Have you ever wondered how Hollywood blockbusters are marketed?
Each summer, people stand in line for movies they’ve been waiting months to see. Through foreign markets, licensing, and streaming, blockbusters will earn well beyond their box office debut. What can marketers learn from these mega-earners?
Have a Hero
The highest-earning movies know how to keep audience on the edge of their seats – and transfixed on a strong lead: the hero.
46% of all blockbusters made since 1975 fall into the action genre.
1 in 3 blockbusters made since 2010 are based on a comic book.
Give your content a hero
Audiences connect best with likable, relatable, characters who overcome challenges.
Use case studies to show how your customers have become heroes through
using your product.
Soundtracks
Blockbusters offer their audiences way to keep engaging through soundtracks, merchandise, fan clubs, and more.
Frozen debuted on the silver screen in 2013 and is the highest-grossing animated movie of all time. Its accompanying soundtrack helped bolster the success of the movie, and vice versa.
3.5 Million CDs, digital albums, etc. in 2014
219 Million on-demand audio streams (YouTube, Spotify, etc.)
Make the most out of your marketing
Pull divisible pieces from your own blockbuster content
Create infographics from ebooks, develop minigraphics for social media, link to blog posts in emails.
How much did blockbusters make on merch?
Promote! Promote! Promote!
Blockbusters get in your face: they’re on your drink cups at the drive-through, the ad on your YouTube video, and the guest on your favorite late-night talk show.
Make Investments: on average, studios invest $40-50 million in marketing major feature films.
Be Social: 87% of Twitter users say their most recent decision to see a film in the theater was influenced by tweets.
Partner Up: The 3 lovable minions from “The Minions” are featured on Amazon’s packages, I a partnership between Universal Studios and Illumination Entertainment
Promote Strategically
Take a hint from the big box-office hits: be creative, create a promotion strategy that’s engaging and innovative
Get you content everywhere your audiences are
Pack in the Extras
Including bonus scenes in blockbuster movies has skyrocketed since the early 2000s. Marvel Studios’ Iron Man series is known for keeping film-goers in the theaters by offering something extra at the end
Bonus scene wait times:
Iron Man – 2008: 7:55 wait time for bonus scene, 32s bonus scene duration
Iron Man 2 – 2010: 6:33 wait time for bonus scene, 54s bonus scene duration
Iron Man 3– 2013: 9:26 wait time for bonus scene, 1:04s bonus scene duration
Give your audience more
Like an ‘extras’ reel or bloopers; offer your audience a bonus for making all the way through – like an early release of your next piece of content.
Build anticipation. If you’re creating a sequel or a next piece of content, build demand early by giving your audience a glimpse.
Return of the Blockbuster
A story that’s once a blockbuster, is likely to do well again. Creating sequels allows studios to eliminate risks and costs wile giving audiences what they crave- more of the characters the already love.
Blockbusters Sequels: more than 50% of blockbuster films since 2010 have been sequels
1984: The Empire Strikes Back, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Star Trek 3
2006: X-Men: The Last Stand, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Superman Returns
2010: Toy Story 3, Iron Man 2, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Your Marketing Campaign: Vol, 2
A piece of content that is a hit shows you what your audience likes. Note your success.
Brainstorm how you can create a sequel! Build upon content that continues to resonate with your audience