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Budapest Business School
FACULTY OF INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT AND BUSINESS
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ECONOMICS COURSE
Specializing in International Enterprises
AVANS HOGESCHOOL INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS SCHOOL BREDA
BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION COURSE
WHAT FACTORS LEAD TO A SUCCESSFUL MOVIE TRAILER?
Prepared by: Enikő Baranyi
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Acknowledgement
I would like to thank Mr. Peter Laverts and Mr. Zoltán Veres who coordinated me during
working on my report. I also would like to thank Mr. V.J Maury, the CEO of the Palace
Cinema (Budapest), who allowed me to make an interview with him, who talked about
his experiences and opinions about my topic of movie marketing.
In addition, I should also like to thank everyone, who took time to fill in my questionnaire
and also who participated in my focus groups.
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Table of contents
Executive Summary ................................................................................. 4
Introduction ............................................................................................ 6
Research ................................................................................................. 7
1. Rationale .................................................................................................................. 7
2. Situational analysis ..................................................................................... 8
2.1. Process of movie advertising in general ............................................................. 8
2.2. Research........................................................................................................ 9
2.3. Definition of the success of a movie .................................................................10
2.4. Definition of movie trailer ................................................................................12
2.5 Definition of the success of movie trailer ............................................................13
3. Theoretical background .............................................................................14
3.1. History and theory about trailers ......................................................................14
3.2. Marketing, Marketing mix, Promotion mix ....................................................................... 15
3.3. Marketing communication ...............................................................................22
3.3.1. Marketing communication mix ......................................................................22
3.3.2. Marketing communication in movie advertising ...............................................24
3.3.3. Effective marketing communication ...............................................................24
3.4. Brand loyalty of movies ..................................................................................24
3.5. Advertising and Media ....................................................................................25
3.6. AIDA model ...................................................................................................26
3.7. Influence of movie advertisement-trailer on the success of a movie .....................28
3.8. Main factors which can lead to a successful trailer ..............................................30
4. Conceptual model ............................................................................... 32
5. Research design ................................................................................. 35
6. Research result ...........................................................................................36
6.1. In-Person interview ........................................................................................36
6.2. Focus groups .................................................................................................37
6.3. Questionnaire ................................................................................................38
7. Conclusion and recommendation ........................................................ 43
References ............................................................................................. 45
Appendix ..........................................................................................................49
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Executive Summary
The purpose and scope of the report
The purpose of this report was to find out the possible factors and ways which lead to a
successful trailer. This assignment examined how to create the attractiveness and the
success of the movie through trailers. The aim of the report was also to find out whether
AIDA model consists of all the important factors that help to create a successful trailer:
to grab the audience‟s attention and to create and hold the interest of the audience.
Background information
Marketing, advertising is a very important factor in the case of the success of a movie.
Movie marketing became more scientific and innovative and it is presented across several
mediums. Movie marketing has more of a determinant role nowadays than before,
because there are more and more films produced, and it leads to a higher competition.
There are a lot of movies with bad advertisement and their marketing campaign can not
attract enough audience. Although movie marketing is an essential part of the success of
a movie, sometimes filmmakers do not start on their movie‟s marketing plan right from
the beginning of producing the film. Success of a movie can be measured in several
ways, in cases where:

it does better than expectations of the owner of the movie

it is more profitable than the investment

it attracts the most audience

it has a box office success

it wins some film awards
Just a few filmmakers know how to sell their movie in the best way. In order to find the
most appropriate movie promotion tool, it is always recommended to conduct researches.
In the movie industry, a distributor‟s most expense comes from P&A (prints and
advertising). A movie trailer is one of the most important forms of movie advertisement;
it is the most commonly used and the most effective options in the case of movie
advertisement, because it is the most convincing and attractive.
There are several mediums which are available to promote a movie‟s message and it is
always very hard to decide which the best medium to use is. It always depends on what
the goals are and what you want to achieve. TV, Cinema and the Internet have very
determinant roles in movie advertising. AIDA model stimulates purchasing decisions of
consumers (in this case moviegoers), which stimulate their minds through the following
steps:

