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The second interview was done with Sergei Shanovich, who has his own promotion company. His opinion was important because he has been in the industry for more than 20 years.
He confirmed that the lack of promotion of Russian films is a huge weakness of the local film industry. Not only is there a lack of promotion but there is a reluctance to spend money on it, while Russian audiences are exposed to foreign films they only see few trailers of Russian films.
He agreed strongly that promotion could make the Russian film industry far more profitable than it is. His company, Shan Design, created marketing and promotion campaigns for a number of films including Legend №17, Christmas Trees 3, Geographer Notched His Globe and others, which were shown in Russia only. No foreign distributors were interested in the films.
This company uses release and post-release strategies, however, on a much smaller scale due to lack of finances, lack of competent staff and lack of time given for film promotion. The example of Legend №17 was given, whose budget was $14 million but his promotion campaign was only $60 thousand with a month given for promoting Russian audiences.
It is absolutely necessary to monitor needs and expectations of audience before making new promotion campaign but Shan Design have not enough people or technical equipment for doing this. The company’s clients are also very strict and promotion campaigns should be done according to their requirements. Shanovich also agreed on the power of social media advertising just as the Head of 20th Century Fox did at the author’s suggestion.
Despite all negative aspects of Russian film promotion Shanovich thought that in the near future this industry will develop and become important for Russian film business and signs of that happening can be seen today.
Dmitry Puchkov, famous translator and voice actor, considers himself a one person promotion campaign because films under his translation and voice acting always draw a full house, while the same film with official translation draws only one tenth of that. This makes him the best celebrity endorsement for a film. Puchkov also sees the power of promotion campaigns and adds that Russian filmmakers and promoters should think also of the power of seasonality, that is that most viewed films premier in the autumn or winter. Summer is the worst time of the year for any film, with, perhaps, only one exception of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws.
Favouritism, as he confirmed, is huge in the Russian film industry. He gave an interesting example of one director who did not receive any financial support from the Ministry of Culture. Puchkov decided to support this director by organizing a collection through the Internet to enable the director to make the film. Currently the budget stands at $400 thousand and more donations are added daily. Puchkov said that examples like this show how effective promotion campaigns could be. He also added that the power of the Internet cannot be underestimated.
5. Conclusions
The aim of the dissertation was to identify the most effective film promotion strategies used in the American film industry and choose those that could be adopted by Russia to make Russian film industry far more profitable than it is currently.
For a conclusion a reevaluation of the Research Objectives is necessary.
1) to give an overview of promotional tools and strategies in general and in the film industry in particular
These were described in the Literature Review section. The American film industry which started to develop in the 1950s and is still successful to date, the Russian film industry development was slowed by the political situation of the 1990s and is still in the process of recovering.
General promotional tools which were analysed were based on the work by Broderick and Pickton from the point of view of marketing communication tools. Promotional tools and strategies specific to the film industry were analysed according to Kerrigan’s work on film marketing.
The most profitable strategies used by the American film industry are release and post-release. At the release strategy stage traditional, the Internet, social media advertising, international and domestic exhibitions are used. At the post-release strategy stage sales promotion, merchandising and Internet advertising are utilised.
2) to analyse US film promotion through examples
This objective was discussed in both the Literature Review and Data Analysis sections. Hollywood film promotion companies spend between $30 to $50 million for domestic promotion campaigns alone. As shown in the secondary data analysis the American Lionsgate spent in excess of $50 million for film promotion worldwide, for example Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which earned more than $800 million in return making it one of the most profitable films of 2013.
In addition, American film promoters always use post-release film promotion strategies. For example, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 was the top selling DVD in 2013. This helped the film to earn an additional $72 million.
Interview results demonstrated the most effective promotion strategies to attract film audiences. The head of 20th Century Fox Promotion confirmed that all available resources are used for attracting viewers. The example used was Avatar where no manpower or resources were spared for the promotion campaign. This included over one hundred people working on the campaign with the budget of $90 million. Immediately following the premiere a post-release strategy was prepared, using sponsorship deals and merchandising.
Questionnaire results demonstrated the expectations of the average American moviegoer and the film companies’ success in fulfilling those expectations.
The majority of responses confirmed the importance of film promotion at the stage of release, whether it is through the Internet, social media, television or word-of-mouth advertising. The survey also confirms the use of multiple promotional by American film companies.
3) to review the Russian film industry with a focus on the promotional aspect
Russian film industry experienced difficulties after the collapse of the Soviet Union, even though it was a powerful industry before the 1990s. Nowadays Russian film industry is a victim of favoritism exercised by the government, consequently small film companies struggle for survival.
The most successful recent Russian film was Christmas Trees 3 in 2013 which earned in excess of $38 million in the box office. As the viewing number indicates it is substantially lower than earned by its American counterpart.
An interview with the owner of a Russian film promotion company demonstrated that film promotion is not rated high by directors and filmmakers because of their lack of understanding of the market or the lack of willingness to spend on film promotion. Available finances are not high enough to make effective campaigns.
The majority of respondents to the Russian survey agreed that the most attractive promotional strategy for them is the release strategy based on trailers. Other popular ways finding information about new films are via the Internet and social media. It is interesting to note that the role of Internet is stronger in Russia than in the USA.
4) to compare different ways of promotion in the two countries
This objective was investigated by the author throughout of the dissertation. To improve Russian film promotion it is necessary to compare it to a successful film industry, which is, in this context, is the USA. This comparison is described in detail in the Literature Review.
