Marketing in the Valentines Day - Movie Review Example

Marketing - The movie ' Valentine’s Day’ From amongst the insurmountable clutter of movies that are released, all of which aim for the same audience and sell the same idea of entertainment, the real question is that how movie marketers function to make their films stand out from the rest of the crowd and what is that driving force that would send the public running off to theatres to catch the movie. Movie marketers have a strong and varied set of strategies to achieve this, all geared towards creating a powerful hype for their movie and eliciting a strong response from the public that has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of the movie but in fact only with how the movie is branded and promoted to the public. It is the sheer ingenuity of these marketing and promotional campaigns that sell the movies regardless of how critics evaluate them. This is best accentuated by the example of the release and eventual success of the movie ‘Valentine’s Day’ which immediately stormed up to the top of the charts and made millions of dollars despite the fact that the movie failed to offer a plot that was anything beyond appalling and was popularly disparaged by critics. Not only the gist is vague, the movie has also been criticized for being loaded with offensive, controversial and questionable content (Goodwyn). However, it managed to achieve the number one rating when it opened and caused quite a stir in the box office. The movie was marketed with the obvious yet the most selling strategy of being tied with a major and popular holiday. To title the film after Valentine’s Day is a very calculated effort to capitalize on the emotions that are elicited around this holiday and at the same time to target an audience for whom the movie becomes a prime attraction on this very particular day just because of its name as it is a perfect present as well as a ‘going-out’ event. Lucy Fisher captures this is a very sleek manner when she comments that "People are prodded to buy something for the occasion, and in this case, it's a movie ticket.. it doesn't matter about the quality” (Hare, 2010). Not only that, it a clever ploy to target women who are lured into the trap of saccharine love stories, cute stuff toys, red roses and the fever of the holiday. It is in this way that the movie self-advertises itself by its name enough to drive hundreds and hundreds of love-struck couples of all ages, young group of friends or even those lonely ones who need an exciting event towards the path that leads to the theaters. Even if the movie is perceived to be of poor quality, as in this case, and the subsequent bad word of mouth pulls the movie down on the charts, the initial grand opening earns enough to compensate and even land the producers with a profit. The holiday lays out a perfect opportunity to make an event out of the movie, one that no one would want to miss. It is because the marketing is done so ubiquitously that it becomes impossible for the public to miss and generates a hype that touches everyone. In case of Valentine’s Day, it provided an opportunistic platform by default and weeks before the release of the movie, shops were flooded with posters of the movie and promotional gift items and shirts that served flaunted the holiday as well as the movie, cafes and regular ‘date-spots’ filled with advertisements and music from the movie, internet sites built up with teasers and film clips. Buses would be plastered with movie celebrities, and bill-boards would be put up all over the city. Literally everywhere one was to look, it was the same thing and that served to create an atmosphere of felicity and brewed up an excitement that was only contagious and impossible to evade. Such a promotional drive is centered on the idea that if the public is to be bombarded with so many promos and propaganda of the movie, it will generate an all-out publicity blitz and a “"can't miss" event” (Roos). This plays the role of a pied-piper luring all those looking to celebrate the day of love with fun and thrill right onto the thresholds of the theatres. Another reason why the movie did so well was the grandeur of its star cast. “Valentine's Day is a love bouquet of pretty Hollywood stars artfully arranged by a veteran Hollywood director to deliver a box office hit” ("Valentine's day movie," 2010). The movie makers used a branding technique of using all the popular faces to get the crowds to respond as the movie stars the likes of Jennifer Garner, Ashton Kutcher, Julia Roberts, Bradley Cooper, Jessicas Biel and Alba for all the celebirty strucks; heartthrobs Taylor Swift for all the music fans; Taylor Lautner for the twilight fans, and the “McDreamy” and the “Mcsteamy” for all those captured by ‘Grey’s Anatomy’. It was a treat for people to watch all their favorite stars, shown at their best, to be in love on Valentine’s Day. Not only that, stars appeared on several talk shows and television spots to create an electricity of enthusiasm as they spoke about the movie and their respective roles. Such a publicity tactic is called press junket. It was not only the stars that crammed the movie. Each of the 12 couples had a story of their own; all starting on the morning of 14th February and all intersecting with each other with sudden twists and surprises. With flavors of all kind, the movie sets out to appeal to people of all kind and ages, all occupations and temperaments. Ebert displays that several formulas are used to capture different love facets: love chemistry between childhood best friends who realize their love for each other; first crush of a fifth-grader; relationship of two gay men; life clip from an elderly married couple; and so much more (2010). With this approach, the movie sets to give every person who watches the movie that it is their own story that is flaunted on the big screen. Since each story plays for only the briefest of times, there is only that short peek into a love story that can be just anybody’s and every person in the audience feels connected with it. This marketing strategy works wonders with romantic stories and no doubt clicks magically with almost everyone, especially women. As WSJ points out, that it is almost like a “little candy heart..(or) a hallmark card”..(and).. “has enough hunks and babes to hold the attention of both halves of a couple, yet it isn’t deep enough to generate any potential squabbles” (2010). Another popular strategy is to use highly visible product lines and corporate partnerships to create a popular ‘brand image’ of the movie and associations with popular names only goes on further to lend credibility to it. (Roos) gives example of how images of green Grinch appeared on boxes or Oreos and cans of sprite just prior to the release of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." Similarly, Valentine’s Day was bolstered by many corporate entities and known brands such as Apple, Sony, Chanel, Nike; all of which propagated the movie either by incorporating the red/white color scheme into their ads or appearing in markets carrying the name of the movie or faces of the stars of the movie. It is therefore a combination of these strategies that explains the instantaneous success of the movie that was perceived to be a ‘date-night’ hit. As the hype led the people to the theatres, the movie passed its first obstacle of hooking the audience and most came out of the theatres highly happy and satisfied. It was a perfect mix of tactics, at a perfect time, and presented to a perfect audience. Failure of the movie was inevitable. Works Cited Ebert, Roger. (2010, Feb 10). Valentin'es day. Retrieved from http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100210/REVIEWS/100219994 Goodwyn, Hannah . (n.d.). Valentine's day. Retrieved from http://www.cbn.com/entertainment/screen/goodwyn-valentines-day.aspx Hare, Breeanna. (2010, Feb 13). Hollywood has it bad for valentine's day. CNN, Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movies/02/12/valentines.day.movies/index.html Roos, Dave. (n.d.). How Movie marketing works. Retrieved from Hare, Breeanna. (2010, Feb 13). Hollywood has it bad for valentine's day. CNN, Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movies/02/12/valentines.day.movies/index.html Valentine's day movie review. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.scribd.com/doc/26834865/Valentines-Day-Movie-Review Read More