According to What’s. Com: Naira marketing is any marketing technique that induces Web sites or users to pass on a marketing sages to other sites or users, creating a potentially exponential growth in the message’s visibility and effect. ” Buzz marketing and word-of-mouth are often viewed as a better source than mass media and most other forms of advertising because the personal level Of consumer to consumer advertising lets satisfied consumers tell others how much they like a business, product, or service.
For example, spoken communication, and web dialogue such as blobs, message boards, and emails can be considered forms of word of mouth advertising. New movies that are about to be exposed to the market often use his type of promotion and advertising. This strategy may consist of specialized movie screenings to specific crowds in order to get the word. Of. Mouth recommendations started. The recommendations are then spread to friends, family, and co-workers. Buzz campaigns are usually started for the release of big, blockbuster theater movies.
Technology has aided buzz marketers because they are able to deliver their messages easier and faster. The growth of the internet allows them to spread the word via means of websites, message boards, messaging programs, chat rooms, and blobs. All media campaigns make use of he ease of the internet why making sure their flow of word-of-mouth is circulating online before, during, and after the release of new blockbuster movies. However, the power of word-of-mouth has the ability to take less known and lightly financed movies into the categories of big name motion pictures.
Buzz marketers are able create a sophisticated word-of-mouth campaign where consumers actually feel honored to be included in the small yet elite group of those who are well versed and willingly spread the word to their friends and colleagues. II. Movie & Campaign A particularly famous movie that was much less known during its release during he sass is known as Star Wars. Specifically, Star Wars IV: A New Hope as it is now called was able to change its name because of the success the movie had. Writer and director George Lucas originally labeled the movie Star Wars because he had no plans to release other prequels and sequels.
After the success of the movie, he had to differentiate it from his other releases and gave it the full name of Star Wars IV: A New Hope, As confusing as it may be, Star Wars IV: A New Hope is the first of six movies to be released but is fourth in the Star Wars saga. The movie was officially released in the United States on May 25th, 1977. The film industry of the late sass consisted of cynicism and serious movies. However, the daring release Of Star Wars had the courage to take on the current movie industry and typical Hollywood archetypes.
Star Wars introduced everyone to a world Of myth, smarts, and humor. This new generation Of floggers was impressed with the action, special effects and plot of the movie. The plot which can be best summarized in a short summary found on Amid. Corn goes as follows: “Part IV in a George Lucas epic, Star Wars: A New Hope opens with a rebel ship being boarded by the tyrannical Dearth Evader. The plot then follows the life of simple farm boy, Luke Jaywalker, as he and his newly met allies (Han Solo, Chewable, Ben Kenton, C-POP, RE.
DO) attempt to rescue a rebel leader, Princess Leila, from the clutches of the Empire. The conclusion is culminated as the Rebels, including Jaywalker and flying ace Wedge Antilles make an attack on the Empires most powerful and ominous weapon, the Death Star,” Star Wars is renowned for changing embanking forever because it was the first movie to define the term “blockbuster. ” According to Wisped. Com a blockbuster movie is: “Blockbuster, as applied to film or theater, is a very popular and/or momentarily successful reduction.
The term was originally derived from theater slang referring to a particularly successful play; in film industry parlance it has come to refer to a film that earns an amount of revenue exceeding some threshold,” The success of Star Wars did not happen overnight. As a matter of fact, the movie event through harsh times during production and was almost scratched This movie was entirely saved by the word-of-mouth advertising that began after it was released. George Lucas originally knew he wanted an outer-space setting for his movie and this classified as science fiction which was largely unpopular at the box
Office during the late I gags. The science fiction genre was viewed as a genre that did not make money at the movies and this is the reason that United Artists and Universal Studios rejected the Star Wars project. The only company that approved the Lucas was 20th Century Fox, and even after approval they shunned the movie but allowed an original budget of To stay within his budget, Lucas founded his own visual and special effects company called Industrial Light and Magic. After production had begun, they were faced with even more problems.
Besides the fact of natural weather disasters at the filming action, the electronic equipment kept breaking down and props were malfunctioning, Regardless Of the smaller problems, large problems lay within the production crew themselves as they had little interest tort the film and did not care about the work getting completed. Most of them didn’t take the film seriously and regarded it as a child’s movie. Lucas’ special affect company used half of the given budget on only four shots that were not acceptable to the director. Despite the problems the movie faced, George Lucas pushed on to get it completed.
The movie went over the due date given from 20th Century Box and need up with a budget estimated around $11,000,000. During the release offset Wars, there was little to no budget for any type of marketing strategy or promotion plan. The idea of a buzz campaign was not even an option because there was no money left in the project for these types of advertisements. Lucas hired a man named Charles Elliptical as the marketing director for Star Wars because 20th Century Box would not lend anymore funds for the movie. However, the corporation did offer licensing of t-shirts and posters if the movie was somehow successful.
The movie was released on May 25th, 1977 cause it was pushed back to avoid competition from other summer films which Will be discussed later. After the movie was officially released, little to no theaters would order the movie and show it. This caused the big movie production company to step in and demand theaters to order Star Wars or else they would not be able to order other anticipated movies during the same year. The film immediately took off and became a huge hit at the theaters. This success was strongly influenced by the “buzz” that the film created and the word- of-mouth that followed.
