The Marketing Plan for The Movie “The Disaster Artist”

Introduction

We are developing a marketing plan for the launch of a DVD for the movie “The Disaster Artist.” The movie will be released in 2016, and its DVDs will be up for sale in the market by 2017. A marketing plan is the best way to target the audience about a specific product/service to let the audience witness what the company wants to convey to the audience (Sestero and Bissell, 2017). For this purpose, the public of UK and USA are going to see the publicity and marketing done by our company, for the movie “The Disaster Artist”. The vision for this marketing plan is to increase the influence of the advertisement and marketing of the movie on the general public.

Context

Following the release of the movie, it is important that proper marketing is done to increase its awareness before the DVDs are sold in the market. For this purpose, appropriate marketing tactics need to be examined which will make the marketing of these DVDs more effective (Sestero and Bissell, 2017). In the modern world, there are new marketing techniques that companies and individuals use to increase their advertisements. As far as the movie is concerned, it displays a theme of filmmaking and the hurdles associated with the success of a filmmaker.

In the marketing plan for the movie, it is important to consider the external and internal factors associated with the success of its marketing (Kim and Kim, 2018). Considering the SWOT of the movie and its DVD release will make it easier for the implementation of the marketing plan (Bull et al., 2016). Considering that the movie has a star cast like James France and Dave Franco, it is the strength of the movie, as the audience will be attracted directly because of the strong cast. The weakness of the movie might be the limited audience that will watch it. Threats to the movie are directly related to the other movies that will be released at the same time, such as “The Disaster Artist.” Opportunities for the movie include increasing the areas where they can launch movies in DVD format.

After this analysis, it should be considered how the promotion and marketing of the movie will undergo in the UK and USA (Bull et al., 2016). Billboard advertising is the most beneficial way of communicating with the general public regarding the promotion of DVDs. According to surveys, every person in a day witnesses at least 10-15 billboards on the roadsides while driving or walking. Making the faces of James Franco and Dave Franco on the billboard designs and displaying the name of the movie along with it will make it more attractive for the audience to witness. The billboard can also say, “get your DVD from the nearest store” or “be the first to have the disaster DVD”. Another way of marketing can be done in stores or in shopping malls, where fliers and large banners of “The Disaster Artist” can be displayed. In a shopping mall or a complex, there are the most people every day, increasing the public’s interaction towards the advertisement. Placing a vertical standing banner with a display of James France and saying “DVDs in stores now” can be a very effective strategy.

Marketing and financial expectations

As for the marketing of the DVDs, it is expected that the movie will produce great results financially and in marketing of the movie. The markets selected for this plan are the US and UK markets, and depending on the larger audience, it is expected that there will be large sales of the DVDs of the movie in both countries. In the US and UK, it is expected that “The Disaster Artist” will produce a revenue of $26M a year, which will include the DVDs sold and cinema shows of the movie. However, depending on the audience, it can increase or decrease. The marketing of the movie will also increase the expectations for the producers, as the movie will portray the culture of Hollywood and the new entrants in the filmmaking industry.

Target Audience

The target audience, or target market, is the segment of a market that is chosen on the basis of a product/service that is made specially for that audience/market (Russo, 2016). Selecting a specific market helps a company limit its product/service to that audience only and, in return, increases the revenue of the company (Russo, 2016). As “The Disaster Artist” is a movie based on the filmmaking and life of Hollywood, the best audience for this movie will be the filmmakers and the students who are studying filmmaking as a professional subject. This target audience is selected because the movie is specific to a topic of filmmaking, and targeting all the people in the area might not be beneficial for the company, as they might not watch the movie or buy the DVD. Students who are studying filmmaking will get help from watching the movie, which will provide a description of filmmaking and make a clear picture of the future of filmmaking.

Competitors

“The Disaster Artist” is expected to release in the month of March 2017. There are a lot of other movies also released around the date on which “The Disaster Artist” will be released in the month of March. “IT” and “The Shack” will be released at the same time. While “Logan” and “Get Out” will be released in February 2017 (Alonso-Población, Fidalgo-Castro and Palazón-Monforte, 2016). These potential competitors will have a lot of competition based on the audience that will buy the DVDs for the movie.

References

Alonso-Población, E., Fidalgo-Castro, A. and Palazón-Monforte, D., 2016. Ethnographic filmmaking as narrative capital enhancement among Atauro diverwomen: a theoretical exploration. Development in Practice, 26(3), pp.262-271.

Bull, J.W., Jobstvogt, N., Böhnke-Henrichs, A., Mascarenhas, A., Sitas, N., Baulcomb, C., Lambini, C.K., Rawlins, M., Baral, H., Zähringer, J. and Carter-Silk, E., 2016. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats: A SWOT analysis of the ecosystem services framework. Ecosystem services, 17, pp.99-111.

Kim, S. and Kim, S., 2018. Segmentation of potential film tourists by film nostalgia and preferred film tourism program. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 35(3), pp.285-305.

Russo, H., 2016. Explaining Box Office Performance from the Bottom Up: Data, Theories and Models (Doctoral dissertation, George Mason University).

Sestero, G. and Bissell, T., 2017. The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made. Simon and Schuster.