The Present Situation of Film Marketing in China
Since the founding of New China, the film industry in China has basically been dominated by state-owned enterprises. The system factors bound the hands and feet of the marketing staff, suppressed the wisdom of the marketing staff, and made some basic marketing concepts, methods and skills that reflected the general laws of the market economy unable to be applied, which led to the "market without market" in China film marketing. Under the impact of the commodity economy, the production, distribution and screening of domestic films have been greatly impacted, and China films once fell into a trough.
In recent years after China's entry into WTO, with the adjustment of China's film industry policy and the acceleration of reform, China's film industry is taking on a new look. First of all, China's film investment shows a diversified trend, forming a situation in which state-owned capital, private capital and overseas capital coexist. In particular, private film and television companies have become a new force in China's film industry, which has greatly promoted the industrialization process of China's films. Secondly, judging from the distribution and screening of China films, great changes are quietly taking place in recent years. By virtue of its flexible operation, private companies vigorously promote the distribution and marketing of domestic films. In terms of screening, foreign investors are increasingly interested in investing in China cinemas, and they have taken a fancy to this potential audience market with a huge population of 65.438+300 million. Even in terms of advanced digital cinema construction, China ranks second in the world, second only to the United States in quantity. However, we still urgently need to learn the advanced marketing concepts and methods of foreign films, and use the theory of integrated marketing communication to input new concepts and new thinking for China film marketing.
Marketing, might as well learn from America.
The theory of "integrated marketing" came into being and became popular in 1990s, which was put forward by Don Schultz, a marketing professor at Northwestern University. As a branch application theory of "integrated marketing", media integrated marketing has emerged in recent years. The strategic transformation from "disseminator-centered" to "audience-centered" communication mode is a clearer consumer-oriented concept advocated by integrated marketing.
In 200 1 year, the annual income of the entire American film industry exceeded 1000 billion US dollars, making it the fourth largest industry after aviation, automobiles and computers. The reason why American films have risen to the fourth industry is that they have adopted a brand-new marketing concept and expanded the market through integrated marketing.
The core of film integrated marketing is "consumer-centered", that is, "the audience can shoot whatever they want to see and invite who to perform". In order to understand the audience's preferences, major Hollywood companies have long attached great importance to market research, which includes three aspects: First, investigate what types of movies the audience likes to watch and launch different types of movies at different times. The second is to investigate the ideological trend of mass society in a certain period, so as to establish the theme of film shooting. For example, after the "9. 1 1" incident, the American people fell into panic, and some magic movies, such as Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings, were released in Hollywood, which could make people forget their real troubles for a while. The third is to investigate the audience's taste, and through the investigation, we can find four major elements of the film: good story, good actor, good scene and good music.
The main means of integrated marketing of movies is to make full use of TV, Internet, newspapers, mobile phone short messages and other media, and carry out multi-directional and all-round three-dimensional communication through press conferences and special topics, and cooperate with enterprises for joint marketing to achieve a win-win situation. After a film is finished, it is not shown immediately, but is shown to audiences and film critics of different ages and mental levels, and modified according to their responses, so that marketing and shooting can be integrated. Secondly, bundling sales with enterprises has not only improved the visibility of corporate brands, but also won sponsorship and publicity for the film. For example, in the 007 movie, MGM asked Bond to drive Ford's Aston Udon brand sports car, and Bond girl drove Ford's "Strange Bird" sports car, which pushed the German BMW series out of the screen. To this end, Ford returned $35 million in funding. It is reported that the film promoted the brands of 20 companies and earned $654.38+$200 million, while MGM's investment was only $654.38+$654.38+$00 million. In other words, the film recovered its cost before it was released.
In addition, non-screen marketing revenue accounts for 80% of the total investment in the American film industry. The scope of off-screen marketing includes the follow-up products of the film itself, such as videos, DVDs, soundtrack albums, tapes, etc., as well as peripheral products related to the film, such as video games, toys, clothing, etc. Spider-Man, with a box office of $400 million, sold 654.38+09 million DVDs at Wal-Mart alone, with a total sales of $360 million at the price of $654.38+09 each. The DVD of the animated film Monster Company also sold nearly $400 million. The sales revenue of Star Wars peripheral products exceeds $5 billion.
Establish a new system of integrated marketing communication for China films.
The integrated marketing communication of the film market must meet four key conditions:
First of all, take consumers as the center. For movies, movies are box office, and box office is audience. How to analyze the audience and understand the needs of movie audiences? The first step is to conduct a lot of market research, and the second step is to analyze the psychology of the audience. This is the key to integrated marketing communication-I will produce what the audience needs.
Secondly, marketing equals the idea of communication. The marketing of movies is the dissemination of information. Imagine that Titanic could not have succeeded without the efforts of the media. Marketing communication here, specifically, is media advertising, publicity and hype.
Third, different "databases" should be established for different consumer groups. This is another key to the two-way communication of film marketing. Only by mastering enough audience information can targeted marketing be carried out.
Finally, the integration of marketing communication is the core of the new integrated marketing system. The integrated communication system of film marketing is huge and complex. Film production, advertising strategy, market research, publicity and speculation, public activities and promotion methods must all form a joint force of marketing communication under unified and orderly operation in order to achieve certain marketing effects. This integration of film product marketing has unified the contradiction between the risk of existing products and the possession of subsequent products, and the power of integration has been fully demonstrated here. For example, "House of Flying Daggers" attracted the audience's attention with its bizarre story, exquisite picture processing and attractive star lineup. Before the screening, it was strongly rendered through newspapers, magazines, internet, TV, DVD, outdoor and other media. Before the premiere, a large-scale party was held, and popular stars from across the Taiwan Strait and three places performed one after another, which made the publicity activities before the screening to the extreme. The successful operation of House of Flying Daggers undoubtedly shows a new angle of film marketing. Joint promotion is a new mode of film marketing cooperation, which is increasingly adopted by the majority of businesses. It can gather consumers' eyes, greatly reduce the marketing cost of an enterprise or product, and help products reach more consumers. For film companies, joint promotion means getting more extra (free) TV and print advertisements, as well as advertising opportunities in various public places, expanding the advertising effect of the film itself and increasing the box office. For example, the joint promotion of Hero and dopod, House of Flying Daggers and Founder Computer is actually using each other to create a win-win situation with * * *.
If China film marketing can establish such a new marketing system: from the height of integration, look down and build the film market; Making and marketing domestic films from the perspective of integration; Create a film consumption atmosphere and market environment with integrated thinking; If an integrated marketing communication model with dense profit points, super stable management structure and modern international standards is established, the prosperity of China movies will be just around the corner.