Discuss the marketing strategies used by your selected industry. Refer to your three main texts

The film industry uses a variety of different marketing strategies in order to optimise the film's audience and ensure it is a success. As technology has advanced over the years, the ways in which a production company can advertise has broadened to platforms such as social media, using influencers to promote their work, and unique ventures into merchandising, as well as other more conventional methods such as print and television campaigns. Marketing is very important to both high and low budget films, for example, Skyfall, Sam Mendes (2012) raised £29 million of its budget was raised through endorsements and product placements, where companies partner with the 007 brand to both promote the new film release and the product or service accompanying it, for example prior to the release of Skyfall in 2012, Coca-Cola Zero released a 'Unlock the 007 in You' campaign whereby an unsuspecting carriage of train passengers has 70 seconds to complete a challenge in order to win Bond tickets, the video of which went viral online. This form of marketing is particularly advantageous to high budget films such as Skyfall which cost $200 million to make, as it allows them to create hype prior to the film's release but further provides funding to ensure the success of the franchise and secure further releases.

In comparison, a lower cost film such as Weekend, Andrew Haigh (2011) had a budget of only £120,000 which suggests that there would not be such an extensive use of marketing the film. In terms of social media, Weekend does not have any official accounts for the film, this may be detrimental in the reach of the film as it limits the audience it can spread to. As part of the Uses and Gratifications theory one of the reasons for consuming a text would be to discuss it with your peers, the lack of social media presence means that this discourse about Weekend it absent. Social media, a free platform for discussion and promotion, has proved successful for other British films, on Twitter, or example, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Matthew Vaughn, 2014 which has over 57k followers or Pride, M. Warchus, (2014) which has just over 6 thousand followers. However, as the Weekend gained it's momentum and success through film festivals such as SXSW in the U.S.A, it may suggest that the priority was not to reach mass audiences, but to gain credibility and acclaim from those in the industry, and the small audiences which it did reach.

A further method of marketing would be through merchandise directly associated with the film. This will provide profit funding for the production and also allows the movie to reach different audiences that perhaps may not meet the target audience demographic. One example of this would come from the aforementioned British production of Kingsman: The Secret Service (45 minutes finished). As part of a merchandising endeavour, Kingsman partnered with tailoring company, Mr Porter, and created a line of high quality, highly priced gentlemen's wear including suit jackets, Oxfords and watches. This would have both aligned the film with a company of similar values as a high end tailor is a significant feature in Kingsman, but also extended intrigue for the film into regular customers of Mr Porter who may not have initially been interested in the film due to it's comic relaxed nature. This merchandise venture differs from Bond, who released their own aftershave entitled 007 for the 50th anniversary of the franchise. This style of marketing is targetted specifically at those who know and are fans of the popular film's and are somewhat of a gimmick for Bond collectors. 

In conclusion, the types and success of marketing strategies are largely dependent on the budget and hype leading up to the film, as higher budget films rely on mass audiences and extra spending such as merchandise in order to gain any profit from the production. As technology has modernised the print campaigns have also moved online for advertising a film, to maximise an audience as social media has become a key contributor to how popular and success the film is, seen evidently through the comparison of social media presence in Kingsman to Weekend. The film industry itself relies heavily on marketing as the  initial means in which audiences consume texts, i.e. through cinemas, need to generate enough anticipation and excitement for people to actually go and see it, as opposed to television where the viewing can occur from the comfort of your own home.