Movie Marketing Overload
The goal of marketing a movie is to get as many people in the theatre as possible. I get it. Understandable. Successful film studios strategically market their films nowadays as early as a year from release, and the results speak for themselves. With blockbuster films in the super hero genre leading the way in box office dollars, we are being flooded with trailers, tv spots, product integration and online viral marketing, and frankly, I am beginning to get annoyed.
Take, for instance, 'Captain America: Civil War'. This is my MOST ANTICIPATED movie of 2016. I am itching to see it and have had my tickets for weeks. I can't stress enough how excited I am to see it. Marvel/Disney has began showing press and advanced special screenings to critics and fans alike, and the buzz around how great this movie is leaves me salivating.
My problem with the marketing scheme for this movie is that we have been getting so many tv spots and trailers that it feels like we've seen about half of the movie already. It seems like everyday for the past 2 weeks there is some kind of new promotion for the movie, and while I want to get my hands on everything I can regarding this film, I haven't been watching them. Enough is enough. Everybody knows this movie is coming out.
The same thing happened in 2014 with 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2'. The marketing push for that movie saturated the market so badly that I feel it began to turn people off from actually seeing it, or started to annoy them enough that they went into the movie with negativity because of how much they were being shown. It's like watching a tv show and seeing the same commercials over and over again. When I keep seeing the same commercial enough, I make it a point to stay away from that product strictly out of annoyance.
Again, I understand the need to market the hell out of an upcoming movie, trying to make as much money on that specific property that the studio can. But when do they say "Ok, we've shown them enough, let's let up a bit"? That line is being blurred and we are constantly bombarded with trailers that have 5 seconds of new footage, mixed in with clips we've seen 4 or 5 times already.
'Deadpool' had an incredible marketing strategy, in that the studio marketed the film in a way to crossed traditional methods, heavily focusing on online clips and short pieces, while still having trailers and tv spots, but a no point did I feel like I was being beaten over the head with ads for that movie.
I am not a marketing strategist, I don't work for a public relations firm or film studio, but I have to think that there are better ways to market films than to release a new clip for the same film every day for 2 weeks leading up to the film's release. End rant.
I want to hear YOUR opinions on film marketing. Are you ok with getting so many clips and trailers for a movie you're excited about? Or do you think the "less is more" strategy can still be effective?
