Assess the importance of marketing in the media area you have studied.
In media marketing can be one of the most important aspects in film making and getting the film to the desired audience. Marketing in any project is the process of identifying, anticipating and satisfying the audiences wants and needs. The fact that marketing is used to attract audiences and customers, makes it one of the most important components of the media concept.
To start off, lets’ look at 2018’s American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics “The Black Panther” which was released February 16, 2018 and made approximately 1.344 billion USD as of May 22, 2018. In this aspect of media which is film it is important to look at how the product was distributed and along with many other strategies cross-promotion was used to help market the film. The first example of cross-promotion used by the film is when the first showing of the movie's trailer was made during a NBA’s finals game. According to text “Between 9 p.m. Eastern and midnight on Friday, the movie stirred up 109,000 tweets with the hashtag #BlackPanther, according to an analysis performed for CNBC by marketing technology firm Amobee. What’s even more impressive is the fan reaction in those tweets: 86 percent were positive” (Dichristopher, Tom, CNBC). Another strategy used to help market the film was Media distribution, more importantly the music aspect of media. The soundtrack from the film gave it a humongous boost in marketing, the album track for the film even won a Grammy for best score, an American Music Award for favorite soundtrack, and a NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Soundtrack/Compilation. With the use of these strategies it’s no wonder the film was such a huge hit in the box office.
In addition to that, the film used another method of marketing, which was the strategy of Merchandising. By making and distributing items such as clothing apparel to toys and coffee mugs the film reached more individuals, which helped increase the excitement and interest for the film that was generated among the public. According to the source “Jefferies analyst Stephanie Wissink raised her estimates for Hasbro's 2018 "Black Panther" merchandise sales from $60 million to as much as $100 million because retailers are "aggressively chasing inventory” (Berr, Johnathan, CBS News). Secondly another strategy used by the film was the release strategy. The film used this strategy by executing a red-carpet premiere on January 29, 2018 with the film itself premiering in commercial theaters in the US on February 16, 2018. As stated in the source “They walked the purple carpet swaddled in bold colors, headdresses, stoles, crowns and plenty of swagger” (Givhan, Robin, 2018, The Washington Post). By having this red-carpet release, it promoted the film and increased the marketing ultimately helped the film when it opened globally in February 2018 and made around $361 million in its first weekend alone.
In conclusion, Marketing advocates a huge importance in the media of film. By looking at examples like the 2018 mega block buster hit Marvels own Black Panther that used many forms of marketing to help advertise the film. By doing so the film made over 900 million dollars and majority of the profits came from marketing.