Awareness
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
Interest

Desire

Action
What has been done and how
A lot of researches were conducted to receive an answer to the question: “whether
creating attention and interest amongst the audience might lead to the success of the
trailer and to a more successful movie”. Research for this report included secondary and
primary researches, such as questionnaires, focus groups and an interview with an
expert, and the target group.
First, as part of the secondary research, already existing data was collected about factors
that influence the success of trailers and their influences on a movie‟s success. Primary
researches were conducted amongst cinemagoers. The aim of the research was to
identify which marketing tool is the most effective in the case of movie advertising, how
one can attract the audience in the most effective way using trailers, what the most
important factors in the case of trailers are, and which of these can convince them the
most to go and watch the movie.
The main findings
In the report the current situation of movie advertising was analyzed with researches
which could help me to determine the main factors needed to create a successful movie
trailer. The major findings of all the researches indicate that trailers is the most effective
advertisement tool which catches the audience attention and makes them want to see a
movie. Another important result is that the Internet is the best place to advertise,
although TV and Cinema also have very determinant roles. The main findings were that
Attention, Interest and Desire from AIDA model are very important aspects with respect
to trailers.
Conclusion
To conclude it can be stated that the trailer is the most effective advertisement tool in
the case of movie marketing, especially with its presence on the Internet. Online
marketing is getting more and more popular. Finally, AIDA model‟s „Attention”, „Interest”
and „Desire” are the main factors which can lead to a successful trailer. It is very
important for the audience when the trailer grabs their attention, with different ways,
such as story or music. It is also important to not give away too much which will
therefore leave the audience curious as to what the film is about.
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Introduction
Objective of the report
In brief, this report is about movie marketing, advertising and it has been written with
the purpose of finding and examining the best opportunities to advertise a movie. The
main questions are the following: are movie trailers the best marketing tools in the case
of movie marketing? How can the attractiveness and the success of the movie be created
through trailers? Does AIDA model consist of all the important factors that help to create
a successful trailer, such as grabbing the audience‟s attention and creating interest?
Short description of the research
Secondary research shows that trailers are the best advertising tools in the case of a
movie. AIDA model steps seem to be the best factors which lead to a successful movie
trailer. The aim of this report is to provide a clear answer to the question ¨which are the
main factors that lead to a successful trailer, and how can a successful trailer lead to a
movie‟s success?¨, using primary researches. In addition, the report will analyze the best
mediums and the most important aspects which can be used for a trailer.
Preview of the structure of the report
First, several definitions will be given according to the topic of movie marketing.
Secondly, several primary researches such as questionnaires, interviews and focus
groups will be conducted. Finally, the results will draw a conclusion about the mentioned
questions and issues.
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Research
1. Rationale
This thesis has been written with the purpose of finding the possible factors that lead to a
successful movie trailer. In addition, the ways in which a movie trailer can contribute to
the success of a movie will be discussed.
There are a lot of interesting questions concerning the topic of movie marketing (will be
mentioned in the next parts). There are several articles about movies, some of which had
problems including those of distributing and marketing, leading to a bad financial result,
although they were some of the best movies with awards and good critiques in the movie
industry. Advertising is a very important and determinant factor in the case of the
success of a movie. Movie marketing became more scientific and innovative, it presents
across all mediums, and it has more of a determinant role than before. The reason is
because there are more and more movies produced, which leads to a higher competition.
The main issue is that there are a lot of movies, which are not well advertised and their
marketing campaigns cannot attract enough audience. According to the website
www.content.usatoday.com there is an example where the movie, Band slam “got great
reviews but tanked at the box office”, because it was terribly marketed. On the webpage
www.blog.spout.com there is list of movies with bad advertisements, which also shows
that bad marketing can lead to unattractiveness of the movie. „The Road” is sure to be a
disappointment at the box office due to its misleading trailers, which sell the Comic
McCarthy adaptation as an apocalyptic thriller.”1
A movie trailer is one of the forms of movie advertisement, and this assignment will
discuss the main factors which can lead to a successful trailer, which can also create the
attractiveness and the success of the movie.
Before discussing several data through sources that are available on the subject, the
definition of „the success of a movie”, and „successful movie advertisement-trailer” will
be given. Furthermore, the process of movie advertising and the movie trailer‟s influence
on the success of the movie will be clarified, followed by a discussion of several factors
that seem to play important roles in creating a successful movie trailer.
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2. Situational analysis
2.1 Process of movie advertising in general
Although marketing is an important part of successful filmmaking, sometimes filmmakers
do not start on their film's marketing plan right from the start. A lot of filmmakers know
how to make an interesting movie, but just few filmmakers know how to sell it in the
best way. Every company, in every line of business and also in the film industry always
works out a marketing plan before they launch a new product. They have to know if
there is a market for the new product and how to get the word out to any potential
customers. Filmmakers should be doing the same.
It is important to understand that in the filmmaking industry there are really two
customers they are trying to sell to. Indirectly they are trying to sell to their audience, so
the audience is the end-users. But their real customers are the middlemen, the people
who will buy and distribute films. These include acquisition agents, distribution selling
agents, foreign selling agents, domestic and foreign distributors. They are the gatekeepers who must be sold on the film before it can get to their audience.
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After a motion picture is finished, the questions are: how it will get into the hand of the
distributor, and how the distributor or cinema owner will convince the public to attend or
buy the movie. All these questions are related to movie marketing; advertising.
First of all, a distributor has to be found, which is not automatic and is also a very
complicated task. The distributor uses the economies of scale to market films as cheaply
as possible. Even so, according to the webpage of Wikipedia the successful motion
picture will cost around 33% of the final gross just for marketing and distribution. If a
distributor can not be found there are other options too, such as to show the movie at
film festivals to attract distributors. But it is recommended to find a distributor before
beginning a movie. There are several effective ways to interest a distributor, for example
through celebrity endorsement or by having a great, entertaining and interesting idea in
the movie. Self-distribution is much harder than having a distributor, because it is time
consuming, and requires more financial investment.
To sell a movie, the marketing campaign has to be created to introduce the movie to the
public in the most efficient way. Awareness of the content of the movie is very
important: what the movie is about, and what the main factors which attract more
audience to see the movie are. All filmmakers should care about the ad campaigns, and
invest money in the marketing because this is also one of the important parts of movie
making.
The distributor must somehow interest the theater owners to exhibit the movie in their
theaters, which is a very hard task, but marketing can help to make it easier. The
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distributors help the theater owners to publicize the movie before the opening premier.
There are several ways of the publication and advertisement of a movie, such as TV ads,
newspaper ads, website, editing workshop, film scoring workshop, but it is generally
accepted that one of the most common forms to do this is the movie trailer, which is the
least expensive, and also the least time consuming, which can also be done by the
production company, and also by the distributors.
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The advertisement message of a movie needs to position each movie in its appropriate
genre, and it also should serve up notions about what makes a film special to attempt to
a large audience appeal.
Consumers can be attracted to watch a movie by a well known actor or if the movie is
based on preexisting properties such as famous and popular novels. Films which are with
famous stars, and which are based on popular books and novels have a great success all
the time.
Usually the costs of a finished advertisement of a movie can be very high, and it depends
on how many outside advertisement shops are involved during the campaign. On the
other hand, independents spend less on advertisement, because they usually use only
one shop to create both the trailer and TV ads, and use less expensive shops, not the
best ones.
2.2 Research
In order to find the most appropriate movie promotion tool, it is suggested to conduct
researches. The research department carries out the task of getting the first opinions
from the outside world, or from the so called test audiences. Research is an important
part of the whole marketing process. “It‟s a tool for risk management and resource
allocation and a relatively inexpensive source of insurance that introduces accountability
and objectivity into the marketing process. But it‟s certainly not a replacement for the
gut instincts of creative executives.” (Henry Shapiro - vice president and general
manager of entertainment research company MarketCast)
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As in the case of all kind of researches, it uses a small, defined sample of people and
later it gives the information that is representative of a large population. Researches also
a very determinant part of movie advertisements. Usually in movie industry researches
are made for the reason to identify the target audience of the movie, furthermore, to
determine the type of the advertisement and promotions of the movie, which can attract
audience in the most effective way, without confusing them with an irrelevant message.
There are several types of researches, which can be done in the movie industry. These
researches usually divide the audience into four groups (called quads): male and female,
both over 25 and under 25. The youth demographic dominates the cinema going
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audience. The most commonly used survey questions are the following: list all the ways
you have already heard about this movie? Including today, how often did you go to the
movies in the past two months? Before coming today, how did you select this theater and
Showtime? After seeing the movie, how would you rate the film?
2.3 Definition of the success of a movie
How can we measure the success of a movie? There is no clear answer to this question.
It is really hard to measure a movie‟s results and its success. The success of a movie can
be defined in several ways, such as if it does better than expectations of the owners of
the movie, or if it is more profitable than the investment.
A successful movie can be defined as a movie that attracts the most audience.
Consequently, it can be seen that movie trailers have a very important role in creating
the success of a movie, because trailers can attract the audience the most.
Another way to define the success of the movie is the financial success or in other words
the box office‟s success: a film's financial success is often measured by its gross revenue.
According to the definition of the webpage www.answers.com, “the term is frequently
used, especially in the context of the film industry, as a synonym for the amount of
business a particular production, such as a film or theatre show receives.” The term can
also mean factors which may influence this amount, as in the phrases "good box office"
and "bad box office".
Box office business can be measured in terms of the audience, the number of people who
see it or the amount of money raised by ticket sales. The projection and analysis of these
earnings is very important for the creative industries. This is predominant in the
Hollywood movie industry.
Although, sometimes there are some complaints that the film industry focuses on profit,
which diminishes the attention given to film as an art form, but the analysis of the
financial success of films is very influential for the production and funding of future
works.
Usually the movie's distributor receives more than half of the revenue, with the
remainder kept by the movie theater. The split varies from movie to movie, and the
percentage for the distributor is generally higher in early weeks. Usually the distributor
gets a percentage of the revenue after first deducting a "house allowance". It is also
common that the distributor gets either a percentage of the gross revenue or a higher
percentage of the revenue after deducting the nut, whichever is larger.
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According to Box office Mojo here are some examples of the most successful movies:
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(Indicates movie made its gross over multiple releases)
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The success of a movie can be measured also by the film awards. Film awards have been
divided into three major categories: critics' awards; voted on (usually annually) by a
group of critics, festival awards; awards presented to the best film shown in a particular
film festival and industry awards; which are selected by professionals working in some
branch of the movie industry.
Many different factors determine whether a movie is destined to become a timeless
classic, or have success at the box office. Many films, for instance, that have generated
high budget for their special effects and their name recognition, have failed to become a
timeless, awarded classic. Conversely, there is no shortage of indie productions with a
low price tag and a cast of unknowns that have achieved surprising success.
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2.4 Definition of Movie trailer
One of the pleasures of going to see movies in cinemas is to watch trailers for upcoming
movies. As it was already mentioned, the most commonly used, and one of the most
effective options in the case of movie advertisements is the movie trailer -which is the
least expensive, and also time consuming- because it can be used on the Internet and TV
commercials also.
Movie marketers opinion is that the most effective way of film ads is the trailer, because
this is the most convincing and attractive. The reason for this opinion is that the films are
audiovisual mediums, so the audio and visual qualities of the movie trailers and TV ads
best convey flavor and nuances. In addition, websites, post trailers and TV ads provide a
huge promotional platform.
Movie trailers have nowadays become very popular on the Internet. According to the
website of www.reelseo.com, 10-billion videos are watched online annually. Furthermore,
movie trailers ranked number 3, after news and user-created video. A series of selected
shots from the movie are in the movie trailer, these parts usually are the most exciting,
funny or interesting parts of the advertised movie, which can attract audience to the
movie. Usually the trailers are less than two and a half minutes, and the parts, scenes in
the trailers are not necessarily in the order in which they are in the movie ( it is allowed
to exceed this time limit once a year, if it is necessary).
The movie itself is cut together at the studio, but the trailers may be created at agencies,
such as The Cimarron Group, MOJO, The Ant Farm, Aspect Ratio, Flyer Entertainment,
and Trailer Park. There are several companies which specialize in the creation of movie
trailers in Los Angeles and New York.
In the previous decades, movie trailers became a very determinant part of advertising,
since movie marketing has become a large industry. Movie trailers can present even poor
movies in an attractive light. There are some common elements of many trailers, such as
plot summary, voice-over, music, cast, crew, studio information and technical elements,
which make the trailer more attractive.
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Movie trailers play an increasingly important role in entertaining us and helping us
determine where to spend our leisure time. The best trailers are works of art in their own
right, expertly blending elements of cinema and advertising.
It is a commonly asked question whether trailers are a unique art form or a marketing
ploy? The majority of AWFJ (Alliance of women film journalists) members concur that
trailers mix art and commerce. “They‟re an art–sometimes better than the movie itself”
According to Kim Voynar, who considers trailers art form “taking key points from the
films, editing them together sharply, the right music. The use of Black Sabbath‟s “Iron
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Man” in the trailer is brilliant. But, if it‟s done wrong, it ruins the whole thing. Bad
marketing can kill a good film.”
2.5 Definition of the success of movie trailer
There are several ways also to determine how a trailer can be successful, such as when
the trailer can attract the most audience to watch a movie, or to help to create a „good
box office” for the movie. According to Trailer Shop creative director Keith Gilman "The
trailer should always be better than the movie."
Another way to measure the success of the trailers is The Golden Trailer Award. Every
year there is gala award show, called The Golden Trailer Awards; an open competition
judged by film industry notables, and which is devoted to feature film previews.
The Golden Trailer Awards is the awards show devoted to feature film previews. Since
moviegoers consistently rate movie trailers as the most entertaining part of the theater
experience, the Golden Trailer Awards celebrates the craftsmanship and allure of these
potent mini-epics with a fast-paced show whose frenetic and sometimes irreverent style
is perfect for the post-MTV era.
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3. Theoretical background
3.1. History and theory about trailers
Trailers or previews are forms of movie advertisements that are exhibited in the cinema.
The term “trailer” originates from the older times where they would be shown at the end
of the movie. The name remained, but the practice did not last long, and trailers are
shown before the movies nowadays, as an advertisement tool. The main goal of the
trailers is to attract an audience to the movie through the exciting, funny, noteworthy
parts of the movie.
The first movie trailer was shown in a cinema in November 1913, which was made by Nils
Granlund, advertising manager of Marcus Loew theaters in the United States. This first
trailer was made for a musical „The Pleasure Seekers”. Later, movie studios realized that
the movie advertisements would be shown before the movie, so they would be more
effective. The name also changed from „trailer” to „previews”, but „trailer” generally
remains a commonly used term.
The Three Act structure is the most common trailer format, which contains three Acts:
The first is setting up the premise of the story, the second Act features the main plot of
the story being highlighted, and final part contains a visual montage of emotional
actions, moments from the movie with a very powerful music.
MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) sets the maximum allowed length for any
movie trailer shown in cinemas or on TV. The limit is two and a half minutes, although
each studios or movie distributors can exceed the limit once a year. There are no
restrictions for time limit of trailers shown on the internet or on home videos.
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Trailers
are shown in cinemas, but also shown online, for example: AOL, Cinematrailers.net, GetTrailers.com, Hollywood.com Trailers, Internet Movie Database Trailer Gallery, iTunes
movie trailers, Movie-List - New and Classic Movie Trailers, Trailer Stats.
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„SAWA, The Screen Advertising Word Association is the worldwide trade body of Screen
Advertising Companies and Associated Companies that have relationships with and
supply services to the Screen Advertising Industry.” SAWA has the goal of developing
international standards and practices for Screen Advertising, like trailers and to improve
communication between Screen Advertising Companies around the world to unburden the
easier buying of the cinema medium for Advertisers.
There are several advantages to advertising in cinemas, such as the audience is
attractive, captive. The overall impact of the screen itself is very significant. It is a
growing medium all over the world, and it continues to grow supported by the major
driver, digital technology in the cinema exhibition sector.
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3.2 Marketing, Marketing mix, Promotion mix
„Marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion,
and distribution of ideas, goods, services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and
organizational goals”
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„Marketing” can be defined in several ways, and it is redefined also several times.
„Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating,
delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and
society at large. The previous definition: Marketing is an organizational function and a set
of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for
managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its
stakeholders. (In 2008, the American Marketing Association unveiled their new, revised
definition of marketing, used as the official definition in books, by marketing
professionals and taught in universities.)”
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4Ps
4 Ps and marketing mix sometimes are used as synonyms, although they are not the
same things.
Marketing mix can explain the process of bringing a product or service to the market. The
elements of marketing mix are the basic, tactical components of a marketing plan, and
are used by companies in order to create a desired marketing strategy.
4P was first expressed in 1960 by E J McCarthy, and it can define the marketing mix. It is
the combination of 4 elements:

