Movie Marketing Key Words

Awareness
 what marketing seeks to create - when audiences know something about the content of a film (stars, plot premise etc) and when it is going to be released
 
Buzz
 Positive word-of-mouth

Distributor
 Business entity that buys the rights to sell a film to the cinema, video and TV markets. All blockbuster movies are made with the distribution rights pre-sold or arranged as big studios have their own distribution arm. Smaller, or independently produced movies often have to wait till they are completed before anyone will buy the distribution rights

Exhibitor
 Cinemas - usually large chains of cinemas (eg UA in Hong Kong, Cineworld or Odeon in the UK)

Merchandising
 The process of manufacturing, distributing, licensing and sale of T-shirts, toys, posters, key-rings etc that contain characters or designs from a movie
 Platform release  A limited opening at key cinemas to develop word of mouth. Once a good buzz has been achieved, the movie will open at more cinemas (wide release)

Press kit
 The pack given to journalists containing such things as still photos, press release, biographies of main personnel. Some press kits are unusual and inventive, and contain small gifts as a not-very-subtle persusasive tactice to get the journalist to be nice about the film

Primary Audience
 The main target audience of a film, those who are likely to go and see it on its opening weekend, or even start queuing up six months before it is released

Secondary audience
 The audience who will only go and see a movie after they have heard about it - either from friends or from reading reviews - and have been persuaded that it is worth seeing. They will not risk it on its opening weekend

Tagline
 The one-liner summing up the story which appears on posters ("Same planet. Different scum" etc)

Teaser Trailer
 A short trailer which does not give very much at all away about a film. It is designed to arouse curiosity and may appear a long time prior to the release of a movie (6-8 months)

Tie-ins  Promotional campaigns (Happy Meals, car tvcs - you name it) where another company gets together with the film company and they promote their products jointly
 
 
Trailer 
A 'sample' of the best points of a film which works to create awareness in audiences. Can be anything from 30-180 seconds long

Twitter bombing 
Moviegoers now tend to tweet the moment they leave a theater, and the mass of their opinions can have an instant, harsh effect on ticket sales. This effect is noticed when early screenings on the opening day for an anticipated movie sell well, but later screenings are empty. 
Viral 
use of pre-existing social networks (E.g. YouTube) to "spread the word" about a movie. Like a virus, a short video clip can pass from one consumer to another. This UK Cadbury's advertising spot became a global viral phenomenon, thanks to YouTube.
Word-of-mouth 
The general public attitude to a movie - what people tell each other about it. This is thought to be the most important ingredient for box office success

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The King's Speech Marketing Campaign

As an independent film, the King's Speech was not able to use a huge budget of Hollywood levels to market it and get it recognised. With a budget of only around £8million - £12 million, it could not compete with major blockbusters with backing from massive institutions such as Universal or 20th Century Fox.


Instead, the King's Speech used viral marketing to draw attention to the film - and it proved just as effective, if not, more. The film was made just in time to enter it into several film festivals in the hope that national newspaper journalists will enjoy it and write about it in their papers. 


Luckily, the reception of the film was brilliant, and even before the film had been released in cinemas, people were talking about it and saying how good it was, whilst tipping it for many awards including some Oscars. 


Other methods of marketing include the posters and trailers. 


The posters are very clear and simple. The two shown here present the audience with the two main characters and stars of the film. The pictures are close ups of both the Kings and Lionel Logue, his speech therapist. 


The top one has big, bold words from reviews in newspapers which describe the film. Of course, they are all highly positive quotes of the film and they encourage the audience to go and see the film for themselves. 


The poster gives very little away, and although could be seen as plain, it is effective in emphasising the words which describe the film. The words are all in capitals, which again, draws attention to it and suggests that what is being said is important.


The way the two men are dressed shows their high status and importance of them in society as well as the film's story.


The title of the film uses interesting typography, which looks royal and important, with a King's crown for the dot above the "i" in King. This again highlights the fact that this film is about a king and an important speech.


The fact that in the second poster, the words "God" and "King" are both equally sized in comparison to the "save the" in between again shows the status of the King and the importance in society that he represents. 


Finally, the posters clearly show the main actors and actresses that star in the film as well as, most importantly the release date, so the audience knows when the film is out for them to see.

The trailer is also very important in the promotion and marketing of the film as it is played again and again on television screens all over the world. There are also various versions on YouTube for anyone with the Internet to watch and comment on to a massive audience. 

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