
types such as comedy,
horror, science fiction, and
family films etc
• Why is it important that
films are categorised into
genres?
• The marketing will show the
audience that have seen this
type of film before and if
they enjoyed it they will,
most likely, come to see this
one

13. USPs
• Although a film may be similar to one we have already
seen, each film has something different about it,
something unique
• This may be the star or the director, or it could be
something about the story or where it is set
• It may even involve the style of the film. This is known
as the Unique Selling Point of the film (USP for short)
• Find a film with a USP – How is this shown in the
trailer?

14. Audience Research
• Task: Read the article…
• The British Industry:
• The audience for film is at the heart of this Review. We
want public policy to be used to maximise audience
access to films of every kind throughout the UK. And
we recognise that the key to industrial and cultural
success of film rests on the ability to connect films
with audiences – at the cinema, and on every
conceivable digital device ranging from internet-
enabled televisions and DVD players to tablet
computers and smartphones