Product (or Service)

Place

Price

Promotion
One of the marketing lists is the 4Ps model, and it can help to optimize marketing mix.
There are other marketing mix models, which have been developed over the years, such
as Boom and Bitner‟s 7Ps, extended marketing mix, which contains the 4Ps and 3 more
Ps; people, process and physical layout decisions.
The marketing mix principles are controllable variables which have to meet the needs of
the defined target group. All elements are linked and support each other. The marketing
mix model can help to deicide how to take a new offer to market and also to test the
existing marketing strategy. It can also help to define the marketing elements for
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successful positioning your market offer. 4Ps model helps to define marketing options in
terms of product, place, price and promotion.
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4Ps of movie marketing
The aim of movie marketing is to maximize the number of audience for a movie and to
therefore maximize the movie‟s earning, to make profit. The studios and distributors
need a guarantee that the movie is going to be making not just a small profit, but as
much as possible, that is why they spend usually half of their costs on marketing.
All the 4ps are vital, essential elements of a movie marketing campaign, and publicity
can also be added to the campaign. The 4 Ps in movie industry also can be explained.
Using the 4P strategies into production or distribution companies, success structure and
value can be created.
Product
Product can be defined as the combination of goods and services which are offered by
firms to the target market, including variety of product mix, features, designs,
packaging, warrantees and return policies.
„ A product is anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use or
consumption that might satisfy a want or need.” (Kotler) The product and service should
have purpose, which is discovering the product‟s real value, use, difference, reason, or
function for the consumer and user.
The Movie can be explained as Product. Critical ingredients such as content, technology
and people build upon the success in digital cinema. The 4Ps of marketing, as I
mentioned before, are product, price place and promotion.
The heart of every decision and process in business are the elements of marketing and
connecting people with people through a product, identifying the customers (in this case
the audience) getting their attention in the world of media, and to build a value for the
company.
The movie has to be clearly identifiable in its marketing. Stars, story, style, genre,
special effects all have to be presented to the target group, to the audience, so that they
can choose the movie on the basis of the substance.
The product is the Movie itself, which consists of intellectual property, which can be
ported to a variety of deliverables, such as, theatrical exhibit, video tapes, DVDs, TV
broadcast etc. and also ancillary products such as toys, games, posters etc.
Because of its diversity, creativity and continual technological delivery options, movie
business is one of the most complex businesses in the communication industry
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In product marketing of movies production value is a nice global term, which includes:

Strength of the story

Star power - promotional quality of actor, director, director of photography

Visual quality

Sound and Music quality

Deliverability: quality, on-budget, on-time and marketing materials
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Marketing a movie involves distributors, theatrical exhibitors, sales representatives,
industry media etc. Marketing has to be used in every stages of movie making:

Pre-production and development stages marketing contains the research to
identify market, strategy, product placements etc.

Marketing
activities
during
the
production
include
such
as,
upcoming
packaging, posters, and media illustrations, set visits and promotion for media.

The main point of marketing is launch of a movie: creating message,
assembling visuals, putting stars into the public spotlight, and negotiating distribution
channels, taking the product into the service and product markets.
Producers usually create marketing plan that parallels the production plan. It can help to
create a satisfying experience and valuable word of month advertising. Distributors
prefer to get into the product marketing picture early, because it can help them to get
adequate coverage shots, quality images and stories for the marketing materials, and
also adequate time to distribute.
The marketing team built creatively quality production values into a project. Marketing
team consists of several people, such as publicists, photographers, designers, media
producers, editors, and several other specialists. Their task is to bring the product from
the industry system into a consumer system. In every step along the life cycle of the
project, quality and communication are needed. Quality marketing and production value
are essentials to reach success.
Price
According to the 4Ps model „Price” means the price that consumers are willing to pay, it
contains retail price/wholesale, discounts, trade-in allowances, quantity discounts, credit
terms, sales and payment periods.
A wide range of pricing structures can be seen in the digital world of entertainment, such
as theatrical tickets, title rentals, title sales, special releases, festivals, downloads,
licenses, cable channels (Nowadays we can have movies also on cell phones, on iPods)
etc.
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On of the aspects is that marketing channel is very long, and each provider sells and
prices for the next one in the chain, while watching and paying attention to end users. A
movie has three separate audiences:

people who will watch the movie (consumers via purchase, rental or broadcast
situations)

People who buy/sell the product, such as distributors, acquisition agents etc.

People who will promote the movie (media, publicists)
This long chain consists of the screenwriters, producers, investors, distributors,
exhibitors, Internet dealers etc. They all sell, and create a long a chain. The final step
when the retail stores sell to communities and individuals. (Even the word of month has
a price)
Price has an influence on the product launch; price can be set to high, and also too low.
The marketing attitude about „Price” is mostly about people: customers, dealers,
reviewers, employees.
Although pricing in the movie industry seems standardized, in the pre-consumer stages,
prices fluctuate widely.
The marketing attitude about pricing always looks at the end user‟s needs. There are
several ways to price a product to meet the customers‟ needs and requirements. The
pricing strategy includes: priority of the problem to be solved, perception of the value of
the product to each purchased in the marketing chain and options for purchasing a mix of
products.
Producers representatives, managers, sales representatives negotiate with distributors,
who negotiate with theatrical exhibitors, retailers etc. These negotiations are all
marketing functions, and perception plays an important role in the negotiations.
Pirated copy sales increasingly spread over the world and pricing has become a global
issue. Marketing attitude includes the product and the customers but also the
„environment”: competitors, product lines, analysts, wholesalers, advertising tools etc.
In the movie industry, producers deal with investors, distributors and exhibitors, and
finally with end-users. By incorporating high production values into the product, they can
increase their perceived product value. If producers build reputation, and product, they
will attract more distributors, media attention and consumers.
Place
According to the 4Ps model Place/ Distribution can be defined as the company‟s activities
which make the product available, using distribution and trade channels, coverage,
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assortments, locations, inventory, and transportation characteristics and alternatives.
The supply chain usually includes four links in the chain: Producer/Factory/Manufacturer,
Distributor, Wholesaler, Retailer supplying the consumer and end-user.
In digital entertainment the main question according to the 4Ps‟ Place is „where and how
do your prospects find and use your movie products?”
4Ps Place is about making the product available to prospective buyers when, where and
how the buyers want them. It also includes direct marketing to end users, customers and
filling the distribution channel in between. Marketing strategy, and indirect channels,
such as wholesale, and exhibitor channels have to be found. Whether you want to use
single or multiple channels, long or short supply chains etc. has to be chosen.
Distribution can be take place in several places such as, theatres, rental stores, catalogs,
the internet, even cell phones, iPods.
Nowadays, technology is rapidly developing, and there are several platforms for creative
sales of digital media, such as cell phones, iPods, hard disk miniaturization, database
tools, and growing options in integrated home theater systems. With this significant
development of digital technologies, entertainment, we can see an increase in the
number of applications of these technologies, in particular in the entertainment business.
It can be stated that nowadays we have digital entertainment.
Marketing attitude about technology is about availability (of the movie). „Place” is about
availability (sales availability) and usability, what can be facilitated by new technologies.
It also includes community, sharing joy, opportunity, and the content of the message.
The profitable elements of successful marketing mix are designed for sharing and for
varying levels of technological compatibility, adaptability and speed of adoption. There
are much more options for „place” nowadays, then a few years ago, because of the
speed of technological change.
The „place” of entertainment distribution also has a lot of options. Producers and
distributors have several opportunities to choose. They also have to manage their
presence in all the important market distribution channels.
The movie needs to have the right release date. It always depends on other movies‟
releases. It does not make sense to release a big movie at the same time with another
big blockbuster, because the audience i.e. movie-goers would select only one between
the two, and competition would be pointless. The process of movie marketing begins
before the movie is completed. The marketing campaign usually starts six months before
the movie release through the release of trailers, posters and other advertising materials.
Promotion
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A successful product means nothing unless the benefit of such a product/service can be
communicated clearly to the target market.
According to the 4Ps model, promotion refers to the communication element including
personal and non-personal communication activities. These activities communicate the
excellence, the value of the product. Promotion activities include:

