For filmmakers, studios and film marketers, the future is bright. Consumers’ love for movies isn’t changing anytime soon. Millions of people are deeply engaged in an ongoing, online dialogue around movie choices, themes, topics, actors and film franchises on a daily basis through social media.
The cloud that looms large over the industry is the cost of marketing a film, which is reaching closer to $200 million for global P&A expenditures for big event movies. Meanwhile, revenue struggles to keep pace with the growth in expenditures and margins for theatrical releases shrink as on-demand entertainment grows.
As this new marketing paradigm has evolved, weaknesses in the way films have been previously promoted are being exposed.
Print and television advertisements and the traditional field publicity model no longer produce the results they once did. It’s more difficult than ever to efficiently reach critical mass when television is so fragmented, yet a majority of a film’s marketing budget is often spent on television.
In recent years, the solution has been to use online advertising because moviegoers are active online, however, online advertising tactics like buying millions of YouTube views or Facebook followers haven’t proven to be the silver bullet solution, either. We’re closing in on the day when 82% of Americans ignore online ads and 50% of Americans and Europeans will be blocking them altogether by 2018.
Even if ad blocking were not an issue, reaching an audience online is more expensive by the day. Media buyers continue to look for prime placement on sites known for attracting the most eyeballs. As crazy as it seems, a weekend long advertisement on one website can easily approach $2 million and marketers will spend that money and not give it a second thought.
Despite what may feel like doom and gloom, I reiterate that the future is bright for the film industry, providing they are willing to change their perspective. Gone are the days when an agency is going to engineer a marketing campaign that results in local ticket sales spiking at the box office. Today, there is a huge potential for audience engagement and conversation around a film, often exceeding that of most other products.
Online influencer engagement is still a largely untapped opportunity for the film industry. It has proven to not just be more cost effective than traditional advertising, but fits perfectly with moviegoers’ natural tendency to be sourcing and sharing information online, with credible and trusted people.
Movie marketing in the digital age is no longer for those with a “build it and they will come” mentality and it certainly isn’t for the weak of heart. It challenges traditional marketing ideology, requires radically different thinking, and a more surgical, targeted approach to reaching the right audiences with the power to influence large networks of moviegoers.
To learn more about how VizSense is solving and simplifying the influencer marketing conundrum for today’s most visionary filmmakers, contact us. We invite you to learn more about how to discover, understand and engage influencers at VizSense's Influencer Tradecraft Workshop by registering here.
Also, download our free film industry eBook, Making Sense of Influencer Engagement: The Essential Elements of a Successful Influencer Outreach Program for Today's Films.
