Audience + institutions

Advertising and marketing homework – due Friday February 10th

Next lesson we will be analysing the advertising and marketing from the all-time classic, Frozen. To accompany this lesson, I would like you to research the advertising and marketing from a different Disney film:

1. Choose a Disney film from the past three years (it can be the same one as before, or if you can choose a different one). 2. Find at least ten different examples of how the film is advertised and marketed. These might include trailers, posters,

websites, viral videos, advergames, guerrilla marketing, vlogs, TV appearances, film festivals etc.3. Fill in the table below and post to your blog:

CASE STUDY FILM Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

Audience + institutions

BUDGET $245,000,000BOX OFFICE $2 billion

TYPE OF ADVERTISING

ADVERT/LINK ANALYSIS (advertising techniques, ‘reach’)

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Disney Publishing Worldwide and Lucasfilm announced a series of "at least" 20 books and comics that lead up to the Force Awakens

This is a great way to get fans of Star Wars caught up in all the lore. This is primarily targeted at comic book readers and die-hard Star Wars fans. Most people will not read any of these as they don’t appeal to everyone. This doesn’t have a very large ‘reach’.

Star Wars Topps card trader.

This is a good example of a fun and imaginative way to get Star Wars fans addicted to this game. They add more cards each week so people will keep on trying to get the ones they want. However, this doesn’t have a good ‘reach’ as it is an app and most people won’t find it. It is also targeted at a young audience so it won’t engage everyone.

The trailer was viewed over 88 million times within the first 24 hours of release, breaking the record.

https://youtu.be/sGbxmsDFVnE

This is a good example of how Star Wars saturates the media. This is because Star Wars is such an Iconic and nostalgic thing. This had a massive reach as basically every Star Wars fan watched this trailer and mostly likely shared it with their friends and all over social media. Trailers are one of the main things that get the public’s attention and get them to go see a film. This is a great way to promote the film and get everyone excited for it.

Audience + institutions

Vanity Fair was the first magazine to release an exclusive cover issue devoted to The Force Awakens.

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This is a great way to get everyone excited for the film and to get people buying the magazine. The synergy between the two got Vanity Fair more sales and got Star Wars advertised more. This is one of many ways to get things advertised easily and to get a good ‘reach’

Audience + institutions

Disney channel: a behind the scenes special for star wars: the force awakens

https://youtu.be/bDd9EcJxnb4

This was aired on the Disney channel which is targeted at children. This was done to get a younger audience excited and hooked on to Star Wars. However, it also got older fans to watch it as they want to know the things that happened behind the scenes. This got the views on Disney channel increased.

Star wars: the force awakens play set for Disney infinity

Disney Infinity is a game that is targeted at a young audience and came out in 2013. When Disney got the rights to Star Wars, they realised Star Wars characters to play. This is a fun and immersive way to get young audiences to play the game and become interested in these characters. This increased the sales as these characters are all iconic. However, the game is shutting down on March 3rd 2017.

Disney in deal with Google

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Google is one of the biggest companies in the media. Nearly everyday people use Google as a search engine. Disney took advantage of this and made a deal with Google. The Awaken the Force Within program begins today. Users can log on to and decide if they want to be on the Light Side or Dark Side of the Force. Once the allegiance is selected, various Google apps will transform to reflect the path chosen. Special experiences have been developed for apps such as Google Calendar, Chrome, and YouTube. There are also added features to discover with Gmail, Google Translate, and Google Search. This has added to the excitement and hype of the film as it has a very large ‘reach’.

Disney in deal with

maker studios.

Disney has approached Maker Studios, one of the largest operators of YouTube channels, to create Star Wars-themed content covering everything from Star Wars fashion to games. Disney is paying

Audience + institutions

upwards of $450 million for it. This means that viewers on Maker will see all the Star Wars themed content and Disney will be able to get a larger ‘reach’ as viewers might buy some of the products that they are showing.

Disney premiered the final trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens during halftime of ESPN’s Monday Night Football on October 19 (their company).

This was clever as loads of people watch football so Disney knew that they were going to get a large viewing. They also aired it on their own TV channel which meant they can get more money out of it. This had a very large ‘reach’. After the trailer was aired, people watching shared the news over social media so that everyone else could see and know that there was a new trailer.

Star Wars the Force Awakens Lego game

The Lego industry is a large and growing franchise that gets young audiences interested and makes them have fun. The game has a target of a young audience and has a low ‘reach’. They also released Lego toys as well.

Audience + institutions

Royal Mail issues Special Stamps to celebrate Star Wars

‘Tie in’http://www.royalmailgroup.com/royal-mail-issues-special-stamps-celebrate-star-wars

This is an excellent example of synergy because the Royal Mail are likely to sell more of these stamps thanks to Star War’s popularity and equally, it is a good example of how Star Wars saturates all aspects of markets such as Britain. The stamps were available in 8000 Post Office branches. The UK is the third biggest audience for Star Wars films so it makes sense for these sorts of partnerships to exist.

Ambient advertising/ guerrilla advertising

Because the advertising market is so saturated, institutions are seeking new and engaging ways to communicate with audiences. The example is a good example of a fun and imaginative way to build hype and awareness for a film release.Of course, this type of advertising a less guaranteed ‘reach’ than a prime time TV advert but thanks to new and digital media, these types of adverts are likely to go viral and reach an online audience too.

Audience + institutions

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB_C2eOQG9g

The John Lewis Christmas advert is one of the most eagerly anticipated adverts of the year in the UK. The original version of this advert received huge public attention and was very successful.This parody version by The Poke is a superb example of the potential of new and digital media for institutions such as Walt Disney. Effectively, secondary circulation such as this is advertising the film for free. It has reached over 800,000 views on YouTube and helps to keep the franchise in the public consciousness. Moreover, it is a very useful synergy for both John Lewis and Star Wars because it is linking two very popular products together in a fresh and funny way.

You will be writing the following essay on advertising and marketing, so it is vital that you really engage with your examples:Evaluate the role of digital technologies in the marketing and consumption of products in the media you have studied (50 marks).