Personal Selling/ Sales Force

Advertising-Mass or non-personal selling: TV, radio, magazines, newspaper,
outdoor. „Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of
ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor.” (Kotler & Armstrong, 2009).

Sales Promotion

Direct Marketing

Public Relations
17
In the movie industry Movie Promotion is about differentiating the movie, the stars, and
your offer. Nowadays marketing has a very important role, movie industry spends almost
the same amount on marketing as on production.
18
Promotion for movies has several forms, such a print advertising (posters, and ads in
magazines) also trailers on TV or cinema, and internet sites. Another promotion tool is
merchandising, such as soundtrack CDs, toys, games, anything which can be related to
the brand of the film.
Promotion is a powerful marketing tool in the movie industry. It should be used not only
during the premier of a new product- movie, but throughout the product‟s lifecycle.
Different message should be used for different target groups.
Promotion in movie industry can be defined as storytelling. Producers create the product
for the end-users, consumers, but they market, sell their story to investors, distributors,
who market to exhibitors and retailers. Exhibitors, retailers, Internet strategists market
to end users i.e. consumers. Everyone in this chain needs the right story to tell their
prospects; that is promotion. Everyone in the chain has to be a good storyteller: Sales
people tell the story of benefits, advantages, prestige, and possibilities. Movie Advertisers
tell the story about appealing highlights and availability/place, and exhibitors tell about
what is coming up next and who will like it.
The message of movie promotion is about the movie‟s story, its stars, experience,
photography, and revenue potential. Movie promotion has to focus on several factors
such as story telling, trailers, audience soundtrack, how can posters grab attention etc.
Promotion mix
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The definition says that promotion mix is a specific combination of promotional methods
such as advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, Public Relations, corporate image,
Direct marketing, exhibitions (sometimes Sponsorship is also added as an eighth aspect),
used for one product or a family or products.
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Personal Selling
Personal selling is an oral communication with potential buyers of a product, it includes
selling a product on an one to one basis, and it can be face to face and also over phone
etc.
Personal selling is one of the oldest forms of promotion, every idea, every plan and
product starts with personal selling. The marketing plan which includes the market size,
star and story power, helps to sell the project in every part of the chain.
Sales Promotion
Sales promotion‟s goal is to increase short term sales, consumer demand, stimulate
market demand or improve product availability. A dynamic trailer is one of the most
important and attractive sales tool nowadays in movie marketplace.
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Public Relations
Public Relations can be defined as an interactive communication activity, which has the
aim to create and keep confidence and trust between the business and its environment.
Its aim is to maintain the public image for a business. A quality press kit, for example an
EPK (electronic press kit, which contains also trailers), a web-site for the movie, and
quality production photos are required for public relations with media.
21
Direct Mail
Direct mail is a form of advertising which communicates straight to the consumers with
several techniques; such as fliers, catalogues, promotion letters, brochures etc. It is also
a very effective tool in movie industry; it can also help to get some attention. A ticket, an
invitation, or a flier, a poster is tangible and also strong elements of „place” marketing.
Something which is tangible, consumers can hold it in their hands, such as postcard,
flier, can be always very powerful in marketing.
Exhibitions
The purpose of exhibitions is to increase awareness among the consumers. It is good
opportunity to meet and trade between other businesses and consumers.
22
In entertainment, movie industry festivals are frequent activity. Exhibitions offer a good
opportunity to create new relationships and also to promote the movie (storytelling).
21
Getting know others, what they are doing, and where, can refine, improve your
marketing strategy.
Advertising
Advertising is a „paid” communication activity which has the aim to convince the
audience to purchase or to take a certain action upon products, services, and to create
awareness and transmit information in order to gain a response from the target group. It
also contains usually the name of the product and the benefits, advantages of fit, and
convinces the target market to purchase or to consume that particular brand.
Advertisement can be viewed via the media, such as newspaper, magazines, journals,
television, cinema and outdoor advertisement.
In movie industry, distributors most expense come from P&A (prints and advertising).
There are some key elements of P&A that the distributors have to consider:

“The quantity and production of release prints and trailers

Press materials, clips reels, images, press previews, screener tapes: developing
the profile, and desirability of a movie.

The design and printing of posters and other promotional artwork: is highly
effective in ‟packaging‟ the key attributes of a film potential audience.

Advertising campaign-locations, ad size and frequency: raise awareness of a
release. To reach the advertising, and develop more effective communication with
audiences, at a low cost, viral marketing (different forms of electronics word-of-mouth
via internet, email and mobile phones) is recommended to use by distributors.

Press campaign/ contracting a PR agency: to run a pre-release campaign.

Arranging visit by talent (director, or lead actors) from the film: to support a
release.

Other preview screenings: to create word-of- mouth.”
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Publicity
Publicity of a movie should focus on gaining the maximum benefit from the forms of
publicity, such as interviews with stars, in newspapers, magazines and also broadcast
media, gala premiers, reviews and profiles etc.
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3.3. Marketing Communication
3.3.1. Marketing Communication Mix
Marketing Communication Mix is used by companies to pursue its advertising and
marketing objectives through numerous media.
22
The
marketing
fragmented,
Communications
which
causes
that
Environment
is
marketers
shift
changing,
away
mass
from
markets
mass
have
marketing.
Improvements in information technology are facilitating segmentation.
There is a need for Integrated Marketing Communication. The web alone cannot be used
to create brands. The best solution is to integrate traditional branding efforts with the
interactivity and service capabilities. Integrated Marketing Communications can be
defined; when a company integrates its communications channels in an effective way to
deliver a clear, consequent, and compelling message about the company and about its
product.
Marketing Communication is an element of the marketing mix, and it is a very complex
process, it has several elements: a sender, the message, receiver, or receivers, a
medium, and sometimes feedback (when it is a two-way communication). The marketing
communication plan also includes several steps.
The message of Marketing Communication creates a favorable response from the market.
The companies try to improve and modify their total product offering according to the
consumers‟ feedback, and response.
As I mentioned before, one of the key elements of marketing communication is the
sender of the message, or the communicator, who communicate with the market not
only through promotional tools, but through the product, price, or point of sale as well.
The receiver is the consumer, who receives the message and gives a feedback in a form
of response, reaction to the sender.
The company collects the market responses through market research. Marketing is more
effective when companies use market researches to have two-way communications.
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23
25
3.3.2. Marketing Communication in movie advertising
In movie advertising, the senders are the distributors, who have a promotional idea in
their mind, and they create a message. Furthermore, they encode the message; they
create an advertisement, for example a trailer. The distributors choose the message
channel, select the media, or other vehicle to carry the message and send the message
to the audience. One of the vehicles is the trailer. The trailer contains the message. The
audience, the receivers decodes the message. When the message is received by the
audience, when knowledge, beliefs, or feelings of audience/receiver changed, they give a
response. The response has ranges from simple awareness of a movie, to purchase.
Distributors can get also feedback through research, sales, etc.
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3.3.3. Effective marketing Communication
To develop effective marketing communication, the first step is to identify the target. The
target audience has an influence on the decisions related to what, how, when, and where
the message will be communicated. The second step is to determine the communication
objectives. The Buyer- readiness has six stages, through a consumer passes on way to
adopting a good or service: Awareness, Knowledge, Liking, Preference, Conviction, and
Purchase. Buyer-readiness stages can help to determine which promotional message or
medium is the most effective, and suitable for a marketing campaign.
The third step is to designing a message. AIDA model can help, guide message design.
Message contains appeals- such as rational, emotional, and moral- or themes designed to
produce desired results. After designing the message, the next step is to choose the
media approach, which can be personal and non-personal communication channels. The
last steps are selecting the message sources, and collecting feedback, which may suggest
changes in product or promotion.
3.4. Brand loyalty of movies
Moviegoers buy a cinema ticket for one movie only once. They do not buy cinema tickets
in the same way as they buy a particular brand of a normal product, knowing that they
will purchase the product again and again (brand loyalty). Moviegoer‟s decision depends
on the marketing of the movie. Although Movies have short lived brand loyalty,
moviegoers can become loyal to the brand of the movie with purchasing a soundtrack CD
or the DVD of the movie. With each new movie, the producers and distributors have to
create a new brand, which is very expensive. Therefore producers prefer sequels,
because they can just continue the same brand to market, what audience have already
liked. (Harry Potter, Star Wars, Shrek movies)
Stars also can be considered brands, because usually they are associated with only one
type of movie. The audience may be fans of one particular star, and they will watch a
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movie, because the star is in it. The marketing of movie is all about creating an instant
brand identity. The brand of a film is created by signaling to point out what the movie is
like (like another movie maybe) and where the movie has come from.
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3. 5. Advertising and Media
Advertising is a paid communication that tries to influence opinions regarding the
product. It is a public promotion of a product or service. The types of advertising can be
defined according to the subject, target group, process, and geographical reach.
Advertising is a non-personal, influencing communication form with an identified sender
about the product that is published in several media.
The media is a form of communicational channels, which publishes advertisements.
Media can be visual and audio-visual, such as TV, cinema, and internet. Advertising
Means are the message which are encoded, materialized and therefore they can be
published through a certain medium, such as TV, cinema. The objectives of advertising
are to increase, influence and co-ordinate consumer demand.
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There are several mediums which are available to promote message and it is always a
very hard to decide which is the best medium to use. It always depends on what are the
goals, what you want to achieve.
Television
Although the popularity of the Internet is increasing over the last few years, TV is still the
dominant medium according to a recent study by Ball State University on the media
consumption habits. It could conclude that television advertisement is the most powerful.
Television advertisement has several advantages, such as:

