The Hunger Games-How to Build Audience's Appetite for New Flicks

Film companies spend millions on marketing campaigns for their new movie launches. Back in the day, a great TV ad or a print in the NYTimes could get you enough buzz to make your movie succesful. Now, that art of movie promotion has changed and involves online marketing campaigns across all social media forums, websites, and blogs.  Part of the solution relies on those trailer editors: how to give just enough to entice but not so much where people feel they have seen the best parts of a movie in the trailer.

See Video Here:
http://www.nytimes.com/video/business/media/100000001433276/feeding-hunger-for-the-hunger-games.html

The Hunger Games has a tricky task at hand, being  a four-movie franchise that deals with the subject matter of children killing children--Lord of the Flies much? “The beam for this movie is really narrow, and it’s a sheer drop to your death on either side,” said Mr. Palen, during an unusually candid two-hour presentation of his “Hunger Games” strategy at the studio’s offices here last month.

The Hunger Games can attribute much of its success to the already existing fan base.  "Lionsgate has generated this high level of interest with a marketing staff of 21 people working with a relatively tiny budget of about $45 million. Bigger studios routinely spend $100 million marketing major releases, and have worldwide marketing and publicity staffs of over 100 people. The studio has been able to spend so little largely because Mr. Palen has relied on inexpensive digital initiatives to whip up excitement."  One such online initiative was a sweepstakes that brought five fans to the movies' North Carolina set.
 



The new installment of the Hunger Games is in theatres now!

For more reading: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/19/business/media/how-hunger-games-built-up-must-see-fever.html?_r=0&adxnnl=1&pagewanted=2&adxnnlx=1385338682-rTVkJFTqEe/GAtRbYLhewg