In order to complete an in depth and full research, I have looked into what a 'Marketing Package' actually is:
What is a marketing package?
The brief that I have chosen states that I must produce a ‘marketing package’ for a new film. In order to do this, I need to research what a marketing package actually is.
Upon researching a marketing package, I found that many results involved marketing packages for simple everyday products/services such as a new estate agent etc.
It seems that upon looking for marketing packages for films, many of the traditional methods include needing A-list actors, famous directors and a whopping balance courtesy of a high-end distributer.
This though has now been proved not be the only way of successfully marketing a film. Films, including the ones of which trailers I have analysed such as Paranormal Activity; have been extremely successful. The budget for the first film was $15,000. The income was $193,355,800 worldwide. This makes Paranormal Activity the most financially successful film ever made, based on return on investment.
So, how did they market it? Below is a quote from Wikipedia, it explains how a viral method for marketing the film was achieved.
“The version with the new ending, made after Paramount acquired the film, had screenings on September 25, 2009 in 13 college towns across the United States. On his website, director Oren Peli invited internet users to "demand" where the film went next by voting on eventful.com. This was the first time a major motion picture studio used the service to virally market a film. Twelve of the 13 venues sold out. On September 28, Paramount issued a press release on Peli's website, announcing openings in 20 other markets on Friday, October 2, including large-market cities such as New York and Chicago.
On October 3, it was reported that a total of 33 screenings in all 20 markets sold out and that the movie had made $500,000 domestically. A day later, Paramount announced that the film would have a full limited release in 40 markets, playing at all hours (including after-midnight showings). On October 6, Paramount announced that the movie would be released nationwide if the film got 1,000,000 "demands" on eventful.com. The full limited release of the film started on Friday, October 9. On October 10 the Eventful.com counter hit over 1,000,000 requests. Paramount announced soon after that the film would get a wide domestic release on Friday, October 16 and then expand to more theaters on the 23rd. By November, it was showing in locales worldwide.”
This demonstrates the power of a good marketing package. The marketing team also made use of film festivals such as ‘Screamfest Film Festival’, ‘Slamdance Film Festival’ and Telluride film Festival’. The first festival was on October 2007 and the film wasn’t released until October 2009. That’s 2 years later.
Source of Information: Wikipedia.org
