Universal Marketing by AnthonyT

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Universal Marketing

POSTED BY: ANTHONYT
UPDATED: Friday, January 6, 2006 15:32
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Friday, January 6, 2006 3:32 PM

Freedom is Important because People are Important

I see a lot of blab about Universal's shoddy marketing of Serenity.

In fact, I think they did all right. I saw the trailer at least a half dozen times on assorted channels, and it was playing in the lobby of my local cinema in the month before the movie was released. (What better way to advertise than to target confirmed moviegoers?)

Marketing ought to typically be a percentage of a movie's total cost to make.

So, if Serenity costs 40 mil to make, and they invest 10% into marketing, that's 4 mil of adverts.

If a movie costs 100 mil to make, and they invest the same percentage, that's 10 mil of adverts. (I expect this is why we are smothered in adverts for expensive movies.)

Seems logical, then, that expensive movies have more commercials. I mean, what's it cost for 30 seconds of advertising air time? 50 grand? I've heard higher figures and lower figures. I think it depends on the popularity of the time slot, but let's say it's 50 grand. And then let's say you didn't build a website and didn't issue posters or keychains or anything, and invested the whole shebang into commercials that will air for two weeks prior to the movie release. 4 million just for commercials.

That's 80 airings of a 30 second trailer, divided over 14 days. That's 5.7 airings per day. Now divide that over three channels. That's 1.9 airings per day, on three channels. About one airing every 12 hours on three channels.

I only watch a couple of hours of television per day, and I only watch two or three channels per day. With a 4 million dollar advertising budget, what's the chances of me seeing the trailer even once, much less the half-dozen I managed to see it prior to the movie release?

Universal did its job. The Browncoats did their job. Sometimes fire takes time to blaze into an inferno. Our fire took too long at the theatres. I think she's doing all right on DVD, though. Time will tell.

--Anthony

"Liberty must not be purchased at the cost of Humanity." --Captain Robert Henner

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