it can reach a wide audience.

it reaches the audience when they are the most attentive

technical characteristics provides very good opportunities, complex effect

it reaches large audience, broad target group

the message is with sight, sound and motion, which provides credibility
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Cinema
Movie advertisement is one of the fastest growing advertising mediums. Audience
(moviegoers) are usually between the ages 18-50.
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It is obvious that people who watch
advertisement like trailers in cinema, they like to watch movies, and they are interested
in other ones as well, and therefore it can be stated that cinemas are the best, the most
effective places for movie trailers.
25
Movie advertisements have several advantages, such as audience can not switch to an
other channel like in the case of the TV, the technical characteristics have very good
opportunities, movie ads have complex effects. In addition, the audience are usually
young and can therefore be easily attracted i.e. it is easy to reach them.
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Internet
The growth of information on the internet leads to people spending more time on the
internet. Therefore internet provides a perfect place for advertising. Internet advertising
is very unique, and different from conventional advertising, therefore it is very important
to understand the behavior and trends of the internet users, and then plan an advertising
campaign.
Internet is also a very powerful advertising medium. Internet advertising allows using
different unique and effective techniques in order to reach target audience. Internet ads
can use words, visual, sound and also special effects to broadcast the message of the
advertisement effectively.
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The audience is usually educated, young, and they have high income. It is cheaper to
advertise on the internet. Other mediums, such as TV, radio, magazines are more
expensive. Internet advertising has a lower entry-level fees, costs of an internet
advertisement is low.
Another advantage is that internet advertising has a greater range. If the target market
is scattered around the world, they can all be targeted at once with internet advertising.
For internet ads there are no geographical barriers.
The internet provides a variety of useful ways for advertising. Internet can be more
affordable option in the long term. Owning a website is nowadays an essential, crucial
ingredient to the marketing mix strategy.
On average, customers spend more time online then watching TV. In the case of a movie
it is very important to create a website for the movie, with trailer and all information
about the movie. During the campaign it is recommended to indicate the name of the
website.
3.6. AIDA model
AIDA model is a conventional conceptual model for creating any advertising and
marketing communication message.
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AIDA model is a well known marketing communication model used by advertisers. It can
stimulate purchase decisions of consumers in their minds through steps: Awareness,
Interest, Desire, and Action. These steps can fulfill the promotional objectives of
advertisers.
Advertising has a considerable effect on the consumer behavior, and therefore
advertisers use this process and model to increase the customer base. The first step of
the model is Action/Awareness, and its aim is to spread the awareness about the product
(in this case about the movie) or service among the target group, consumers (moviegoers).
The second step is to stimulate interest in the minds of the consumers through a catchy
tagline, highlighting the main features and benefits of the product (of the movie) and
many other ways. Satisfaction is also a very important aspect for marketers; they should
satisfy the consumers‟ emotional needs. With satisfying the consumers, averters can
develop desire in consumer‟s minds to purchase the product.
The last step of AIDA model is the Action step, which is the next step after developing
desire. In this step consumers can have all the information about the product and they
have reasons to avail the product. Some motivation should be created by advertisers, for
consumers to avail the product.
Customer retention marketing is a key component in maintaining a profitable business
nowadays that is why an „S” is added to the AIDA model which represents Satisfaction.
This step ensures customer retention.
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Over 100 years ago, marketers first conceived AIDA model for consumer purchasing
behavior. Later AIDA Model was modified and relabeled as the Hierarchy of Effects
(HOE), which consists of a three-stage process underlying consumer purchase behavior:
Cognition Affect  Behavior. This model can help in identifying the prospects and the
barriers in leading the consumers to purchase a product, and also can help the
advertisers to pay attention in defining segmentation strategies.
27
„Cognition” represents the process of becoming specifically aware of solution to fit
consumer‟s need, in other words: developing perception about the product in the minds
of the consumers. Consumers are unlikely to buy products, they are not aware of.
Sometimes they might just become aware of a product by seeing it on the shelf, and
decide, on impulse, to pick it up, and buy. Consumers buying on impulse are still
influenced by external factors: packaging, color etc. By looking at integrated marketing
communication as a way of more effective communication, advertising becomes a part of
a total. The HOE through AIDA is still very valuable. The first step in every advertising
model is the same somehow; to get the attention.
„Affect” is a process becoming emotionally engaged in the purchase, and it also
represents an immediate reaction of the consumers upon knowing the product.
„Behavior” contains the judgment of the consumers about purchasing the product.
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3.7. Influence of movie advertisement-trailer on the success of a movie
The main questions according to this topic are the following: what makes people choose
a movie? What is movie marketing?
Movie marketing tries to make a movie attractive, which leads to the movie‟s success.
The campaign itself tells a story, which should be unique among consumer brands. It
should be emphasized that a movie is a brand experience and not just a product. Movie
marketing can be posters, trailers, websites, TV spots, print ads, and online ads, cross
promotions. In fact, first awareness comes from TV, trailers and word-of-mouth. In
addition, using new media for movie marketing is very important nowadays: „Talk to the
online community, and let them talk about you!”
Movie marketing is becoming more scientific and innovative, and it has a very important
role recently. It presents across all mediums. It has more important role than before,
because there is a fair amount of movies for viewers to consume every week, so the
competition is getting higher and higher. Therefore it is becoming increasingly important
for movies to spend money on advertisements for becoming successful. Movie marketing
has to ensure a fabulous opening for the movie. Moreover, movie marketing also
provides trial, so it has to ensure that the audience, potential consumer try the product
(in this case the movie) and if it has a success amongst the consumers, there will be
more trials by other costumers (via word of mouth).
As it was already mentioned, now-a-days trailers are such an important part of the film
publicity. Promotion and marketing of the film depends how the movie trailer is targeted
in front of the movie-goers, it determines the performance of a movie in the box office.
The location of the film is also a determinant factor behind the success of the movie.
Recently on every news channel there are rather movie trailers than news, especially
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before the premier of a movie. Movie trailers create an important component in the
marketing of a movie. It determines the performance of a movie in a box office. If a
movie trailer creates a major hype amongst the audience, the film will become a
blockbuster.
Producers and distributors can attract more audience with advertising some of catchy
scenes to gain more publicity and marketing. Sometimes scene shots for the trailer may
not be found in the original movie, and the scene shown in the trailer, which is missing
from the main movie. These are commonly used marketing strategies to ensure theatres
and multiplexes go house –full. It is also believed that if the difference between time
frame of the trailer and the movie release is greater, the movie become more awaited,
and increase the audience‟s curiosity about the movie trailer and lead to a higher number
of audience, consequently to a bigger success.
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Another arguable question: Do most trailers show too much of the movie and does that
make audience less interested? According to Marcy Dermansky “When trailers give away
the film‟s best parts, ruin the best jokes, or tell the plot from beginning to end, it‟s
important to cover your eyes,”. Another opinion from Anne Thompson “I hate the way
trailers give everything away. Unfortunately, studios always cite conclusive evidence that
the more you show, the more it gets people to come and see the movie. For me, less is
more.” Kim Voynar‟s view about a good trailer is: “don„t show too much, but generate
excitement and a great fan base.”
Can clever trailers help level the playing field for small budget indie films competing with
big budget studio movies? Most AWFJ members agree that trailers can help–but are not a
quick fix for getting indies widely seen. According to Kim Voynar “Indie film trailers might
make a bigger difference if they were shown more frequently in big theaters before the
mainstream films, instead of before other indie films in art house theaters.”
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There is a very interesting example for the success of the movie resulted by the trailer
according to an article (written by Samuel Axon, 2010.01.08).
38
The reason of the
massive box office success of James Cameron‟s Avatar was not only the Simulcam and
Fusion 3D camera inventions, but also the using social media, web marketing. The
results were a $232 million opening weekend, a total of one billion dollars in revenue by
year‟s end, and the rank of #2 highest grossing film of all time.
The first step of creating the success was that Avatar has its own Facebook, MySpace,
and Twitter pages. Second step: Reinventing the Movie Trailer Online. Although Avatar
was not the first movie to take its trailer in a new direction for the web, an expansive
strategy combining many of the best existing ideas was what made the film‟s social
media campaign a success.
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On Twitter there was announced an Apple trailer debut. Anticipation was high enough
that the servers struggled to get the video out to everyone who wanted it. A second
trailer rolled out a month later. The web trailers gained additional buzz when fans
remixed them and mashed them up with other movies.
There was another impressive great idea also: An interactive trailer was presented as an
Adobe Air application. It required a download, but it was worth it for Avatar fans. They
could see featured content and they could read the latest social media updates about the
movie from within the trailer. The stunt got press coverage and word-of-mouth buzz.
3.8. Main factors which can lead to a successful trailer
The main questions according to movie trailers are: what are the things, which make a
fantastic movie trailer? Some of the most important movie trailer marketing points,
factors are the following: Tell a story, create an emotional connection, grab audience
attention, leave them wanting more and build a strong call to action.

