Movies require big marketing spend, otherwise openings fizzle.
Newspaper articles say Hollywood studios are again talking up cuts in marketing expenditures (when will they ever learn?) and movie publicity is becoming increasingly scientific as entertainment marketers purport to measure impact of press stories.
“But don’t think that Hollywood believes it can get by with less promotion,” notes a “New York Times” story by Brooks Barnes. “This, after all, is the place that perfected the hard sell. As studios cut “paid media” (newspaper ads, television spots and billboards) they are leaning more heavily on armies of publicists generating what they call ‘earned media,’ free coverage in magazines, newspapers, TV outlets and blogs.”
A “Los Angeles Times” story about the newly-installed Disney Studios regime of Rich Ross—an executive of proven skills from running the Disney Channel—suggests he will push hard to cut overall marketing spending on theatrical films.
“In meetings with producers, filmmakers and agents, Ross attacked the industry custom of spending $40 million on a TV advertising blitz two weeks before a film’s opening, rather than enlisting more targeted campaigns that harness social networks and the broader Web,” says a “Los Angeles Times” story by Claudia Eller and Dawn Chmielewski. “And he’s raised again the touchy subject advanced by (Disney corporate CEO Bob) Iger that consumers are demanding that movies become available for home viewing sooner after release in theaters than has traditionally been the case.”
“Cut ad spending” has been a corporate hue & cry periodically in Hollywood without significant result and this time looks no different. With the media landscape increasingly fragmented, the cost to deliver specific audience target escalates each year. That’s because TV channels, newspapers and the older websites generally have declining levels, due to mushrooming media outlets fragmenting audiences.
Big marketing spending is the only way that theatrical releases have a chance to deliver big opening weekend boxoffice. Since theatrical runs are a 2-6 week affairs, opening strong is crucial to holding theater playdates.
The reality is despite all the hand wringing, movie expenditures keep on rising. “Advertising Age” ranks movies/video/music (music is certainly minor in this trio) as the nation’s 11th largest advertiser, ahead of beer/wine, apparel and insurance.
In TV, movies rank even higher. For example, routinely take 4-10 of 65 pricey spots Super Bowls—which a TV’s costliest buy with a rate card price of $3 million per 30-second spot.
No studio wants to tell creative talent, “Gee Mr. Spielberg, we are going spend far less on promotion for your next film to be really efficient. Don’t worry. The audience will find it.” Expect creative talent – and their distribution advisors – to fight deep marketing cuts in pre-release meetings with studio brass because when films flop the careers of talent go down too.
Disney looks to take the mantle of innovation instigator because the two executives at the helm – Ross and Iger—have TV backgrounds. TV shows are primarily marketed by on-air promotions—essentially free ads on their host channels–and most TV executives are astonished at how much their movie brethren spend on marketing when they get a peek at expenditure figures.
The trouble is nobody has ever figured a way to make the in-house, TV model work in film. In-theater trailers, while important, don’t reach a wide enough audience to ensure a mainstream release is presented to a broad base of moviegoers.
“Despite some proclamations to the contrary, new media such as the Web are no panacea so far for the movie business,” notes the book “Marketing to Moviegoers: Second Edition”. “Costly broadcast-network TV advertising is still the only way to reach huge audiences with speed and certainty for the critical film-premiere week.”
“Marketing to Moviegoers: Second Edition” points out that some of the oft-touted alternatives such as social marketing and web-centric publicity campaigns are “slow load” because they just don’t reach huge populations in short periods of time and thus are inadequate.
Not all the marketing spend is down. The “New York Times” article notes Universal paid to fly critics to Bora Bora on a press junket for comedy “Couple’s Retreat” (which is a hit now). “It cost about twice as much as a standard junket, but generated at least four-times-as-much media coverage, the studio estimated,” says the article.
“Disney recently went so far as to develop a computer program to help it determine how much monetary value was coming from such publicity efforts,” says the “New York Times” article. “It can quickly plug in data — (syndicated TV show) ‘Access Hollywood’ had a 30-second interview with a star of ‘The Middle,’ a new ABC comedy — and the program spits out what that same 30 seconds would cost to buy.”
While that’s nice, it’s not clear if Mr. Spielberg would be convinced.
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