A Great Marketing Campaign with Low Budget

Major film studios have huge budgets for marketing and advertising a movie for release and make it a box office success. However, for independent filmmakers the story is different. They have to measure very carefully how much money they can spend in marketing. Yet, budget constraints do not have to be an obstacle for creativity. Nowadays, it is possible to find support through social media and sponsorships to develop a good promotional strategy. But what happened when social media was not available? One of the most successful viral marketing strategies of all time was developed for The Blair Witch Project in 1999, when Facebook, Twitter and YouTube did not exist. How was this possible?

The Blair Witch Project was a movie about three student filmmakers that were investigating the mystery behind the case of the Blair Witch through interviews of the local people.  The three students disappear and a year later their footage was found.  The actors improvised almost all the lines, what gave the movie a real result. The production company decided to create a low budget website (www.blairwitch.com), that is still working, to document the history of the Blair Witch from 1785 to the day when the footage was discovered. The website has photos, biographies and interviews with family members and is constantly updated with new information. All the evidence made people think it was a true story and encouraged people to talked about it. It also includes trailers with the students’ “real videos” and news coverage of the disappearance.  The most important thing that the team defined very well was the target market. All the ads were shown in college campuses and created a desire to seek more information about the story.  Also, the team took care about details such as listing the three actors as ‘missing, presumed dead’ in IMDb before the release.

The results were incredible: for a $25,000 movie budget, the final production grossed $248 million at the box office (the second highest return on investment for a movie). People made long lines to get a ticket. The success was created on uncertainty and made people think it was a true story. With the technological advances, is very hard to repeat a campaign like this one, but it reminds us of the importance of originality and taking care of the small details to impress the audience.

            

Industry Liabilities

In the entertainment industry a new contract is signed, a new deal is closed, a new license is acquired everyday. This is the reason why is it so important to know the legal terms in order to avoid costly liabilities that can impact the business negatively.  However, any company has a risk to be involved in legal controversies, despite of the experience in the market. The following are some controversies in the film industry.

To entertain the audience with a movie is the principal goal of a film production. The distribution company has the responsibility to develop the marketing campaign for the movie and to find the best screens to capture the target market. But, what happens when the message sent is not appropriate? This was the case of FilmDistrict, an independent movie distributor. In 2011, Sarah Deming, a woman from Michigan, filled a lawsuit against the company for wrong promotion of the movie Driver. After watching the trailer she was expecting a movie similar to ‘Fast and the Furious’, with a lot of racing scenes, but the story was completely different. It was more a drama thriller, so she claimed for a refund of the movie ticket. For many people this lawsuit can be absurd, but I think Sarah is right. In this case, the trailer sells an action movie, when actually it is slow, mystery and focuses on the hard relationship between the driver and his neighbor.  The trailer is the most important advertisement tool to show the public what they should expect from a film, that is why the marketing team has to be very careful with all the elements of it, including the scenes and the music. The trailer has to match the movie content so the public will receive what they are expecting.

The second case is a lawsuit from Peter Jackson to New Line Cinema, the distribution company of the ‘The Lord of the Rings’ movies. The famous director claimed that New Cinema committed fraud in handing revenues of licensing and merchandising for the trilogy. According to The New York Times, Jackson was underpaid by more than $100 million. This is not the only case reported about problems between the distributor and the director of a movie, so it is a reflection of how important is to clearly write all the rights of the parties in the contract and establish the amount limits for different sources of incomes.  The contract must be specific in terms of box office revenues and profits for books, DVDs, merchandising and the responsible for them.

The last case is related to the movie exhibition side of the industry. It is a lawsuit from a local movie theater chain in Georgia, Cobb Theaters, claiming that the big chain AMC Entertainment uses its market power to deprive other competitors to access to films from the most important film distributors. This is not fair for a competitive market and the company is creating a monopoly when they ask for exclusivity for some movies releases. AMC did not talk about the situation. Maybe it is not a case of monopoly, it would be related to the number of screens the company has that allows them to have more movies showing. The important thing is that the market establishes competition rules so all the companies have the same opportunities.  It is clear that the big organizations have more opportunities to capture more audience due to their size and budget, but they have to play fair and do not try to use dirty tricks to affect the normal behavior of the market.

All these cases show the importance of calculate the risks of any project and always have the rights and obligations clear to not be involved in situations that impact the reputation and implicate unnecessary costs.

Live Events Review

What is more important than being in a classroom, solely learning about the artist and product management concepts, is going ‘outdoors’ and experiencing the ‘real world’. To be a part of the audience in a live event, not thinking like a normal customer anymore, yet noticing elements behind the event planning, is now part of my life as a business professional, and as a result, I has furthered my passion of developing a career in the entertainment industry.

The first event at which I had the opportunity to attend this month was a Timucua Concert. I have never attended this event before and I immediately fell in love with the concept. The experience is all about enjoying a concert as if you were in your own living room. They offered wine and food to all of the guests. The venue was small as well, and it was that which created a more intimate relationship between the artist who performed and the audience. The artist that I saw onstage was Ricardo Filipo, who played various Brazilian songs on his classical guitar. In spite of the fact that his singer could not attend the event, he created an experience that developed into a special connection between himself and the audience. Being from Colombia, the sounds were very similar to some music genres of my country. Consequently, I felt as if though was back home with my family. The audience was also excited and you could feel the art within the atmosphere.

On the other hand, recently, I went to a Brazilian Carnival at Firestone - one of the most popular clubs in Orlando. This event was on August 14. During this event, however the audience was completely different - most of them, young people whom like electronic music. The main act was a famous DJ, named F Tampa, starting his concert at 1 am. When he came onstage, the crowd was screamed and began dancing. Although I am not a big fan of electronic music, the energy that the DJ transmitted through his music was amazing. Adding to this experience, one cane view all around the event, dancers and performers related to the Brazilian culture.

