How has film marketing changed during the pandemic
How has film marketing changed during the pandemic
By Mahrukh Inayet
Just when we thought the film industry had sorted the screenplay for 2022, Omicron has once again disrupted best-laid plans. Cinema halls in many states have shut down and film releases have been put on hold. What has also been put away is the conventional model of film marketing and the question really is if anyone will ever truly miss it.
Director Joe Carnahan once said that there’s a vast difference between marketing a movie and the movie itself. He had added, “You try to cast as wide and broad a net as possible.” If you read the last statement again, it becomes clear that in today’s context, casting the net wide to create a buzz around a film does not necessarily entail taking the old routes. In fact, film marketing has adapted remarkably well to the pandemic by relying on digital means to make as big a splash as possible. Most industries have seen rapid digital transformation during the pandemic but film marketing has been among one of the most resilient and adaptive industries. So much so that even when the unlocking process began, going back to outreach events on ground and multi-city tours began to look a bit wasteful.
Infact, production houses began to wonder if the cost of mounting such publicity was ever necessary. This is not to say that the industry will never go back to live events, on-site press conferences or publicity tours but there will perhaps be an equal if not more attention paid to cost saving digital strategies as the entertainment sector bounces back and recuperates from the setbacks of the last two years.
Here are a few foreseeable marketing trends:
Film marketing will be borderless, quantifiable and digital
Just as entertainment is increasingly becoming borderless, publicity campaigns will think beyond geographies, city centric tours, mall visits and region specific events. Virtual and digital reality, a 360 degree campaign across social media platforms, online events with replayable content and contests will remain popular and the challenge will be to find new ways to capture attention with compelling punchlines, memes, stickers, hashtags, teasers, trailers, interactive sessions with stars, cross pollination of publicity material via influencers, gamers and a lot more. The role of YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and emerging platforms will remain critically important and viral marketing techniques will have to constantly update themselves to engage fans. As online campaigns can be measured in terms of digital footprints and engagement, it will be easier to see which strategy is working and which one will need to be replaced.
Content will remain the key to success
Film and television producer Todd Lieberman famously said, “Of course, marketing and publicity do an amazing job of prepping everybody, but there’s nothing like sitting there and experiencing the movie. “Which basically means that a good publicity campaign can draw the audiences to a film, but cannot keep them invested in it. That the pandemic has changed consumption patterns cannot be overemphasised and the success of South-Korean, Spanish, French, American and British content on streaming platforms in India shows that film makers now must cater to an audience habituated to unexplored narratives.. This means that publicity material can only take a film so far if it is not riveting. Theatrical releases in particular will need to have compelling content and a publicity strategy to match it to bring audiences to theaters. Especially at a time when they have access to the best international content in their homes. The success of Spider-Man: No Way Home shows how the promise of unprecedented star power, a thrilling premise and online as well as offline marketing across every vertical imaginable can create a success story like no other. For online releases too, content is the decisive factor in success and failure because it is so easy for the audiences today to just tune out.
Audio campaigns will become integral to marketing
Millions of people across the world are tuning into audio content online. Especially during the pandemic, people tuned into audio books, inspirational, humourous, medical and political podcasts as they went about their daily chores or worked from home. Film marketing teams can no longer overlook this segment and will have to design campaigns with space for audio content via podcasts, conversations and discussions. Voice centric mobile applications and audio broadcasts will become necessary to a marketing strategy. Daniel Newman wrote in a 2020 Forbes article, ” As of mid-2019, there were more than 600,000 active podcasts streaming online, with 120,000 created within one year of that estimate. What drives these audio-based podcasts? Advertising. Audio advertising.” Which means that film marketing can target this advertising space as well. Be it Spotify or Audible, or a plethora of audio platforms, films can make their presence felt through both engaging content and thoughtful advertising.
The role of the gaming industry
A recent CNBC article informed that Netflix co-founder and co-CEO Reed Hastings wants Netflix to become a world leader in gaming distribution. India’s mobile gaming industry is also set to treble by 2025 according to a 2021 report which means that what was considered to be a mere niche is now all set to take on film, television and OTT content and we would be naive to underestimate its power and reach. The inextricable connection of gaming with the film industry has already been established via The Matrix, Lara Croft and Resident Evil franchises, films like Assassin’s Creed, Need for Speed, Hunger Games and counting but in advertising and marketing, we will see a lot of blurring of lines as more and more films turn to gamers and the gaming format to extend their appeal to a younger audience. A 2021 piece penned in Financial Express shared how the gaming user number in the country increased to more than 400 million in 2020 and India became the top mobile game downloading country in the world with 7.3 billion installs. Like cinema, gaming is also immersive and film marketing professionals will have to consider how they are going to include gaming developers, publishers, distributors and players in their strategies. Games where fans can act as protagonists and steer plot twists before and after the release of a film, may soon become commonplace.
Brand and influencer tie-ups will remain indispensable
With consumers spending more and more time online, online brand tie-ups will increase but conventional synergies like the one between the latest Spider-Man release and RAW Pressery beverages will continue. The recent Bond film ‘No Time to Die’ collaborated with over 50 brands like Heineken, Jaguar Land Rover, Omega, Triumph Bikes, DHL, Michael Kors, Smirnoff, Barton Perreira, Crockett & Jones, and Tom Ford among others . Needless to say, these brands also employed their following across social media to highlight the film. Such collaborations will continue to be a big part of film promotions. Using influencers and bloggers to preview and review films is also an effective strategy to capture the attention of younger demographics. According to influencer marketing firm Mediakix, brands are expected to spend as much as $15 billion annually on influencer marketing by 2022 as newspapers, magazines and mainstream media, though still important, are not the only conduits of information or publicity. Investments in unusual individual and business brands and paid media promotions will increase.
In summation, the tried and tested route of posters, teasers, trailers, song releases, hoardings, special appearances on reality shows will still work but to a limited degree. A contextual and integrated approach to film marketing with augmented and virtual reality elements, audio-visual, gamification components and interactive digital experiences will combine with conventional marketing strategies to promote films for a diverse, constantly evolving audience. In a nutshell, experiences will replace strategies because they have a deeper connection with target groups and turn observers into participants.