The enthusiasm for Hollywood movie marketing strategies under the economic crisis does not diminish

ZenithOptimedia, one of the world's leading media groups, said recently that 2009 would be the biggest drop in global advertising spending in nearly 29 years due to a sharp drop in consumer confidence as a result of the recession and companies' shrinking marketing budgets.

Power Communication, which belongs to mdash;— Publicis Group (Publicis Groupe), one of the largest advertising companies in the world, is responsible for media purchase and execution. According to the latest statistics released by Power Media, global advertising spending will fall 6.9 per cent to $453.2 billion this year, an increase of 0.2 percentage points from the 6.7 per cent expected in December, with the US advertising spending falling 8.7 per cent.

At the same time, a new survey of Asian advertisers by Nielsen Media Research found that most companies expect their advertising budgets to fall, with 1/4 of them expecting a drop of more than 20 per cent from last year. Power Media reported that advertising spending has fallen from its peak in 2008 since the economic crisis spread around the world in 2008, forcing it to adjust its global advertising spending forecasts for three consecutive times in six months.

< strong > Hollywood under the crisis < / strong >

< strong > < / strong > of course, the above-mentioned & ldquo; corporate advertising & rdquo; includes both tangible and concrete product advertisements as well as abstract cultural product advertisements. The promotion of Hollywood films belongs to the latter.

like other industries, Hollywood studios are cutting advertising spending as a means of settling down in response to the economic crisis. Does the reduction in advertising budget mean that the promotion of films will also be greatly reduced? In fact, almost exactly the opposite.

A famous question spread in the advertising industry: & ldquo; I know that half of my advertising money has been wasted, but I don't know which half. & rdquo; means that if you invest a penny in advertising, you may only end up with something worth half a penny. But things are different now. Although major Hollywood studios have cut advertising budgets, their enthusiasm for promoting new films has not diminished. On the contrary, the tight budget has greatly stimulated their creativity, and they are constantly trying to promote the new film & ldquo; uses a penny for a penny, a penny & hellip;… or even a dime & rdquo;.

the flamboyant comeback of classic films such as "Special Forces" (G.I. Joe), "X-Men prequel: Wolverine" (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), "Star Trek" and "Terminator" means huge and even sky-high production costs. Films such as Harry & middot; Potter (Harry Potter), Transformers (Transformers), Museum Night (Night at the Museum), the Ice Age (Ice Age), the Da Vinci Code (Da Vinci Code) and Angels and Demons also rely on high promotion and distribution budgets.

take Paramount's classic Star Trek series as an example. The latest Star Trek, the 11th in the series, is a sci-fi blockbuster with a total budget of $160 million and a total budget of $160 million, with a behind-the-scenes budget of director Jennifer Abrams, which is worth more than every one of its ldquo; predecessors, rdquo;. Paramount Pictures says Star Trek is like a big bet, winning or losing depends entirely on the market. Loyal old ldquo; fans & rdquo; needless to say Paramount Pictures' top priority now is to fight for as many new fans as possible & ldquo; fans & rdquo;, is doing everything they can to that end.

in the past, studios could attract many audiences to buy tickets to watch films as long as they showed trailers for new films in cinemas. But now, this method no longer works. Therefore, the biggest difficulty facing the studio is how to make the film known to as many audiences as possible & ldquo;, so as to attract as many audiences as possible to the cinema. The country is different, but the problem is the same. This is also the number one problem for studios, not only in the United States, but also in other markets outside the United States. And in 2008, Hollywood's box office receipts outside the United States accounted for 65% of its total box office receipts, overseas markets can not be ignored.

Film companies' spending on film promotion and promotion is difficult to count, because they are always interested in talking about the film production budget, but are tight-lipped about the film promotion and promotion spending. For this reason, the film promotion budgets released by studios are often unreliable. Moreover, the fact that the spending on publicity and promotion of a ldquo; blockbuster and rdquo;, will often exceed the $100m mark makes many people stunned.

in fact, the statistics on film promotion and promotion expenditure are not completely meaningless, it at least shows that making movies is more expensive and more difficult than before.

however, challenges often coexist with opportunities. While global advertising spending is shrinking rapidly, advertising prices for television, print media, large billboards and the Internet have also fallen.

