Audience and Institutions Essay

1.      Assess the importance of marketing in the media area you have studied.

Marketing is referring to activities a company undertakes to promote the buying or selling of a product or service. Marking is undoubtedly tied to the success of a film. The value that marketing possesses can ultimately not quantified due to the power it holds in relation to the success of a film. Marketing Is important to a film because it informs people a movie is coming out. Marketing is also imperative because It encourages people to go see the film.

Marketing informs people a movie is going to be released. To further explain marketing is the sole reason why people have an awareness of when a movie is coming out, without marketing audiences don’t have the knowledge that a film is released. This is proven in the movie Beauty and the Beast, the studio Walt Disney, and Mandeville Films used cross-promotion such as using the department store Kohls to offer exclusive items and other merchandise to promote the film.  The studios also used cross-promotion in a special episode of the bachelor to promote the film. Using known outlets such as Kohl’s and the Bachelor to promote the movie allowed for a multitude of people to go out and see the film because they were informed of the film. Walt Disney also created merchandise to promote the film.  Disney released on their website ornaments, dolls, etc, to promote said film furthering informing people of the movie. The result of all the marketing that was done by the studios resulted in the movie-making 1.3 billion dollars in the box office since many people went to go see the movie. Also, the marketing strategy of Guardians of the Galaxy, such as cross-media convergence with the poster printed on ice cream cups and had their own flavor as well as a monopoly game and merchandise such as shirts, phone case, etc. all played an impact and making people aware of the movie which resulted in 772.8 million in the box office.   This idea is also proven in the amount of money independent films make. To further explain independent movies, fail to make as much money because of the lack of marketing which in turn makes consumer not view the film. Ultimately marketing can determine whether a film succeeds in terms of many people viewing it.

Marketing is also important to a film in terms of encouraging people to go see the film. Just because a studio gives information that a film is being released that doesn’t mean people are going to go and watch. Marketing allows for studios to get the word out as well as encouraging people to go view the film. An example of this is the release of Fast and Furious 7. Universal Studios created a ride in honor of the movie franchise to continuously gather support for the movie. Creating this ride made consumers want to go and view the movie because it appeared to be action-packed. Universal also marketed the trailer during the Super Bowl knowing that would attract a lot of attention to the movie. The studio also created special events such as a website consisting of the contest, videos, pictures, which further entice viewers into watching the movie. This type of marketing is also shown in the promotion of the Black Panther. Chadwick Boseman participated in a special event for the mobile game Marvel Contest of Champions to promote the said movie. Marvel also conducted cross-promotion by partnering with Lexus and revealed a special commercial for the 2018 Lexus LS 500. All these marketing tools entice viewers by relating something that people like such as cars and combining it with a product they should watch. By doing this viewer relates the film to something that is going to be enjoyable and fun. The result of this marketing makes films such as black panther makes 1.344 billion dollars in the box office

Ultimately marketing influences the movie industry than any other part of the filming process. Without marketing, it is very hard for a movie to do as well another movie whose studio has paid 10’s of million dollars on marketing. In my own personal experience, I am often more likely to go to a movie where the studio has done a lot of promotion. The importance that marketing has on the direction a film will go ultimately shows that marketing is the core of success in a film.