Nevertheless, in order to improve the Timucua experience I would make some changes with regards to the operation of the event. After the concert would start, I will close the doors. This way, no one would be able to go outside for more wine and food; mainly because in some parts of the show it turns into a distraction for the audience when the door opens and closes all of the time. In addition, I would invest more in their web page to make it more attractive and interactive. For this type of business it is good to receive feedback from the audience, so I will also create this space or app, which could receive, track and post the feedback - it could be similar to a blog. The investment for the web-page redesign will be around $1,000 - $2000 dollars. With the target market being more adult, I would make an email marketing campaign that would send the calendar of events and the concerts to all recipients. This will cost $1,000 dollars. The overall benefits will come with the highest brand recall.

Lastly, in terms of the Brazilian Carnival, organized by Braslive Entertainment, there were mistakes in the marketing strategy, maybe because this was the first event of the company. For instance, I had done a more aggressive campaign of marketing directly with flyers, as there were not any plans behind the best schedules and the best places to capture the target market that would mainly have been young Brazilian people. The Premium Outlets in Orlando, however, were a good place for this form of marketing strategy because there was a big Brazilian community present, although the models that handed out the flyers, only went there once. On the other hand, the social media strategy was good despite the short promotion time for the events. However, the web page was not ready at the moment of the event.  Yet, with a new development of the web page that will cost around $ 3,500 dollars, for next events, and while the brand will need to keep working on its social media strategy as the target is very young, I see great things in the future for Braslive Events. The attendance at their first event was lower than expected, but anyone could tell that the people who attended the event enjoyed the experience.

All in all, each of the live events are a source of knowledge about the customer’s preferences, and so it is important for these companies to create a team that always has an eye in the market and can bring new ideas that will keep improving the experience for future audiences to come.

TED Talks- Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action

In the TED Talk ‘How great leaders inspire action’ Simon Sinek refers to the concept of the golden circle, a concept he created to understand the reason behind a leader’s success. The golden circle includes three levels: what, how and why. Only a few people know why they do what they do, the purpose of why they exist. Sinek said all the great leaders think, act and communicate the same way, while it is the exact opposite for everyone else. The key for inspiration is to reverse the order of the information, to communicate from the inside out, starting always with the ‘why’.  When the consumers buy the ‘why’ of the company instead of the product itself, the connection is special and the company makes them believe in what the company believes.

One of my favorite brands is Coca-Cola because they do not focus on the product in the marketing campaigns; they always involve the feelings of the consumers and make them believe in the company’s values. This is the perfect example of the why, how, what format. Coca-Cola never starts a campaign referring to the product. They sell an experience. They sell ‘happiness’. They are not focused on showing a drink to quench thirst; they show the experience to share it with family and friends. The purpose of the brand is to make people feel happy.  Even though the product does not change, they are always innovating with new, positive messages to send to the audience. They know how to impact people’s emotions.

Simon Sinek also talks about the law of diffusion of innovation. The law shows five different types of groups in the society: the innovators, the early adopters, the early majority, the late majority and the laggards. In terms of fashion products, especially clothes, I fall into the category of innovator. I consider myself a fashion lover.  I have to be first to go into shops such as Zara to buy at least one new dress for the season. I am always willing to take risks and try new fashion styles. On the other side, in terms of technology I fall more in the category of late majority. Despite that fact that I wanted an iPhone 5C so bad, at the moment the product was launched I had other priorities so I decided not to buy it. I was more rational and I thought that since my iPhone 4S was still working, I did not need a new one. Maybe I will wait until the price decreases with the launch of the iPhone 6 that is coming in September and I will get an iPhone 5C.

I really enjoyed this talk because Sinek, as a leadership expert, makes the audience reflect the path to be a leader and be able to hold a position of power with responsibility.

1 Million Cups: Spoiled Rotten Marketing concept

Entrepreneurship has become increasingly important in our society as a source of innovation and an example of how people are capable to develop their own projects. It is also important because it allows independence and economic stability. Entrepreneurs need the support and the advice from others who have been through the same path. 1 Million Cups is an organization that mentors entrepreneurs in different communities and gives them the opportunity to receive feedback. When I visited the Orlando YouTube Channel where the presentations of the business ideas in the city can be found, I was drawn by the Spoiled Rotten Marketing concept. Rebecca Bormel, the manager of the company, exposed the presentation. The company was created one year ago aiming to merchandise luxurious spas and salons in the area and offer special packages with 90% of discounts for the clients. The packages are very attractive, since massages that otherwise would cost $500 dollars will be available for just $50. They offer a greater discount than other companies such as Groupon. They assist the spas in attracting new clients, increasing the visits and building long-term relationships.

The principal strength of this concept is its price, which is compensated with the high number of visits. Their social impact in the community is highly interesting, as they do a lot of fundraising in favor of charity organizations with the sells of the Spa Books.  The company is planning to open new offices in Tampa, Jacksonville and Chicago. They started with three clients, and nine months after they have already reached almost a hundred, which stresses the fast growth of the business. However, the challenge is to find people to sell the product to new spas and salons. This is a weakness as their sales model is Business to Business. During the presentation, the manager was focused on their services, but she did not talk much about their own marketing process. I think they have a big challenge in promoting the web page and showing to the market how good are their prices comparing to other options. They have to promote the benefits they offer as the possibility to find spas close to the client's home or office, the possibility to buy gift certificates and that they do not have block-out dates as many online purchases. As an expansion strategy they should think about selling franchises across the country. I loved the concept because the spas win and the final customers win too. It is an excellent option for women who are looking for luxurious spas but with an affordable price.