Even Hollywood is suffering through some crunch with the economy. With over $4 billion spent annually on movie ads, companies are looking to consolidate and do cheaper advertising via mediums like Twitter and YouTube.
“Marketing costs are the most dramatically impactful on a studio’s quarterly earnings. If you don’t open strongly, it really hurts, so there’s a high level of attention to efficiency,” said veteran Hollywood marketer Gordon Paddison. “Everybody’s trying to do more with less.”
Ad spend by Hollywood has gone down eight percent after dropping three percent the year before, with more expected in 2010. An example is the revamp of How to Train Your Dragon, which DreamWorks spent over $150 million to market, but only pulled in $43.7 million in its domestic debut weekend.
“It wasn’t resonating with its target audience, leading DreamWorks to refocus its marketing efforts, but perhaps not in time,” said Piper Jaffray analyst James Marsh, noting longer-form trailers were scrapped for shorter, funnier ones.
The film, it should be noted, has held up well in the wake of a revised campaign, earning $104.7 million in ticket sales so far.
YouTube is a valuable resource, running trailers on the front page to attract attention; Twitter has also been used to engage fans, with films like District 9 and The Ugly Truth being among the first.
“About 40 million people visit the YouTube home page each day. If you’re releasing a movie, it’s a coveted space,” said Tommy McGloin, entertainment team manager for Google Inc’s YouTube. “We’re reaching upfront deals with major studios who are signing annual agreements.”
“Using fans as evangelists is the most effective ways to lower marketing costs,” said Paddison.
With game development costs for the current generation of consoles skyrocketing, publishers need to be wise about their marketing also. Just like in Hollywood, game makers will need to leverage social networking and fan evangelism more and more.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
