Consumer Insights and Marketing in Television and Film

While I am studying marketing in the McCombs School of Business, I also have a minor concentration in Radio-Television-Film through the college of communications. This is because I have always been interested in the entertainment industry and the implications of various marketing practices in this environment. With regard to television and motion picture productions, there are significant economic ramifications for budgeting decisions, and this is because of the tremendous amounts of resources and time that must be dedicated to producing them. Audiences have changed significantly over the years, and demands must constantly be evaluated and rearranged by studio executives, producers, directors, writers, and every other creative and economic entity associated with producing entertainment for the masses. A good example of how these decisions can be fruitful is the case of James Cameron’s Avatar, which is now quite literally the biggest movie of all time, grossing over $2.7 billion (according to www.boxofficemojo.com). This is the result of careful marketing and budgeting decisions and the delivery of a truly satisfying consumer experience that connects with all demographics. Components of this experience included the film’s sense of spectacle and the innovation of 3-D IMAX technology.

 I am actually not a huge fan of the film myself - I’m more of a Scorsese kind of guy. He’s known for directing character-based pieces like Goodfellas and Raging Bull that are rich in story and cinematic value (although, it could be argued that he is using his auteur status to add legitimacy to big-budget blockbusters like The Departed and Shutter Island). Nevertheless, I can appreciate the great execution of this marketing campaign and the obvious resonance with a worldwide audience and even movie critics (the film was nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards in early 2010). James Cameron’s latest film is just important, and big, and high concept. Most of all, it is fascinating from a marketing/business standpoint, because it was a huge project spanning a full decade of production with an inflated budget of over $500 million (the most expensive movie ever made). Once the final product was taking form, though, the work was all in the hands of market researchers and those in charge of advertising efforts at Fox (the studio that produced the film). This crucial process is what I want to delve into by doing this project, and these are a few of the questions I want to address:

1.      How are marketing budgets allocated and when do these decisions get made?

2.      Is the marketing strategy obvious from the outset, or is it developed as a production takes shape?

3.      Is a film made simply because it is easy to market (like high concept blockbuster movies)?

4.      How do creativity and business incentives clash if something doesn’t “test’ well, and what are the standards by which this is judged?

5.      How are trends like digital projection, IMAX shooting, and 3-D reflections of the changing business environment in the entertainment industry?

These questions can mostly apply to television production as well, which is another area that fascinates me because of how fast-paced and cutthroat it has become. There are currently several shows like ABC’s My Generation and NBC’s Under Covers are already being cancelled after airing for only a couple of weeks! There are dozens and dozens of shows filmed every year during pilot season, but only a few of them are deemed worthy for network television. I want to research how these decisions are made, because a lot of my favorite network TV shows, like Lost and Chuck, have faced cancellation several times.

Again, it’s all about creating an experience that will keep consumers/viewers glued to their screens and which will also keep them coming back season after season. This is relevant to our class discussions because people who work at the networks and studios must constantly decide what viewers want, who they want to see, and whether or not they’ll even watch shows during the designated airtime. Cable shows are even more interesting to study, because shows like Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and Dexter are giving the networks some serious competition due to increased airtime and more lavish productions because of an abundance of resources. They are also characterized by richer storytelling because of a shortened season of only 12 or 13 episodes. These are all marketing decisions, because it is evident that at some point, these new innovations were deemed necessary as cable channels began to disappear. I would like to more closely analyze who makes decisions like these and, more importantly, how they arrive at these decisions.

Here is a link to description of a book from which I plan to use excerpts to support the points in my current topic report - http://www.lavoisier.fr/notice/frXWOOA26A3OW2RO.html

The book is from 2002, and it is called The Entertainment Marketing Revolution. The book describes evolving marketing practices in the brutally competitive environment of the entertainment industry today. The insights in this book overlap with things I have already discussed in this post, and it provides detailed answers to the questions I posed. This is one of many sources I can use, though, and I may not even end up using this one specifically. I just wanted to convey the type of resource I’ll be using for my research. I’m also likely to use trade publications like Variety, which covers all areas of the entertainment industry.

This is where I’m at right now, but a lot of this is likely to change as I develop more knowledge regarding my topic.