Extract on Promotion

This part of the [marketing] mix is the most important in determining whether a film is successful or not. For most movies aimed at a mass audience the opening weekend is crucial to its box office performance, if it does not open well (Friday to Sunday) then it is likely to be a flop. Therefore most of film promotion is designed to open a movie big and then hope that positive word of mouth will kick in afterwards.

Trailers, which are much more prevalent in North America than Britain (the latter sees more adverts in cinemas), are perfect promotion of film as they are very likely to be reaching the target audience; they will, at least, be cinemagoers. Posters and displays also adorn the foyers of cinemas; posters appear in appropriate magazines. However to target the occasional cinemagoer it is necessary to reach people in other ways.

Television is the most effective [and the most expensive] form of advertising films to people who are not regular cinemagoers. However, because film is a cultural product, publicity can be generated for virtually nothing. ... the publicity circus generates much free media coverage. Most stars will be contracted to do interviews with television, radio, newspapers and magazines; they spend a day in a hotel seeing a different interviewer every few minutes and say positive things about the film. A press pack will disseminate information to every relevant publication and will include images and sequences from the film that can be used. Disney's 101 Dalmations (1996) generated coverage by associating itself with 'a dog is for life not just Christmas' campaign.

Premieres are also used to garner coverage, often as a news item. These are often designated 'for charity' to help news editors justify the coverage and if a royal personage (in Britain) can be persuaded to attend (Prince of Wales and SpiceWorld, 1998) then the 'photo opportunity' is very likely to be taken up.

The release of songs associated with the movie has become de rigueur and extracts from the film are likely to be included within the pop video. Any time the song is played on the radio the movie is likely to be mentioned. The Internet, following the phenomenal success of the The Blair Witch Project (1998), is regarded as an essential medium; The Lord of the Rings (first instalment due in 2001) website was running over 18 months before the first film in the series was released.

These are straightforward ways of promoting a film however there are a multitude of other ways of getting a film noticed. The Sixth Sense (1999), for instance, had heat sensitive cards distributed in The Guardian, these invited readers to previews. Previews, usually starting up to a week before the film's release, are used to generate 'word of mouth'; if your friends tell you a film is good then you're far more likely to see it than in response to official promotion.

Where a film is promoted, and any gimmicks used, is only part of the process. A film must be packaged in such a way so as to readily appeal to audiences... High Concept movies are designed as a marketing package from the moment they are conceived. However, non-High Concept movies, such as East is East (1999), also need to be sold. A movie about an Asian family growing up in the early 1970s in Salford does not sound like it will do big business. However FilmFour Distributors managed to make it a mainstream event by positioning it as a comedy about teenagers' problems with their parents. The marketing campaign concentrated on:

'early adopters (heavy cinema-goers) for its first wave of activity, before opening up to a more mainstream audience. (Minns, 1999, p. 7)

Using posters and television, and focusing on the film's risqué elements, the film opened well and went on to be very successful in Britain.

(from Media Institutions and Audiences by Nick Lacey, Palgrave, forthcoming - (www.macmillan-press.co.uk))