Sony Pictures Marketing Director said: & ldquo; in the marketing budget is the same as in the past, advertising space or time price reduction makes the promotion and promotion of the film more effective. In terms of film marketing, we are constantly innovating. & rdquo;

< strong > depends on the lips and teeth of TV & ldquo; & rdquo; < / strong >

< strong > < / strong > when traditional advertisements such as car advertisements and food and beverage advertisements appear less and less on TV screens, major American television networks begin to regard film & ldquo; advertising & rdquo; as a new advertising growth point, so Hollywood studios have more opportunities to make their new films appear in front of a wider television audience with less budget.

take & ldquo; Super Bowl & rdquo; TV commercials as an example.

on February 2 this year, hundreds of millions of American viewers gathered around the TV to watch the annual NFL Rugby Finals & ldquo; Super Bowl & rdquo;, which means what CCTV Spring Festival Gala is to all Chinese people. In addition to the intense and exciting competition itself, the advertisements in the ldquo; Super Bowl & rdquo; TV broadcast have also become the focus of public attention in recent years. Despite the global economic crisis this year, the price of 30-second ads in the ldquo; Super Bowl & rdquo; is still more than $3 million. NBC, which won the ldquo; Super Bowl & rdquo; broadcasting rights this year, announced before the competition that all 69 advertising hours had been sold, setting a new record of $206 million in advertising revenue. Many of the new record makers are from Hollywood, including trailers for this summer blockbuster films such as Star Trek, Transformers 2, Angels and Demons, the lost Continent, and Fast and Furious 4. Moreover, Movie & ldquo; Advertising & rdquo; has a place in & ldquo; Super Bowl & rdquo; Advertising for the first time in the history of the event.

similarly, blockbusters reappeared at the 81st Academy Awards & mdash;— arranged a three-minute collection of hot new films for the first time at the end of the live subtitle of the ceremony, with as many as 24 new films making their debut.

In addition, in order to attract film companies, major cable networks in the United States have created many unprecedented opportunities for film advertising. For example, movie commercials are scrolled at the bottom of the TV screen. In order to promote Paramount's "Star Trek", in May, the movie title of "Star Trek" can be shuttled through the Logo letter ldquo;O” of the hit ABC TV series "Lost". To promote the 3D animated movie "Journey of the Flying House" produced by Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, the iconic icon of "the Journey of the Flying House" also appeared in Wisteria Lane, a fictional suburban residential area in the hit ABC TV series "Desperate Housewives".

& ldquo; at present, movie commercials are treated much better on TV screens than before. & rdquo; the marketing director of a film company said & ldquo; We are enjoying preferential treatment that we never thought of before. From this point of view, we are the beneficiaries of the economic crisis. & rdquo;

this is much the same outside the United States.

in addition, the ldquo; lipstick effect-rdquo; of the financial crisis has also benefited a lot from movie advertising.

& ldquo; lipstick effect & rdquo; is an economic theory put forward during the American economic depression in the 1930s. It holds that when the economy is depressed, consumers' shopping psychology and consumption behavior will change, thus making cheap cosmetics and cultural products such as lipstick popular. After the ldquo;9?11” terrorist attack in 2001, Leonard A. Lauder, the son of the founder of American cosmetics group Estée Lauder (Estee Lauder), analyzed the actual marketing figures and further put forward the ldquo; lipstick index & rdquo; theory.

for example, during the Great Depression in the 1920s and 1930s, most industries cooled, but Hollywood's film and television industry bucked the trend and became a pillar industry in the United States. Even if Americans receive relief money and live frugally, they still have to squeeze out a few pennies and go into the cinema to seek spiritual comfort and the warmth and hope of survival. For example, during the Asian financial crisis in 1997, South Korean film and television, games, pop music and other industries rose rapidly. South Korean dramas are popular in China and Southeast Asia, setting off a wave of ldquo; Korean Wave-rdquo;, which has greatly promoted the development of South Korean exports and tourism.