The best and the most effective movie trailers tell a story, which is exactly what
many of the best marketing efforts do as well- they tell a story. If you create an ad, in
this case a trailer, you should look for opportunities to tell a story. With telling a story, an
emotional connection with the audience will be created.

Storytelling creates an emotional connection with customers, which is a very
determinant factor in the case of the movie itself, and the trailer also. Spielberg is a
movie director who is a master storyteller. One part of the reason of his success probably
that he has the ability to connect again and again with his customers and the best
marketing efforts do the same thing. Consequently one of the factors of the success of a
movie trailer is the fantastic emotional connection between the brand and the viewer.

The third step is to grab the audience‟s attention. The movie trailer should start
off with a bang, something likely to grab viewers right away and keep them engaged
throughout the entire trailer. If you can grab the audience‟s attention, the audience after
watching the trailer will wonder “What happened?” and “Could it happen to us? To me?”,
and this is the point in the case of an effective trailer, that the audience get curious and
they want more.

After you made the audience curious you have to leave them wanting more. So
the audience would like to know the rest of the story. That is why you have to know the:
who, what, where, when, why and how behind the story when you are making a trailer.

The last step is building a strong call to action. The trailer should include some
type of call to action, such as Web address. If the audience really likes the preliminary
storyline of a movie trailer, they can visit a Website and become caught-up in the viral
30
marketing efforts. In additional, there should also be a date boldly displayed at the end
of the trailer so the audience will know when the first screenings of the movie will be. 39
The most important factors of a movie trailer can be represented by the AIDA model
also.
AIDA is used in marketing that describes a common list of events that are very often
undergone when a person is selling a product or service, in this case a movie:

A - Attention (Awareness): attract the attention of the customer.

I - Interest: raise and hold customer interest.

D - Desire: convince customers that they want and desire the product or service
and that it will satisfy their needs.

A - Action: lead customers towards taking action and/or purchasing.
Using a system like this, allows a general understanding of how to target a market
effectively.
To grab the attention, you have to have a good start (music also helps in the start). The
audience can become more interested, when the core of the plot is revealed. According
to a movie trailer the Desire means when the audience say: „I‟d be happy to watch the
movie.”
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4. Conceptual model
The most relevant factors, mentioned in the previous section will be discussed in the
conceptual model. In this part, it will be decided what factors lead to successful trailers
and can cause the success of movies. Furthermore, a model with these factors will be
drawn to clarify the design of the thesis.
Trailers are audio and visual components of movies that act as an advertisement for the
longer format version. What really matters is how excited a trailer makes audiences
before any other influences have the chance to affect their decision.
Trailers usually are combined with a number of important factors, such as: critical
response, popularity and buzz about a film before convincing audiences. Trailers
sometimes do not receive the credit they deserve at the box office. Sometimes audiences
are wary to go to a movie they have not heard of, and the trailers expose them to
sample scenes, jokes they need to consider a recommendation.
Making a trailer is not an easy job, expert editors strive to condense films into 2 1/2minute mini-movies without diluting the emotion. The people who make the trailer should
be professionals, editors with a gift for cutting trailers, artists with an eye for the
moments that capture the essence and excitement of a movie.
Attention
Within this short period of time the trailer needs to accomplish a lot. It needs to
immediately grab the audience‟s attention, get them acquainted with the production
value of your film and introduce the story.
When creating a trailer these elements should be incorporated to grab the attention of
the audience:
1: Establish what your movie is about. Introduce your theme.
2: Introduce the conflict. - You should give a general overview and provide at least 1
specific example
3: Introduce your protagonist.
4: Introduce your antagonist.
5: You need to provide your audience with a sense of your film‟s tonal qualities.
Audiences will look at your cinematography (movement, lighting, composition) and listen
to your music to see if the artistry of the film is something they would be interested in
seeing.
6: You should change your trailers music 3-5 times.
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Trailers have different construction than movies and they have two different forms, which
require two different editing styles also. Although in the movie the editing must convey a
coherent narrative, trailers need only suggest, tell a story.
Interest (storytelling, create an emotional connection, audience wanting more)
Telling the story will create an emotional connection with the audience, with the future
customers and with the target group. To create an emotional connection between the
brand and the viewer is one of the most determinant factors.
As I mentioned above, trailers are formed in a different way than movies. Although
movies show high points and key scenes; trailers do better to hint at them. Movies ought
to offer some sense of satisfaction; trailers should tease us and leave us craving more.
In the trailer there should be a purposeful gap in the storytelling, which make the
audience curious, and they want to know „the rest of the story”, they become interested.
It‟s also the raison d‟ être behind the best marketing efforts: Give someone enough
information to compel them to action. "Reason for being"; in English suggests an intense
emotional attraction to a course of action.
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Conclusion
The conclusion can be drawn that there is a need for a research, in order to make
understandable why certain factors play a role in creating a successful trailer.
Based on the factors described in the conceptual model, it can be stated that AIDA model
consists of all the important factors in the case of creating a successful trailer. “Grab
audience attention, interest” can be emphasized as the most important factors, because
without the attention and interest, the audience will not be curious and will not act.
Overall, the following model can be drawn:
33
Theoretical hypothesis examples:
a.
If a trailer is interactive, it can grab the attention of the audience and
make them curious; the trailer will have more success, because audience will go and
watch the movie.
b.
If the trailer create and hold the interest of the audience with some unique
tricks, effects, with storytelling, the trailer will have more success.
34
5. Research design
As it was mentioned in the previous part, the conceptual model states that creating
attention and interest amongst the audience, might lead to the success of the trailer, and
to a more successful movie.
This research will see whether this model is true or not. It will be observed whether
grabbing the audience´s attention, creating and then holding interest will lead to a more
successful trailer or not. In addition, ways in which a trailer can grab the attention of the
audience and thus be interesting to them will be observed. Does it really influence the
audience to go and watch the movie?

First a secondary research will be made. Secondary research involves the
summary, collation of existing research, analyzing documents.

