“Hunger Games” to be promoted digitally
New movie, “The Hunger Games” was just released in the United States last week. It already earned about $155 million, and becoming the top-selling movie in this season. This movie is expected to create between $800 million and $2 billion for Lionsgate.
Unlike other movies, however, the marketing team of this movie is relatively small. Currently, only 21 employees are working for Lionsgate’s marketing team, and marketing budget is limited to $45 million, which is a sharp contrast to the normal budget of over $100 million.
To effectively communicate with target consumers, the marketing team of Lionsgate is using social media services such as Facebook and twitter. Lionsgate created total of 13 facebook websites to target consumers in different states. With increased penetration of social media, Lionsgate is hoping to reach a large number of movie lovers.
Use of social media, however, can be tricky because it can also attract audiences who are not satisfied with the movie. If the film becomes unpopular, the social media can accelerate the diffusion of negative message.
Success of social media marketing, therefore, largely depends on the popularity of actual movie. If this film is found out to be popular, social media can certainly help Lionsgate to attract more customers. If not, it would be extremely hard for Lionsgate to keep using social media for promotional purposes.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57402944-93/hunger-games-marketing-efforts-aim-to-satiate-fans
March 29th, 2012 at 11:24 pm
From what I understand, Hunger Game the story first came out as a teenage novel. And most audience was attracted to the movie because of the book. So I believe the social media marketing just leverage s the existing fondness from the young readers who happen to be social-media savvy too. So it makes total sense that the marketing team play on social media. So far I heard only one comment made by a famous youtuber ” Glozell1″ about how she did not like the movie because it is all about kids killing each other to survive.
April 3rd, 2012 at 10:22 pm
First of all, it is an inspiring article. I never noticed that companies can promote movie through social media in these ways. These channels are really engaging. Facebook allows people to like and share , so does Twitter. A small game to play in smart phones is a brilliant way to promote in small phones. at the same time, i was surprised that they created 13 facebook pages. But whatever, with their limited marketing budget, social medias , twitters and games are probably the best way to achieve. In the end, i think the campaign is successful !