similarly, & ldquo; lipstick effect & rdquo; has also been confirmed in the media market in this financial crisis. According to a survey conducted by Nielsen Media Research, in the third quarter of 2008, Americans spent an average of 142 hours per month watching TV, five hours more than the same period last year. Every day, an American family spends eight hours and 18 minutes in front of the TV, breaking the viewing time record counted by Nielsen since the 1950s.

In other words, with the deepening of the economic crisis, Americans have never loved watching TV as much as they do now, and this has also benefited a lot from ldquo; & rdquo; space for movie advertisements.

Power Media said that although worldwide TV advertising spending is expected to fall by 5.5%, many advertisers will increase their investment in TV advertising as many people lose their jobs at home as a result of the economic crisis.

< strong > Network, Love you are not discussed < / strong >

< strong > < / strong > Statistical Survey of Power Communication shows that although global advertising spending will drop sharply in 2009, Internet advertising spending will increase against the trend driven by the search advertising business of search engine giants such as Google. Global Internet advertising spending is expected to increase by 8.6 per cent to $54.3 billion, with the US search advertising market rising by 9 per cent.

this is good news for the Internet and exciting for movie advertisements that are looking for other ways. The major American film companies are also looking at search engine giants such as Google and Yahoo, as well as MySpace, YouTube, Apple's iPhone and even the emerging microblogging site Twitter.

take Disney's 3D animated blockbuster "Journey of Flying House" as an example.

the Journey of the Flying House is the opening film of this year's Cannes International Film Festival. With an animated film as the opening film, this is also a precedent in the long history of the Cannes Film Festival. Of course, "Journey around the Flying House", which has earned enough attention and popularity, took advantage of the victory and made its mark in the major media and related activities of the Cannes Film Festival. In addition, Disney also has a special Twitter website for the film & ldquo; micro-blog & rdquo;“UP_Dates”, fans can use the blog to track the film in real time.

& the best thing about ldquo; online marketing is that it costs less. & ldquo; has a lot of marketing opportunities on the Internet and costs very little, said a marketing executive at rdquo; Disney. The microblogging site Twitter, for example, is completely free. & rdquo;

< strong > ingenious premiere < / strong >

< strong > < / strong > in the past, the premiere of a film was often followed by a series of promotional activities such as parties, dinners, media meetings, fan meetings, and so on. Now, affected by the economic crisis, these activities are much less than before. However, the red carpet show starring the film's creators remains an indispensable theme for American television entertainment programs such as "Entertainment Tonight" and "Access Hollywood".

& ldquo; We always try to make the red carpet show as exposed as possible. & said a marketing executive at a film company at rdquo;.

choosing a location for the film's premiere is one of the ways.

Sony's Angels and Demons, for example, premiered in Rome, Italy, just a few steps from the Vatican, where the film's story takes place. Moreover, Sony remained generous during the financial crisis, with sculpture replicas of ldquo; Angels and Demons & rdquo; and a large number of expensive posters on both sides of the 30-foot red carpet on the night of the premiere, even with special actors dressed as the Vatican Swiss Guard lined up on the red carpet. In addition, the timing of the film's premiere seems to have been carefully calculated and arranged, and when it comes to the best part of the Vatican midnight, it happens to be midnight Rome time.

Fox, on the other hand, invited fans to decide on the location of the premiere of the film X-Men prequel: Wolverine in a novel way of voting, and creatively used an award-winning quiz to attract the attention of the audience. In addition, Fox's "Museum Night 2" premiered at the Smithsonian Institution Museum in Washington, D.C., because the film tells the story of the protagonist coming from New York to the Smithsonian Museum to find a friend of the ldquo; Museum & rdquo;.

these ideas make the premiere itself a gimmick, bringing high and free media exposure to the film.