Social Networking

With the increased popularity of social networking, especially Facebook, film studios have been able to capitalise on the growing number of people using these websites by marketing their films on them. Every film that is now made has most definitely got a Facebook page, as it is a cheap and useful way of marketing to a huge number of people, with over 500m users regularly using the website.

Even though The Kings Speech is aimed at an older audience, it still has a Facebook page, with 71,000 'Likes'. The studio has used the page to try and sell the soundtrack to the film, and it also has a section called 'Showtimes', which shows the cinemas and the times it is on at.

With the younger target audience for Big Mommas House, its no surprise that it has more page views and 'likes' than The Kings Speech, with over 1.1m 'likes'. The page also includes trailers and the music video, reviews of the film, and photos from the film. Unlike The Kings Speech page, this page doesn't try and sell anything to the audience, because the target audience isn't willing, or doesn't possess a debit/credit card, meaning they can't even purchase anything online.

YouTube

With YouTube being the main way for films to be advertised online, its essential that every film made has its trailer available for viewing. Even though The Kings Speech doesn't have an official channel, the trailer of the film is available on various other channels, with over 1 million views, showing just how powerful YouTube and the internet have become in relation to other forms of marketing a film, eg. tv or billboards.

Viral Marketing

With Big Mommas House being targeted at a young audience who spend a lot of time on the internet, viral marketing is one the easiest and cheapest ways studios can market. However, this isn't the case with The Kings Speech, as their target audience don't use the internet as frequently as their younger counterparts.

As younger people use the internet a lot nowadays, and with Hip-Hop music being a very popular genre for this age group, the viral marketing behind Big Mommas House 3 has been used very affectively, by posting a music video for the film on YouTube. This way, people who like the song can pass the video around to each other, creating a buzz about the film for free.

Official Websites

With Big Momma's House being a comedy that is mainly targeted at a young demographic, they made sure their official website would be appealing to that age group. Once you open the page, a soundtrack automatically plays, which is the followed by the trailer playing at the centre of the page. Underneath the videos, there are options to download an app and a ringtone, which makes perfect sense, as these forms of marketing would most appeal to teenagers and young adults, who consume this type of media the most. Also, at the bottom of the page, their are links to their social networking pages and YouTube page, again reflective of the young audience they are marketing to.

On the other hand, The King's Speech is aimed at a much older audience, who aren't frequent users of the internet, which shows why the official website doesn't exist anymore.

Online Film Marketing

Conclusion

To conclude, I have realised how the long tail theory applies to this case study. Even though Michael Jackson is extremely popular and there are a limited number of popular artists, with the growth of the internet, artists like D-Pryde can also have his own fanbase of a few hundred thousand, and with many other independent artists having the same amount of fans, it shows that the long tail theory works in real life, as people consume more of less popular things.

Downloading (Mainstream)

With MJ being signed to a major label, they seek to make profit, so in order to download his music, you would have to pay for it. On Amazon, the prices vary from 69p for a single download, to £4.99- £9.49 for albums. Play.com is also very similar with its pricing, with singles downloads at 89p, and albums from £8.49.

Downloading (Independent)

Like most independent artists, D-Pryde has decided to give away his music for free in the hope that people will listen to it, like it, and become a fan of his. This website has 163 different D-Pryde songs which are available for free download.

http://www.mp3raid.com/music/d_pryde.html

YouTube Videos 2

YouTube Videos

Other Forms Of Promotion

Due to the financial disadvantage, D-Pryde can't have his songs playing on popular radio stations, or put his music videos on TV channels, like MTV, meaning he has to find other ways to promote his music, which has been made easier with the emergence of YouTube. D-Pryde used this platform to gain an audience who have now become his fans after 2 years of posting videos and songs. His first upload attracted 136,464 views, which was of a remix of Kanye West's song 'Good Life'. His latest upload is of a music video he shot, which has attracted 653,338 views, which is a huge increase in 2 years, using simple viral marketing.

Social Networking (Mainstream)

Even though D-Pryde has managed to get a respectable amount of friends on Facebook without any finances, he simply can't compete with mainstream artists. Even with Michael Jackson's death, he is still holds the record for the most friends on Facebook, with over 27 million, beating the likes of Barack Obama, Eminem and Lady Gaga. Also, unlike D-Pryde's Facebook account, MJ's account has a store section were you can buy merchandise and albums. This clearly shows the huge difference in popularity between mainstream and independent artists, which is affectively down to the money spent on promotion.

http://www.facebook.com/michaeljackson

Social Networking (Independent)

DPryde has Facebook, MySpace and Twitter accounts to promote himself. For each site, the amount of fans/followers is vital to how many potential people he can reach without expensive advertising costs. On Facebook, he has 72,477 friends, 24,295 followers on Twitter, and even though he hasn't visited his MySpace account since August 2010, he has still achieved 2,298,767 page views, shows his potential audience without any financial backing.

Marketing (Mainstream) Part 2

This an article from Michael Jackson's website showing that Sony still spend big money to market his album, even after his death.

The 29,070 ft² poster smashes the previous record by more than 110 ft²
London, UK (9 December 2010) – Guinness World Records, the global authority on record breaking, today confirms that a poster erected to mark the release of Michael Jackson's 'Michael' album (released 13th December) has set a new record as the world's largest poster.
Guinness World Records confirmed that the poster of Michael Jackson's 'Michael' measures 171ft by 170ft with a total surface area of 29,070 ft², smashing the previous record - held by the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver - by more than 110 ft². To put it into perspective, the 'Michael' poster would take over three quarters of the pitch at Wembley stadium, is longer than the equivalent of six Routemaster buses end-to-end and if upright would be higher than Nelson's column.

http://www.michaeljackson.com/uk/news/guinness-world-records-confirms-michael-jackson%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98michael%E2%80%99-album-artwork-world%E2%80%99s-largest-poste

Marketing (Independent)

Being an independent artist, he doesn't have the same marketing budget as Michael Jackson, meaning he has to be more creative with his promotion. The main tools he uses to promote himself is social networking sites, using Facebook and MySpace, and most importantly for D-Pryde himself, he posted videos on YouTube, which is how he gained most of his followers.

Marketing (Mainstream)

With Michael Jackson being one of the most successful artists ever, he is obviously going to get marketing budgets in the millions. For his album HIStory, Sony spent $30m to promote it, which included having statues of MJ positioned throughout Europe to promote the album.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIStory:_Past,_Present_and_Future,_Book_I#Promotion

Official Website

Michael Jackson

On his website, he has links to buy his album, it has artist information, music videos, and a fans community section, with a forum where they can interact together. In the store section, there are links to buy his albums from various websites, including iTunes ans Amazon. There is also a link to buy his merchandise, with various products including T-Shirts, bags, scarfs and calendars.

http://www.michaeljackson.com/uk/home

Record Labels (Mainstream)

Michael Jackson

Record Labels (Independent)

D-Pryde

Independent

D-Pryde

Mainstream

Michael Jackson