The conclusion was reached that the reason for continued success of the American film industry lies in its successful and creative promotional activities, while the Russian film industry does not attach the same value to this activity.
The examples of how Russian films compete with the American films are described in the Data Analysis section. For example, the Russian film, Christmas Trees 3’s box office success amounted to little more than $38 million while its competitor, the American Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug amounted to more than $44 million.
The reasons for the low takings of Russian films are provided in the interviews. The Russian interviewee said that his company’s budget for promotion is only $50 thousand, while American promoters’ budgets come to over $30 million just for preparing domestic marketing and promotion campaigns. Also, American film promotion industry employs professionals, while its Russian counterpart employs less experienced staff.
American film promoters monitor the needs of the customer and always create new campaigns using the latest technologies. Russian promoters, on the other hand, use only traditional methods not having the technological and financial opportunities as the Americans do. Moreover, due to promotion American films are popular abroad are not.
5) to summarise a list of strategies that can benefit the Russian film industry
All tools and strategies are listed in the Literature Review and they could be applied by Russian film promoters. Among these strategies release and post-release were highlighted. These would make the Russian film industry far more profitable than it currently is. Release strategy includes product advertising at big events, advertising via the Internet, social media and film websites and international and domestic exhibitions. Post-release strategy includes merchandising and Internet advertising; both useful in increasing box office success and providing a good return to filmmakers on their investment and make profit as well.
According to the results of the survey people prefer to use the Internet for new information and use social media to share this with their friends. Social media is a new tool for people working in marketing and promotion. As of yet social media is not widely used in the release or post-release stage and both American and Russian film promoters could begin to use it more frequently. There were only two examples found for Internet and social media promotion during the investigation, one was Ray William Johnson and Dmitry “Goblin” Puchkov who use these tools extensively in the release and post-release stages.
Russian film professionals should identify ways in which they could save on release and post-release campaigns and use their budget more wisely. In the American film industry the budget, which used to be a single budget, will be divided into two one used for making the film, the other for promotion. This would be useful strategy for the Russian film industry as well.
Finally, Russian promoters should always remember that creativity generates interest. Russian film promotion now needs more young and competent professionals to further develop the industry and to share experiences with one another. The lack of training is another problem for the Russian film industry. Eventhough there are many institutions and universities where filmmaking is taught as a subject in Russia, none of their curricula includes marketing and promotion related to film.
Looking at the hypothesis of the dissertation it could be claimed that, based on evidence found during the course of this research, all American film promotion strategies could be applied by Russian professionals in order to benefit the Russian film industry and to make it more profitable. The Research part of the dissertation does not fully support the hypothesis but it demonstrates that potential audience follows very closely film promotion strategies and tools. Russian promoters could employ all discussed strategies and add their own to attract wider audiences for the Russian film industry.
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Appendices
Appendix 1
The Integrated Marketing Communications Mix Model (Broderick and Pickton, 2005)
Appendix 2
Interview Questions
1. How long have you been working in the film promotion and distribution industry? In what capacity?
2. How would you describe current situation for film promotion industry in your country?
3. In your opinion, why is promotion so important for the film industry? Do promotion strategies help films to become far more profitable?
4. List some domestic films for which you created promotional campaigns.
5. What promotional tools and strategies do you use for promoting films in your country?
6. According to your personal experience, which film promotion strategies and tools are the most important and widely used by your company?
7. What resources, for example people and finance, do you need to create attractive promotional campaigns for potential audience?
8. List some risks and problems that may hinder the quality of your work.
9. According to my research, the most effective promotional strategies for films are the release strategy, such as advertising and exhibitions, and the post-release strategies, for example merchandising. Do you agree with this statement? If not, please, explain.
10. Do you monitor the needs of the audience and latest tendencies to create distinctive and interesting film promotion campaigns and if yes, how? For example, promoters of the Avatar movie organised a video conference between film creators and film audiences via Skype.
11. Nowadays the Internet plays a huge role in everyday people’s life and some companies use different techniques to promote films through social media websites. Does your company use the Internet and social media to create promotional campaigns?
12. How do you see the future of the film promotion and distribution industry in your country?
Appendix 3
Survey Questions
1. What is your gender?
.........................................................................................................................................
2. What is your age?
12-17
18-24
25-34
35-44
45-54
Older than 54
3. Where do you live?
Big city
Small town
Village
4. On average, how many domestic films have you seen within the last three months?
1-2
3-5
More than 6
5. Please choose how much you agree with the following statement: “The film marketing in my country is weak and I do not pay attention to in any film promotional campaigns”.
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
6. What attracts you the most to see domestic films? Please choose one or two which are the most important in your opinion:
Famous actors and actresses
Storyline
Famous director
Interesting trailer
7. What is the most common way you find out information about new domestic films? Please choose one or two which are the most important in your opinion:
Through the Internet
On the television
In magazines or journals
In cinemas by posters and trailers
8. What promotional tools affect you to see new domestic films? Please choose one or two which are the most important in your opinion:
Radio advertising
Social media websites, such as Facebook or VK.com
Word-of-mouth
Billboards and posters
Television advertising
What is the most effective way to promote new domestic films to potential audience?
.........................................................................................................................................
9. Do you buy DVDs and Blu-Rays?
Yes
No
10. Do you watching domestic films on the Internet?
Yes
No
11. Do you buy merchandising, such as t-shirts, collectable staff, toys and others which are related to domestic films?
Yes
No
12. Please choose how much you agree with the following statement: “I like to see interesting and new film promotion campaigns, for example video conference with film’s creators via Skype or take part in different competitions to win free tickets and prizes”
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
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