Film marketing: what it is and how it works
The big screen has always responded to the needs of many users who love to enjoy the films that have just come out directly at the cinema, from which they suffer the immortal and eternal charm. Clearly, the evolution of mass communication tools has also led the film industry to accept the great challenge of digitization and to model itself on the basis of social changes which, even today, are interpreted and analyzed for the creation of “great classics of actuality”.
In this context, the development of “ cinema marketing ”, that is the set of all the strategies, techniques of promotion and distribution of products made for the big screen, has undergone a strong impulse.
The importance of cinema and social marketing for the promotion of a film
Advertising, promotion and wide diffusion are the keywords that revolve around the activity of cinema marketing and that are put in place at different times or simultaneously, after having carried out a precise analysis of the market and the target audience, as well as being arrived at results that cannot be ignored.
Cinema has had the great ability to be reborn in every era and to borrow technological innovations and transfer them to the big screen, which has shown its extraordinary resistance to every era and, therefore, its already mentioned immortality. And this has also happened in the field of film marketing, which has expanded its activity, also including the promotion of films on various social networks and, in addition, by choosing influencers who lend themselves to becoming testimonials for quality film products.
Even the influencers, therefore, are entrusted with a part of the film promotion activity simply because they are very followed by a large audience, destined to grow more and more. And these, moreover, are also potential consumers: therefore, it will be essential to stimulate in them the birth of a desire in relation to the use, at the cinema, of a certain film.
But this is not enough: it is necessary to address the specific target to optimize the result of the investment due to sponsorship.
Film Marketing: How It Works
Promote a film is a complex activity, which is carried out following precise parameters and is organized in detail. It begins with the screening, that is the first “private” screening of the film with the evaluation by the experts of the messages to be communicated.
On the basis of a precise programming, we then move on to the organizational phase, defined as “strategy” , in which precise information is developed in relation to the budget, the decision of the date on which the film will be released, the tools on which to communicate the film event and the type of promotional campaign to be launched.
Finally, we move on to the operational phase, which finds its highest point in the so-called “ launch buzz ” which kicks off a month and a half before the official release of the film on the big screen. It is a very intense period, in which the protagonists and director participate in a series of initiatives on every media channel to promote the product and involve a large number of users, as well as to create great suspense and enthusiasm for the premiere.
Cinema, therefore, maintains faith in the tradition of projection on the big screen but, on the other hand, welcomes and opens up to technological innovations and, of course, to the new way of understanding marketing.
