Refer to specific examples from one media area chosen from:
• film • music • radio • video games. How far is marketing important in the media area you have studied? Media area selected: Film Perhaps more than any other form of media, producing a film is an investment. This is especially the case with blockbuster movies, which usually cost tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars to make, so the production companies behind these tentpole films bank on a sizable box office return to remain financially stable. To ensure a film will be a hit with audiences and make a profit at the box office, studios launch massive marketing campaigns for them, which sometimes go as far as spending the equivalent of one dollar on marketing for every two dollars that was spent making the movie. While this may seem ridiculous, box office disasters of the past like Disney’s John Carter show that an ineffective marketing campaign destroys a movie’s chances of being financially successful, so the potential payoff of these costly marketing strategies outweighs their risks. Simply put, marketing is extremely important for a film, because one that is not marketed effectively or correctly usually results in massive financial loss. To begin, films are marketed to the public in a wide variety of ways, often incorporating other mediums to do so. For example, the most well known form of movie advertising is the trailer, a several minute long teaser of a movie that gives audiences an idea of what to expect, and hopefully gets them excited for it. These trailers are often released on websites like Youtube, and shown on cable television or in movie theaters, in the hopes that people will watch them and be interested enough to go see the actual film when it releases. Other marketing strategies include putting up posters in cities, or billboards along roads, and even placing ads in other media areas like magazines or on the radio. Televised interviews with cast members or the director are also common strategies, as enlisting the help of these celebrities brings the film into the radar of those celebrities’ fans. Not to mention that influential film critics are often allowed to see a film early, in the hopes that their potentially positive reviews will convince audiences to see it. The ways a film can be marketed are virtually limitless depending on how creative the marketing team is, and this is even more the case nowadays with the increased prominence of social media. It is common practice today for a large film to have a social media account dedicated to it, with an entire team running it in the hopes of attracting users of these social media platforms to the film. During any major marketing campaign for a movie, all of the aforementioned tactics work together to engrain the hype and anticipation for a film into the minds of potential audience members, so a movie without an effective marketing strategy is doomed to fail from the start. These marketing campaigns usually begin in the months leading up to a film’s theatrical release, and every moment movie studios have to market their film counts because of the costly nature of these campaigns. To make best use of both their time and money, film studios employ the help of a wide variety of marketing professionals to assemble a marketing team. The marketing team behind a film usually starts with determining the target audience by conducting test screenings. Once the target audience is determined, the marketing team can begin figuring out how to market the film to appeal to that target audience/demographic. This is integral, because marketing campaigns that aim to appeal to everyone often come across as bland and vague instead, and result in the opposite of the intended effect. A common strategy done by marketing teams is to arrange for the film’s trailer to be played before films similar to it, since its target demographic will likely see it. Also, these marketing teams aim to figure out what makes their film unique, so they can advertise around that, and make the movie stick out from the many other movies being advertised simultaneously. For lack of a better term, a movie’s “shtick” is integral to its marketing campaign, which the marketing team helps figure out. In summation, marketing is incredibly important for a film, because an effective marketing campaign attracts audiences and ensures film studios can capitalize on their costly investments. Marketing campaigns for large movies usually cost about half as much as the movie itself, and while this may seem overkill, past box office disasters have proven the importance of an effective marketing strategy for a movie. Films are marketed by a wide variety of individuals who make up a larger marketing team. This team is also tasked with determining the target audience of a film, and marketing the film to appeal to that target audience. Marketing for a film can stretch across virtually all mediums simultaneously, and the marketing team makes sure this is the case to make best use of their several month long campaign. All of this works in harmony to ensure, or at least increase the chances, of a film making a profit at the box office when it releases, which is why marketing is so important for films.
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