The 121 minute long movie was able to captivate audiences the second the film ended. The opening weekend was able to bring in $35. 9 million dollars and 20th Century Fox’s stock price doubled too record high. According to Amid. Com: “Before 1977, 20th Century Fox’s greatest annual profits were in 1377, the company earned This huge jump was due to the success of Star Wars. It was a phenomenon that took off like nothing else, carried solely by word of mouth. Strangely enough, the movie was targeted at the entire family and not just males, This is interesting because according to a demographics chart on Impeder. Mom, out of 179,206 votes, 109,467 were males: The excitement and audience reaction was a huge surprise even to George Lucas, Who had spent four years shipping the script around the studios and racking up rejections and who only expected it would be seen by a few diehard science fiction fans. It was an even bigger surprise When the film became the then highest grossing film of all time. The strong opinions from crew, staff, critics, and even sometimes George himself that the movie would fail were immediately stifled. As a matter of fact George Lucas missed his own premiere to attend a vacation in Hawaii with his good friend Steven Spielberg.
Star Wars was able to make the science fiction genre respectable and the genre entered a colossal mom where it became one of the highest box office earning trends, which is still apparent today. Star Wars went on to have an immensely large worldwide gross amount of $798 million and eventually won six Oscar. Star Wars broke many budget to gross profit ratios by being able to spend around an SSI million budget and to gross over $798 million. Ill. Competition The untimely release of Star Wars came amidst five other well expected movies for the summer of 1977.
Although some of the expected movies did not have large budgets, they included famous actors and actresses, popular directors, and ere funded and promoted by large entertainment corporations. Most movies of 1977 did not surpass Star Wars in anyway but they posed threats during the release phase. One movie that came out in late April before Star Wars avgas Annie Hall. Annie Hall was a Woody Allen written and directed movie that was distributed by United Artists. The plot of the movie as according to Amid. Com is as follows: “Romantic adventures of neurotic New York comedian Alva Singer and his equally neurotic girlfriend Annie Hall.
The film traces the course of their relationship from their first meeting, and serves as an interesting historical comment about love in the sass. ” The film had a small budget around $4 million and grossed about $352 million. Although the film was not much Of a money maker, was a good screenplay that brought in a few Oscar for Woody Allen. The most notable Oscar was for the Best Picture in Which it beat Star Wars for that year. It was a well liked and anticipated film and one of the reasons why Star Wars release date was pushed back to avoid competition.
Another film that posed a threat for Star Wars and actually was scheduled to come to theaters around the same week as Star Wars was Smokey and the Bandit. This movie followed the ever popular action and comedy theme of the late sass. The film was directed by Hal Needled and cast the famous Burt Reynolds as the main star, universal Pictures produced and distributed the film and grossed $127 million. This Film was supposed to put Star Wars to shame when it was released but ironically, Star Wars stole the spot light away from the weekend premier of Smokey and the Bandit.
Both of the movies were usually found playing back to back for a double feature at most drive-ins. Smokey and the Bandit was still successful because it was the second highest grossing film of 977, one spot behind Star Wars. It is interesting to know that this movie and its two sequels came out the same years Star Wars and its first two sequels came out which were in 1977, 1980, and 1983. Although this film was highly anticipated as a big summer hit, it followed the same concept that every movie was following during the late sass.
This type Of behavior can be seen as safe yet repetitive in the market place because is almost guaranteed successful yet it is nothing new. When compared to Star Wars, Smokey and the Bandit was largely promoted and advertised with posters and trailers. This is an example of how important word- Of-mouth advertising is. The movie that used little to no advertising and promotion campaigns was able to come out as the top grossing film of the year due to its unique and exciting approach at the box office as well as its creation of a “buzz” which attracted all types of audiences to the theater.
A Bridge Too Far was released on June 15th, 1977, just a few weeks after the release of Star Wars. The film was based on the book of the same title by Cornelius Ryan and was directed by Richard Attenuator’s. The movie captured the realism that was largely successful in movies of the late sass. The film allowed the drama, history, war, and action genres and was based on World War II, The film was not necessarily popular in the theaters, partially due to the release of Star Wars just a tee weeks prior. The film used the budget to an estimated $26 million and grossed only million. The plot as according to Amid. Mom: “This WI film follows the perspectives of American, Polish and British soldiers attempting to capture key bridges behind German lines in a complicated parachute and armored assault. ” The film could have been more successful in the market if it wasn’t for the attention and buzz that Star Wars avgas reading. Star Wars seemed to pull out all of the floggers from their homes and into the theaters into a world that made most other movies during the time not as interesting or as fun. Part of the experience bewitching Star Wars was being able to let loose and actually feel connected to the movie.
A fun and family oriented movie that was produced by Walt Disney Productions and released in mid-June was The Rescuers. Even though Disney films usually attract the entire family, the fame of Star Wars was still freshly lingering in the air. The buzz behind Star Wars was that it was a family movie as well, and that word- f-mouth made it down the lines and eventually hurt the sales of the Disney animation film. The film had a small budget Of only 51. 2 million and was able to produce a lifetime domestic gross of $71. 2 million over the years.
Based on the numbers listed, that is a huge profit to make, but the amount of remakes and re. Mastered versions that Disney usually produces must be taken into account. The last of five movies that competed verse Star Wars during the summer months of 1977 was The Deep, This film was released June 1 7th, 1977 and directed by Peter Yates. It was distributed by Columbia Tristan and fell into the error and mystery genre, With an estimated budget around SYS million the movie had a domestic total gross to $47,346,365. Its widest release occurred during the opening weekend when it appeared at 731 theaters and was able to make $6,835,540.
That is about 14. 4% of the total gross it made. The timing and environment surrounding the film did not help with sales or success. The environment was looking for something new and refreshing, something fun and exciting not scary and grim. The lack off well organized marketing strategy and almost non-existent word-of-mouth campaign led the movie to only mediocre IV_ Conclusion Star Wars has forged an original yet perfect mixture of myth, marketing and movie excitement to become one Of the biggest cultural phenomenon in movie history.