Furthermore, a primary research will be made. Primary research involves the
collection of data that does not already exist. This information will be collected by a
questionnaire (quantitative research) and interview (qualitative research) amongst
cinemagoers, audience.
Sampling plan
The theoretical population is moviegoers. As in the case of all other kinds of research, I
will use a small, defined sample of people who will represent the larger population,
because in this case, due to the large number of moviegoers, it is not possible to conduct
the research within the empirical population. As I already mentioned in the theoretical
background, moviegoers are usually between the ages 18-50. Therefore I will focus on
these ages. The empirical population of my research is these moviegoers, between the
age 18-50 females, and males also, all over the world (Europe, USA, South America, and
Asia). The questionnaire will be given to 200 people who will be my sample population
(representative sample of the population), considering the goals of the research.
Concerning the validity of the research, the research will have low internal validity, and
low external validity. This is due to the fact that it will be tested only at cinemas, and
with cinemagoers. Although the internal validity is low, I do believe that it is valid for the
people, for who I am testing. In order to increase the internal validity of the research I
have chosen to interview an expert in the movie industry.
The aim of the research is to identify how one can attract audience in the most effective
way using trailers, what the most important factors are in the case of the trailers and
which of these can convince them to go and watch the movie.
35
6. Research Result
Secondary research
At the secondary research related stage of my report, I collected secondary data from
different sources (internet, professional papers and books). My aim at this stage was to
find out whether grabbing attention and creating, then holding interest will lead to a
more successful trailer, and how a trailer can grab attention of the audience and how it
can be interesting.
Primary Research – qualitative
In order to take a closer look at the successful factors of trailers, I conducted qualitative
research at the second stage of my market research project. I decided to rely on two
methods: in-person interview and focus groups. After analyzing the results from both of
my qualitative and quantitative researches, I realized that there are common findings in
both of these.
6.1. In-Person interview
As one type of qualitative research, I made a short interview with V. J Maury, the CEO
and co-founder of Palace Cinemas. We discussed the topic of movie advertising tools,
mediums and important factors of movie trailers. With respect to primary research, one
of the principal tools is the personal interview, because it provides the best opportunity
to obtain information. It provided clear explanations and opinions from an expert.
His opinion is that according to market researches and experiences, trailers and web
advertisements are the best advertisement tools for a movie. I asked him, what he
thinks, which the best medium is to use for a trailer, and he answered that best medium
to use for a trailer cannot be defined because it depends on several parameters, such as
cost, reach or return on investment. It depends what the aim is of the trailer, what they
want to achieve. TV still has a lot of advantages because it can reach a wide audience.
He also mentioned that the Internet is becoming more and more popular, although
cinema is very important medium as well, because it reaches directly the target
audience; moviegoers. Therefore all of them are very important mediums in the case of
trailers.
He also talked about that technology is an extremely important aspect in respect to
trailers. Nowadays trailers are attached to the films with old tape editing machines, but in
the future digital world; they will drop into the schedule with software. This way, they will
be able to target specific audiences with specific trailers and also by age, which would be
huge improvement, and an important progress in movie marketing. In the future trailers
will be more efficient and effective.
36
6.2. Focus groups
I decided to analyze focus groups as well, because they can help me assess cinemagoer‟s
needs and feelings in a way that other types of qualitative research or simple
questionnaires cannot.
I brought together two small groups to discuss and share their ideas about my topic,
movie advertisements and trailers. Focus groups contained people ranging between 18
and 50 years of age. There were 5-7 participants in each focus group. I chose this
sample size, because it is small enough to give everyone the opportunity to express
his/her opinion, and it is large enough to provide diversity of opinions. It can be
considered a good method because it is low-cost, it had relatively fast results, and it was
a socially oriented research procedure. But on the other hand, it had some disadvantages
as well: data was more difficult to analyze, groups could vary considerably, and because
of the small sample size, I was not allowed to rely only on the results of focus group
tests, since such small samples cannot represent all the moviegoers.
I had two different conversations in two different places, between people who were
familiar with each other within the different groups, since the participants were family
members or friends.
I was the moderator and I took notes about the conversations as well. I conducted the
focus group test as part of a simple everyday conversation between relatives or friends,
without them noticing that they were being observed during the whole chat. I tried to
lead the conversation and get to know the opinion of each group member. When the
conversations finished, I analyzed the results, and the conclusion of the two
conversations were quite similar. The focus groups took place at my workplace and in my
home. Each of the focus groups lasted an hour.
According to both of the focus groups, trailers and word of mouth (opinion of friends) are
the most effective advertisement tools in respect to movie, these advertisement tools
make the participants want to watch a movie. Several in the groups said that they think
that trailers are the most effective tools because it is audiovisual, the most attractive,
and they can watch trailers in several mediums. Both of the focus groups said that they
watch trailers. The first focus group consisted of younger people, and they said they
watch trailer very often (weekly). The second focus group, which included older
participant, they said they don not watch too often trailers. A frequently mentioned
medium for trailers was the Internet. Both the focus groups said they watch trailers
usually on the Internet, or if they go to cinema. Factors relating to trailers, such as
grabbing audience attention, and creating attention, were also frequently mentioned.
Some of them said that they prefer trailers which do not give too much away about the
37
movie, but tells the story, and grabs their attention with some unique effects, such as
good music, best pictures of the movie and famous stars.
Primary research – quantitative
6.3. Questionnaire
As one type of quantitative primary research, I also created a questionnaire to test the
hypotheses about movie trailers.
Before preparing the questionnaire which helped me to find out more about movie
marketing and the most important factors of trailers, I had to determine its structure,
and the type of the questions. I used the surveygizmo.com page to create my survey;
therefore I could send the survey via e-mail and also publish it on social networks.
It was very important for me to create an understandable survey which can be filled in
the easiest way. Another important step was to formulate different kinds of survey
questions:

