*corrections in yellow*
Evaluate the role of digital technologies in the marketing and
consumption of products in the area you have studied
My American conglomerate case study is Guardians of the
Galaxy (here on abbreviated to Guardians), from Marvel, directed by James Gunn
and released on the 31st July 2014 in the UK. My British independent case study is
Kingsman: The Secret Service (here on abbreviated to Kingsman), from MARV,
directed by Matthew Vaughn and released on the 29th January 2015 in
the UK.
My case studies come from Marvel Studios
and MARV films. Marvel Studios was created in 1993 and was called Marvel
Films until 1996. It is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios but owns
Marvel Worldwide Inc. also known as Marvel Comics. They have created 3
multi-film-franchises, which have earned over $1 billion in revenue each.
The current president is producer Kevin Feige. Comparatively
smaller, MARV Films, also known as MARV was founded in 2004 and is owned by
Matthew Vaughn, who also directs the films. Their most famous and
successful films to date have been Layer Cake (2004), Stardust (2007), Kick-Ass (2010) and Kingsman:
The Secret Service (2015). Both case studies
used a variety of different digital technologies in the marketing and
consumption of their products.
One of the biggest aids to marketing
using digital technologies was the use of social media and websites by Marvel
and MARV. James Gunn, Kevin Feige and
the official Marvel Twitter account were consistently posting about Guardians
during its pre-production, production and post-production phase. This was used to get people interested in
the film from the very beginning and keep people updated on how work on the
film was progressing. Marvel also put
up bloopers from Guardians onto YouTube to further indicate that the film was
fun and worth watching. Marvel used
many of their own accounts to post about Guardians, which may have been a
little unsuccessful since they were also posting about many of their other
films at the same time. Marvel also
created websites and webpages to get people interested in the film. For example, Galaxy Getaways was created to
allow people to find a little bit about the different planets that are
mentioned in the film. This would most
likely have been very helpful, as, due to the fact that many people’s names
were also somewhat “alien”, it is very easy for planets and names to be
confused. It also was quite novel, as
“Launchpad sites” were the location of cinemas, adding to the fun element of
the film. They also created a webpage
for the film; this was somewhat more boring as it merely linked back to the
original Marvel website. MARV took a
somewhat similar approach; they created social media accounts specifically for
Kingsman on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, as well as other social media sites. This could easily have been more effective
than Marvel using their own since it was all Kingsman. However, it also didn’t have the same
personal touch as was had by James Gunn and Kevin Feige using their own
accounts, since Matthew Vaughn doesn’t have a Twitter account. They also created a Kingsman website which
linked up to a game, the merchandise and people who were in the film, to
introduce people to the film in an interesting way. Overall, in regards to marketing using social media and websites, both Marvel and MARV came up with unique and interesting ways to advertise their products, though Marvel did fall down on its decision to use its one Twitter account to post major news about Guardians as it could easily be lost in the other posts that may come up regarding comic books or other films.
In a very similar way to using social
media and websites, creating games was very popular with both companies, and encouraging cross media convergence by incorporating both computers and phones. MARV included a game on their website; you
could link your phone up to the computer and play the games via that. This was probably quite effective, unless
you didn’t have a smartphone and then you couldn’t play the game. However, since the target audience was young
adults, and most people nowadays have some kind of smartphone, the game
introduced people to the film in an interesting way. Marvel created Guardians of the Galaxy: The
Universal Weapon, which could be found on the app store. This had the same problems as Kingsman with
the idea that without a smartphone you could not play it; as well, the game was
not directly linked to the film and only included the same characters, meaning
that the film does not automatically spring to mind. However, since it was a game that could be
played by anybody, then it also attracted the much younger audience that
Guardians was aiming towards. Once again, both Marvel and MARV had a similar idea in regards to advertising with the creation of games; both executed the idea in different ways. Due to the general hassle of connecting your phone up to the computer however, I feel Marvel's game would have been more successful as it would have been easier to access.
Digital technology was also used to
market through adverts such as teaser trailers, interviews and posters on
websites. The Guardians cast did almost
all of their interviews in America, although they were also interviewed at the
UK premiere. However, many of the
interviews could be found on YouTube, allowing them to be seen by people in
countries all around the world. The
teaser trailers could be found in the same way- on YouTube, on TV as well as in
cinemas and even in IMAX theatres. This
meant that a variety of people were able to find out about the film in a variety
of different ways. With Kingsman, the
adverts could be also be seen in cinemas, online and on TV. However, they were not given a trailer in
IMAX theatres, as they weren’t showing their film in IMAX theatres either. This meant that less people would actually
be able to find out about the film, though this wouldn’t be a particularly
large amount. Many Kingsman interviews
were British-led, but there were also interviews in America, meaning that more
people could be targeted. Similarly to
Guardians, the interviews could be found online. Posters for both films could be seen on film
websites and blogs specifically, as well as popping up at the sides of web
pages. Traditional methods of advertising are still obviously used, which can be seen through this use of interviews and posters, and also demonstrates that despite the difference in budget, that the films would still advertise in the same way as their most effective method of campaigning.
Kingsman was released on digital format
only, meaning it couldn’t be put in as many cinemas as Guardians was. However, this didn’t stop its success, as it
ended up making a profit of $414.4
million. Guardians was released in a
lot more formats; as well as digital format, it was released in D-Box screens
and IMAX screens. By releasing it on
more screens it could reach a wider audience.
It ended up making a net profit of about $204.2 million. In regards to consumption, Marvel was able to reach a much larger audience. However, despite Marvel being able to reach a larger audience, MARV more than quadrupled it's budget in profit. This highlights the idea that despite the benefits of new technologies to the audience, such as the idea of being more in depth in the action, not investing your film into them does not necessarily decrease popularity.
When the two films were released on,
they were both released similarly to their cinema formats, with the idea that
Guardians was released on more formats.
Guardians was released on DVD, Blu-Ray, Blu-Ray 3D and digital download
meaning that it could be seen on more things.
Kingsman was released on DVD and Blu-ray but was also released on
digital HD, making it a higher quality than the Guardians copy. This once again shows the idea in the change into the audience as producer, and the fact that higher budget films still need to be down to the earth, in the sense of still doing things that lower budget films do.
In regards to piracy, Kingsman was one
of the top 10 films, which was pirated in 2015, with over 30,922,937 downloads
by the end of 2015. This may have had
to do with the fact that it is not on Netflix and has to be bought or rented
from Amazon prime. Guardians was also pirated over 10,000 times but was
less popular to download, since all versions of the film to be pirated were
bootleg copies recorded on a camcorder. This highlights the idea that, due to it being a much bigger company, Marvel would be able to protect it's material easier than MARV could and does show some differentiation between American conglomerate films and British independent films in regards to digital technologies, since Kingsman was consumed illegally many more times than Guardians was.
Overall, both Marvel and MARV were very similar in the use of digital technologies in regards to marketing and consumption. Both went down more traditional routes in regards to the teaser trailer, the posters and the interviews, but also went into the idea of new media in regards to Twitter. They also went into the idea of more modern technologies by making apps or games. However, Marvel could better protect its film from being pirated which does show, that despite both being successes, in the fight against piracy, the American conglomerate won.
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