Need for Speed Marketing Campaign

By Megan Robinson

IntroductionThere are different ways a film can be promoted such as radio interviews and advertising and T.V. shows. The decision to use a particular style of marketing may depend on the target audience and demographic. For example, a T.V. show maybe more successful because it is very visual and has an immediate impact. On ‘Need for Speed’ the marketing campaign was quite large including all the below:

• Absolute Radio: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iegrFqgGG3k• E3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMgJbdly1_I • Graham Norton: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03wxt98 • IGN: http://uk.ign.com/videos/2014/03/12/aaron-paul-plays-need-for-speed • Jimmy Kimmel:

Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HJup5V6qA4 Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yLgTs13NN0

• Radio 1: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01sz9n4 • Radio 1Xtra - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vko_5p-1UJ4 • Top Gear: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OjfH_LbyHY • WWE Raw: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UEu0lwXfcA

The film Need For Speed uses cross media convergence, which is where different media platforms are converted together to promote a film. This is why there are different media platforms used above for Need For Speed.

Top GearTop Gear is a British television series about motor vehicles, particularly cars. It appeals to people in their late 20’s and above who would watch BBC 2. It is broadcast throughout the world in 170 different countries and reaches 350 million viewers. On 2nd March 2014, Aaron Paul was featured on the programme and used to promote the film, ‘Need for Speed’. It is clever marketing to use a programme about cars to advertise a film that is about cars and speed as it will relate to the target audience more.

The Graham Norton ShowAaron Paul was a guest on ‘The Graham Norton Show’ on 28th February 2014. He was there to talk about ‘Breaking Bad’ which has attracted a wide audience and has been acclaimed as one of the greatest TV dramas of all time. He was also promoting his new film, ‘Need For Speed’. ‘The Graham Norton Show’ is on BBC One at 22:35 for about an hour so it is most likely going to attract a very wide ranging audience of young adults to middle-aged adults. People who watch ‘The Graham Norton Show’ know that the celebrities will be trying to promote recent films, shows, music. ‘Need For Speed’ was promoted on this show because Aaron Paul is a very popular actor has had success with ‘Breaking Bad’ already. People watching will be very interested in knowing about his new film. Also the show was aired in late February and the film was going to be released two weeks later so it is still fresh in people’s minds and they will be looking out for it at the cinema.

The most successful I feel from the two marketing campaign I have discussed is ‘The Graham Norton Show’ because they can reach out to wider audiences than ‘Top Gear’ audiences. Also ‘Top Gear’ is more about cars and the reason Aaron Paul is on it is ‘Need For Speed’ is about cars and they did talk about the cars on ‘Breaking Bad’. I think ‘The Graham Norton Show’ is more successful as he brings out the best in people and makes them look good. Also he invited Ant & Dec, Jaime Dornan from ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’, Naomi Campbell and Ellie Goulding on that particular show. They are all very popular and people will still watch it even if they haven’t heard of Aaron Paul. This is very clever marketing. Graham Norton encourages his guests to discuss films and shows, music together and so also makes the audience involved. There is also lots of humour on this show so it makes people feel more attracted to the show and people on it which will therefore encourage them to watch the film.

My Opinion

Aaron Paul and Dominic Cooper both star in ‘Need For Speed’. They are both attractive males and are both good actors. Many people have heard of Dominic Cooper who has been in ‘Mamma Mia’, ‘Captain America: The First Avengers’ and ‘Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter’, is a very well known actor. So using the star theory, you would think he would be the best choice for the marketing campaign for ‘Need For Speed’. However, I don’t agree that he is the best choice because Aaron Paul is more well know than him as he has starred in ‘Breaking Bad’ which is widely regarded as one of the greatest American television series of all time. By its end, the series was among the most-watched cable shows on American television and received numerous awards. In 2014, ‘Breaking Bad’ entered the Guinness Book of Records as the highest rated show of all time. For this reason I feel that Aaron Paul is by far the best choice for promoting ‘Need For Speed’.

Star Theory

One of the main aspects of the film industry is it’s huge marketing campaigns, even the smallest of movies can make millions of dollars at the box office. The main aspects of the marketing process for films are:

Background: ‘Need For Speed’ was released in 1994, as a racing video game.

Identifying the audience: The key audience was males ranging from 15-30 for both the racing video game and film.

Thinking ahead: Distributors for ‘Need For Speed’ would have looked at the audience research, focus groups and surveys from the racing video game.

Pre-Production

In post production of films the producers want to get feedback so they can make any changes. They do this by having advance screenings which can then lead to changes being such as lines being dropped or scenes scrapped.There are two types of advance screenings, they are both different but share one element which is that they both want to get audience feedback. The first one is testers, which is like a first showing for film studios to see if everything works well or not. The film is shown to people in the target audience for the film and then feedback is given on that. There is a website called ‘Ain’t It Cool News’ which airs verdicts from people have been testers, this can sometimes cause issues with the headlines that sometimes don’t have much substance. To become a tester you need to be selected by the ‘National Research Group’ (NRG) and they spilt people up into four groups, males under 25, males over 25, females under 25, females over 25. They approach these people on the street with a clipboard and ask them a few questions.The second type of advance screening is talkers, this is people who give a more indirect form of feedback. They see the finished product and won’t able to make any changes. The studio wants responses for future marketing campaigns. These people would normally see the film a few weeks before it is released. A company that manages talker screenings is ‘SeeFilmFirst’ and they select people to be talkers by asking questions online about the genres of films they like. They have to make sure they get the right audiences otherwise the results could damage the film because they are not appropriate to the audience’s interests.

The rules of good copy still apply: Copy plays an important role in film marketing, the copyright elements which are important include:• A strong headline to capture the audiences attention.• Show social proof through star endorsements, audience numbers, critic reviews or awards.• Convey your big idea/theme through compelling taglines.

Test: In the film industry, it can be difficult to know the impact of trailers in the cinema, posters on walls and ads in magazines. There is no way to understand the effectiveness of these promotional items and how they raise awareness. So the only way they gain an understanding is through customer research which needs to be conducted regularly.

Post Production

Anchorage for a film means ‘the fixing of meaning’ through connotations and signifiers (signs) and can be a main technique in print advertising. In ‘Need For Speed’ this is mainly the use of women and the use of cars. The posters that advertise the film both show this in their Mise en Scene and this is also shown in the latest cover for ‘Need for Speed’ video game. These are both positive and attractive things for the target audience of males aged 15-35. Also in the poster the Mise en Scene shows the typical genre because it has the helicopters in the sky and the setting is outdoors which shows there will be lots of racing and action, therefore making it more interesting. The text on the posters shows drama and emphasises the action genre because it looks like fire and makes the film look explosive. On one of the posters they show the main stars of the film which will have a major impact on the audience because that will be a main factor on them choosing to see the film. All of the factors discussed above are anchor points that will attract the target audience to the film and therefore are a good use of the marketing campaign.

Anchorage

Synergy is when there are products sold that are related to a film. They help to promote the film and advertise it by having products related to it. The main synergy for the film ‘Need For Speed’ is the video game that was released in 1994. The game has been very successful and therefore when the film was being released this had a major impact on the audiences that would go and see it.

Unique Selling Point (USP) is something about a film which makes it individual and stand out. The unique selling point for ‘Need For Speed’ is the use of attractive women and the use of cars, they are highly attractive to the target audience because this is typical of their likes. The posters that advertise the film both show this in their Mise en Scene and this is also shown in the latest cover for the ‘Need For Speed’ video game.

Synergy and USP