Open-ended text questions

Multiple choice questions

Ordinal scale questions

Internal scale questions
Open ended questions used to generate more detailed answers and to gather information
that respondents might feel that he/she has not been covered in the previous closedended question. With the help of this kind of questions I got to know more about
cinemagoers feelings, opinions and ideas.
A random sample of 200 individuals (59% female, and 41% male) between mainly the
ages of 18-50 in the target population were selected and surveyed. As it can be seen,
people conducted the survey all over the world, mainly in Europe and in the United
States.
38
Altogether there were 16 questions, which helped me to get know more about the effects
of movie trailers on moviegoers.
Results
118 females and 82 males, altogether 200 individuals filled out the questionnaire. As it
can be seen from the diagram below, mainly individuals between the ages of 19-25 filled
out the survey. It concludes that these young ages are the target group. 89% of them
watch trailers and only 11% answered that they do not do it. I can declare that watching
trailers is very popular.
69% student, 28% employed and only 3% unemployed were the respondents of the
survey from all over the world, thus concludes that the target group is mainly students or
employed people. According to the following diagram, for the question “What is the
highest level of education you have completed?” answers were very different. Mostly
people who completed high school or 4 years college conducted the survey.
My research also shows that the most favorite genre of movie is comedy, and the second
most popular is drama, followed by adventure, romance and action on the same place.
Some people also mentioned some other genre of movies, such as fantasy (it was
mentioned several times), art movie, cartoon, historical and also thriller.
39
As it can be seen, most of the respondents of my research think that the most effective
advertisement, which catches their attention and makes them want to watch a movie is a
trailer (in TV, cinema, internet). It is surprising that neither outdoor, nor website,
newspaper ads, or radio fell in second place, but word-of-mouth did.
As I already mentioned, almost all the respondents of the survey watch trailers (89%).
According to the questionnaire, I can say that most of these people, who answered that
they watch trailers, do it weekly or monthly: 8% of the total respondents said that they
watch trailers few times a week, 35% weekly, 32% monthly and only 25% said that they
watch them rarely.
By looking at the results, the majority of respondents would say that the Internet is the
best place to advertise a movie. They answered that they usually watch trailers on the
40
Internet (social networks, movie websites, YouTube etc.) Cinema and TV as mediums are
also very important but Internet is clearly leading.
For the question “why do you like trailers? What is the most important aspect which
makes you to watch the movie?” the result was very clear. Respondents could choose
one answer but usually they chose more, probably because they thought more aspects
are very important. This question was very important, as I needed to know what attracts
the target audience the most to a movie trailer. As it turned out, the majority of the
respondents (59%) think that the most important aspect to movie trailers is Attention.
The most common answer was that “it has something which grabs your attention”. The
survey also shows that people prefer trailers, which leaves them wanting more and
makes them curious. As it can be seen from the diagram, 58% of the respondents also
chose this option. This is in connection with my last question: “Do you like when trailers
give away too much of the movie? Does it make you less interested to want to see that
movie?” Majority of people (70%) answered that they do not like it when trailers give
away too much.
A lot of the respondents (45%) thought that Storytelling, creating, holding Interest are
also very important aspects. Overall the result shows that Attention, Interest and Desire
from AIDA model are very important aspects respect to trailers.
41
For my question „please evaluate, how important are these aspects for you with respect
to trailers! (1star-not important at all, 5stars –very important)”, the result was very
similar to the previuos question: most of the respondents thought that story (4.55/5) is
the most important, followed by music (4.11/5) and cinematography (3.86/5). The stars,
the title of the movie, showing availibilty of the info about the movie, and lot of actions
were not that important factors for the respondents of the survey.
Finally, I had an open- ended text question about what would make the respondents
want to watch a movie. One of the answers also reffered to „Desire” from the previous
quesions, because it said that it is better when trailers keep more things in secret and
show only some important moments to make you create your own theory. On the other
hand, some people said that it would be better if trailers reflected the whole movie, not
only small part of it (best parts). A lot of people also mentioned music, dance, main
emotional lines of the movie which can all help to grab their attention.
42
7. Conclusion and Recommendation
The above mentioned different primary research methods made me recognize how
important trailers are among movie advertisement‟s tools. I analyzed the results of the
interviews, focus groups, and questionnaires and tried to interpret and collect them in
this common evaluation part.
To develop effective marketing communication, the first step is to identify the target. The
group of moviegoers do not vary very much in age, since mainly 19-25 year old people
conducted the research. That is why, if I would like to choose a well-defined target group
for my research, I can state that young people are my target group, who study in high
school or in college.
Furthermore, the results shows, techonlogy is becoming more and more important in the
case of trailers. In the futere digital world, trailers will not be attached to the films with
old tape editing machines, but new softwares will be used. In the future, there will be
significant improvements in movie marketing, and it will be possible to target specific
audiences with specific trailers, and trailers will be more efficient and effective.
I observed and got to know from the results of the questionnaire that both comedy and
drama are the most popular genres of movies amongst cinemagoers. Therefore, comedy
and drama have greater advantages among other kind of movies. In addition, there are a
lot of different ways that cinemagoers hear of an upcomong movie, most commonly by
trailers. According to the results, first awareness of a movie comes from trailers and
word-of-mouth. The results of the focus group also shows that word of month is very
important. A lot of participants mentioned that they go to the cinema because of an
advice of a friend, although most of the participants of the researches said that the think
that trailer is most effective advertising tool for movies, because trailers are audiovisual,
the most attractive, and they can watch trailers in several mediums.
Moreover, it is also very obvious from the results that almost everyone watch trailers,
and most of them watch them very often (especially 19-25 year old people), which brings
me to the inevitable conclusion that trailers are very popular.
According to the result of the interview, best medium to use for a trailer cannot be
defined easily, because it can depend on several parameters, such as cost, reach or
return on investment, although I recognized that nowadays cinemagoers have “modern”
needs, such as using Internet. As it was mentioned also in the previous parts, which the
results also show, the Internet is the most important and effective medium in the case of
trailers. Online marketing is getting more and more popular nowadays. According to
results of the interview and the focus groups, TV and especially in the case of trailer,
43
cinema are also determinant mediums, however, I recommend to focus on internet
advertisement.
The result of the research proves that AIDA model‟s „Attention”, „Interest” and „Desire”
have very important roles in the case of movie trailers. The most important factor is
„Attention”. In conclusion, trailers are the most effective when they attract the attention
of the cinemagoers somehow and when the audience get curious and they want more. It
can be reached by not showing too much of the movie itself.
According to the results „interest” is also an important factor, because with telling a
story, an emotional connection can be created with the audience, and convince
cinemagoers that they want and desire the movie, and it will therefore satisfy their
needs.
Furthermore, I also recognized that „Story” is the most important aspect with respect to
trailers. It also refers to the previous recognition that „Interest”, storytelling has a
determinant role. The last thing I noticed in connection with cinemagoers is that they do
not like when trailers give away too much from the movie, therefore I can recommend
trailers which does not show too much of the movie, but tells its story in a nutshell.
All in all, I would say that trailers on Internet are the most effective advertisement tools
of movies. AIDA model‟s „Attention”, „Interest” and „Desire” are the main factors which
can lead to a successful trailer. Morover, I would say that story telling is a very important
aspect, although it is better to not give away too much which will therefore leave the
audience curious as to what the film is about.
44
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2nd ed. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illionois University Press, 2009.
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9. “About” Golden Trailer Awards 22 May 2010
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37. “AWFJ Opnion Poll: All about Movie Trailers” Allience of Women Film Journalists 9
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40. Kevin Francis. “Marketing and movie trailers- The Proposal” 9 May 2010 <
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Micheal Wiese Productions,2003
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York: Routledge
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<http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65A13Q20100611>
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7 (2010.02.20): 36-37
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Appendix
Short Interview about movie trailers with V.J Maury (CEO of Palace Cinemas)
Tell me a little about you. Introduction
I am the CEO and co-founder of Palace Cinemas. Since its founding in December 1999,
the company has grown to be the largest exhibitor in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and
Hungary. Palace Cinemas operates 185 screens at 22 multiplexes with over 2,000
employees in the region with corporate offices in Prague and Budapest. The company
developed an internal management software package E2E used for pricing, marketing
and management reporting. Palace Cinemas is in partnership with Belgium-based XDC,
the leading digital cinema integrator in Europe, for a complete digital and 3D rollout
strategy. In each market, the company has separate divisions: Palacemedia for ad sales
and Palace Pictures for distribution.
Previously, I worked in Ljubljana, Slovenia in 1995 for Central European Media
Enterprises (CME) to launch POP TV, the first private TV station in the country. I acted as
the project manager for the company‟s stations, websites and developed a business plan
for a regional satellite TV station. During my tenure in Ljubljana, I identified and
developed potential media investments in Slovenia, the Balkans and Turkey.
Prior to joining CME, I worked at Showtime Networks and Viacom Interactive Services in
New York as an analyst on the internet and interactive computer games. I have also
worked with independent film directors on financing and production, as well as
developing some of my own properties. I graduated from New York University Stern
School of Business MBA program in 1993. There, I won an entrepreneur award for
Studentfilms Inc., a start-up film distribution company. Before attending business school,
I served as a U.S. Diplomat from 1984-1991 in US Embassies in Ankara, Turkey and
Valletta, Malta. Mr. Maury holds a B.A. in political science and German from Clemson
University.
What do you think, which is the best advertising tool for a movie? (Trailer,
outdoor, website, radio, newspaper, word-of mouth)
Market research and experience shows trailers and web advertisements are the best
advertising tools for a movie.
Which is the best medium to use for a trailer? (Internet, Cinema, TV)
It depends on the parameters such as cost, reach or return on investment. It depends
what you want to achieve. TV can reach a wide audience; the Internet is becoming more
and more popular. In the case of movie advertising, the cinema is a very important
49
medium as well, because it reaches directly the target audience, moviegoers. All of them
have important roles.
Can you mention an important aspect in respect to trailers?
Technology is also extremely important. Right now trailers are attached to the films with
old tape editing machines. In the future digital world, we will drop into the schedule with
software. This way, we will be able to target specific audiences with specific trailers and
also by age. The trailers that appear now are shown in a fairly unsophisticated manner.
In the future, we will be able to make it much more efficient and effective.
How important are the following aspects with respect to trailers?
Good Music selection, Stars in the movie, Title of the movie, Lots of Action,
Showing Availability of the info about the movie, Cinematography (movement,
lighting, composition), Story (interesting scenes in the trailer)
This is a very broad question. There can be good trailers for bad movies. That is clear. I
actually thought the entire marketing campaign and trailer for Avatar were bad. They
released 15 minutes of the movie, the dragon flying scene. Taken out of context I
thought perhaps the movie would fail.
50
Focus group guidelines: (results in the report)
Focus group 1.

7 members, similar age group: 18-22

Sessien last one hour
Focus group 2.

5 members, age group: 19-50

Sessien last one hour
Questions:
We are going to talk about movie trailers, and movie marketing, and what are the most
important factors with repsect to trailers.
1. Which is the most effective advertisement tool?
2. Why?
3. Do you watch trailers?
4. How often do you watch trailer?
5. Where do you watch trailers?
6. What is the most important aspects which makes you want to watch a movie?
7. Do you like trailers when they give away too much of the movie?
8. Closing the session
51
Movie marketing-Trailers
Opening page-Selecting People for the survey
Dear Madam/Sir, as a final year student I am writing my graduation thesis on movie
marketing. This questionnaire is constructed to measure how effective trailers are, and how
they can create the success of a movie. With answering my questions, you will help me draw
a conclusion.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation!
1. What is your favorite genre of movie? (more answers are possible)

Action

Adventure

Comedy

Horror

Musical

Drama

Romance

Sci-fi

Western

Other: ................................................................................................................
2. In your opinion, which of the following are the most effective advertisement
tools? Which make you the best to watch a movie? (Rank them. 1- most
important; 7 – less important)

Trailers: in TV and in cinema, internet

Outdoor: on a billboard, or a poster (on the street, public transport etc.)

Radio

Newspaper ads
52

Website

Word-of-mouth
Other: ..........................................................................................................................
3. Do you watch trailers?
 Yes  No
4. If you do, how often?
 Few times a week
 Weekly
 Monthly
 Rarely
Movie marketing-Trailers
Movie Trailers
5. Where do you watch trailers? In your opinion, which is the best place to
advertise a movie? (Rank them. 1- best place; 3 – worst place)
 Cinema
 Internet (social networks, movie website, youtube etc.)
 TV
6. Why do you like trailers? What is the most important aspect which makes you
want to watch the movie? (You can choose more)

 It has something which grabs your attention

 It tells the story, and create hold your interest


It leaves you wanting more makes you curious (usually because it does not
show too much)

It builds a strong call to action, like web address, where you get know more

about the movie

 Other: ..............................................................................................................
7. Please evaluate, how important are these aspects for you with respect to
trailers! (1 star- not important at all, 5stars– very important)
Good Music selection
1
2
3
4
5
Stars in the movie
1
2
3
4
5
53
Title of the movie
1
2
3
4
5
Lots of Action
1
2
3
4
5
Showing Availability of the info about the movie 1
2
3
4
5
Cinematography (movement, lighting, composition)1
2
3
4
5
Story (interesting scenes in the trailer)
2
3
4
5
1
8. What do you miss from the trailers? What would make you want to watch a
movie?
....................................................................................................................................
9. Do you like when trailers give away too much of the movie? Does it make you
less interested to see that movie?

I like when it gives a lot

I do not like
Movie marketing-Trailers
Closing page
1. What is your gender?
 Male  Female
2. What is your age?

10-18

19-25

26-30

31-40

40-50

51+
3. Occupation:
54

Student

Employed

Unemployed

Retired
4. What is the highest level of education you have completed?

Less than High School

High School

2 year College Degree

4 year College Degree (BA/BSc)

Masters Degree

Doctoral Degree
Other:
55