20th Century Marketing

20th Century Fox studios have pumped out a lot of blockbusters and classics over the years, but what is the secret to their success? Yes talent, but what makes the movie goers want to spend their hard earned cash on a film they know little about?
Good marketing! 
Fox along with other companies have a wide range of campaigns used to get the consumers attention. Trailer, posters, billboards, cast appearances, radio spots, and contest. Yes we know the jist, but Fox studios have been getting a little more creative. examples...
In 2011 there was a new science fiction television show coming out on Fox, about a ravished earth and a dinosaur infested colony; called Terra Nova.

 I love science fiction and I love dinosaurs, so that’s all it took to get me hooked. Fox wanted to make sure they teased enough people that they would either check it out or at least know about the show. Taking advantage of modern media streams, Fox started an official Terra Nova app for mobile devices that allowed people to get updates about the show, info about the worlds in the show, notes from the writers, test to see if you're eligible for the 11th pilgrimage, and enter sweepstakes. Along with other websites on the show, Fox used a curiosity technique, giving people hints of what they had in-store, then making them want to know more.
If you did not see Terra Nova, it was canceled after the first season because Netflix didn’t pick it up as a distributor like they promised(grrr). It was a good show and now it is just archived.



Before it won academy awards, the Film by 20th century Fox, Ang Lee’s “Life of Pi” was marketed in a different way then tradition trailers.  In early 2012 a short clips of  "Life of Pi" was shown in front of 3D showings, in order to get people to see movies like Prometheus (double Marketing), and in order to push another type of brief early trailer.

Fox studios does take pride in their innovative ways of marketing, but sometimes campaigns come back to scratch them on the butt.
In October of 2012, 20th century Fox unveiled a poster for the 2013 film “The Wolverine”. The poster featured a sketch of the title character and posted them at bus stops around the nation. Bad News! More than half of the posters placed at these bus stations have been stolen. Yes they are cool looking and probably easy to take out, but c’mon people. Have you ever heard of fan art! Anyway replacing the posters were extremely costly with the price of material, but most of all paying for the advertising spot with no advertisement in it.

It is said some of the thieves are keeping the posters for themselves (duh!) and many are selling them online for as much as $100. What dummy would pay $100 for a movie poster you can pay $20 for from a movie poster site eventually.

But as I said before, you can have a great flick, but if no one knows about it, then it may be wasted; making another under marketed film like the Oscar film “The Hurt Locker”. Fox is making sure to keep up in the social media market, and utilizing the mobile app market as well, because they know most people are not watching commercials on TV, but the ads online.        

Children of a digital age

The Judd Apatow film “This is 40” is a hilarious film about two parents that realize they are not as young as they were, getting into mischief and arguments that drive their relationship into outrageous situations. The oldest daughter of the couple Sadie, is played by Maude Apatow, the real life daughter of Filmmaker Judd Apatow. Sadie is a 13-year-old girl obsessed with her mobile devices and the television show Lost. During the film Sadie’s parents ask her why doesn’t she put the iPad down and go outside and build a fort with friends? “What am I supposed to do with this fort?” says Sadie sarcastically before she storms off, and that is the point of this blog post.

When I was a younger boy 20 years ago, I couldn’t wait to go outside just to get out the house. If nothing was on television and my homework was done, it was time to make my own fun. Driven by creativity with neighborhood kids or solo, we would build a fort in a tree or on land, making up games to go along with the fort. Water balloon wars, slay the invaders, or what ever, it was something to build and destroy. It wasn't just for boys, girls would have a fort as well, but not call it that or they would become the troublesome invaders trying to get into the boys fort. 

Most adults might say there is something wrong with kids today that don’t want to go outside to play. I don’t think so, its just a different time and different interest. Back in the day we were limited to what we could watch, play, or do; today kids have numerous activities available to them via app or online. Why build a funky fort outside, when you could make a digital kingdom.

I can completely understand where Sadie is coming from when she gets irritated by her parents suggesting she make a fort. Kids today aren’t use to forcing their creative juices to flow, and if your friends are online instead of outside, what’s the point of going outside. They will go to school the next day and say, “hey did you see what they found in the bunker in that episode of lost”, not “hey did you see the swing we made for the fort”.

IPad, iPhone, MacBook, and android devices; sad as it may seem, these are the toys of the future. Kids grow up using and interacting with digital devices, so that’s all they know and accept.

C’mon think about it, you can stream or download TV shows and movies on demand, read a book, play games online with friends and shop, all from the convenience of your devices. why would you put your device down? Exercise, ha! Who wants that, to be a social butterfly, please! That’s what Facebook is for, to take pictures, give me a break, I have a mirror in my bathroom and I’m a master of layers in Photoshop. (Hopefully you sense the sarcasm)  

Technology is taking over; according to Nielsen.com the trend of using mobile devices to multi-task and view entertainment has become so widespread in the U.S that it could be called the norm. Over 50 percent of US homes own a smartphone and over 20 percent own a tablet. 

Times are changing and I'm not saying kids don't outside anymore, if that were true, the government would feel bad about closing public parks to save money, and there wouldn't be so many community activities for the youth.(smirk)

I believe Mobile devices are the best thing to hit the earth since sliced bread, but as with the problem with obesity; people must learn Moderation.