Advertising Market Booms
In 2002, Korean film industry reached the highest
peak, attracting more than one hundred million people to theaters. Each film
production & distribution company has used all kinds of marketing tools in
order to draw one more audience. In addition to four media including TV, radio,
newspapers and magazines, they have also employed all kinds of outdoor
advertising systems.
Korean Film Industry Achieved a
Rapid Growth
Last year, Korean film industry established a new
record, exceeding one hundred million audiences. It gained 46.7% market share by
the end of the year. Total 79 motion pictures were produced and distributed.
Korean film industry exported $ 15 million of Korean movies to oversees markets.
According to Korean Film Commission's recent survey, it is estimated that in
2002, the number of audience was one hundred million and seven hundred, which
was the highest record after the year 1973, and a person watched three pieces of
movies on the average. Every year, roughly 300 films have been released in the
market. In the competitive movie market, each movie should be promoted more
effectively for the release to the public through all sorts of media. Film
promotion and marketing means all activities used for a new movie opening from
the beginning to completion of the production of movie. As for the promotion of
a new film, the first thing to do is to understand accurately itself. In other
words, the key elements such as film story, the scale of film production, and
special effect should be first considered to map out a promotion strategy. After
completely understanding a new movie prior to the release, promotion and
marketing strategies are settled depending on these elements.
Outdoor Advertising Market Has Been Booming
A great
number of films are simultaneously released through hundreds of screens across
the country. It is no exaggeration to say that success or failure of a film
depends on how many people are crowded around cinemas during the first week when
a film is released. If a film would not attract a great number of audiences
during that time, the distribution of the film will come to stop. That is why
all film-producing companies do their best whenever promoting a new film,
staking their life or death. Consequently, outdoor advertising market has also
been more booming. Outdoor advertising systems are more effective and
distinctive to advertise a film than any other media. Relationship between film
industry and outdoor advertising industry is kind of the one of bolts and nuts.
Outdoor advertising market is on the tract to grow 12.4 percent ($872 billion)
from last year. Vehicle advertising and subway advertising have served as a
mainspring, which increases outdoor advertising market. A film producing company
as well as cinema studio has preferred both bus and subway advertising despite
of steadily increasing ad rates.
An Increasing Promotion Cost on
Outdoor Advertising
Swiri, which gained the greatest box-office
record in the early of 1999, is a successful model for film promotion and
marketing strategy. The film costs total 3.2 billion dollars (production cost: $
2.7 billion, marketing cost: $ 0.4 billion). To make it the greatest
blockbuster, the film-producing company had already established various
marketing strategies based on the characteristic of each media before the film
was completed. And for the movie promotion, the film-producing company, for the
first time, installed standing signboards in front of theaters. According to
Korean Film Commission, an average production cost per film was almost 2.8
billion dollars (including production cost and marketing cost) in 2001 while it
took $3.3 billion to produce Swiri. The official in film industry said that if
the whole cost used to produce a film would be $3 billion, one billion would be
spent into promotion & marketing activities. What is more, in some cases,
the film costing $ 1 billion uses $ 0.4~0.5 billion for promotion and marketing
areas. In this situation, the outdoor advertising expenditure is given much
weight in the total marketing & promotion estimate. Each film-producing
company tries to possess more effective locations for their outdoor advertising
systems before films are completed. In the past time, a simple poster was the
only outdoor media to advertise a film. However, a wide range of outdoor
advertising systems like subway and buses have recently been utilized to promote
a film. Each film-producing company officially released that we usually spent
about 10% of total marketing and promotion costs in outdoor advertising.
Bus Advertising
Along with subway advertising, bus
advertising systems have served as important media for film promotion and
marketing. Bus advertising graphics can be applied onto the exterior of bus and
bus shelter. For promotion & marketing, all film-producing companies have
considered bus advertising as one of the most pivotal media. As the sign code
related with the size of bus advertisement has been deregulated in these days,
it is expected to multiply ad impact. Because bus advertising is ideal for a
short-term promotion, it is the best solution in the case of short-period
announcements like movie release and department store's event. About six percent
of all bus-advertising systems is performed by movie promotion. Now 800~1,000
buses are usually used to advertise new films per month. Meanwhile, when it
comes to bus shelter, many advertising agencies have already contracted
exclusive possession. However they would be willing to place a short-term
advertising campaign like movie ads on bus shelters.
Subway
Advertising
It was not difficult to encounter a variety of movie posters on
the streets a few years ago. However, these posters have recently been papered
on the walls of subway stations. Subway stations with the highest floating
population is the best place for outdoor advertising systems. Also, for movie's
promotion & marketing, subway stations are the most appealing sites. The
places available in subway station are the exterior and interior of subway, the
wall of subway stations and roadbeds etc, and the kinds of outdoor advertising
system applied into subway station have become also various. Film-producing
companies started to promote movies through subway advertising at the middle of
1990. Subway advertising was in the height of prosperity during two years from
1999 to 2000. It was the same time that Korean film industry had been
prosperous. Jaeseok Park, general manager of Junkang Ad, said that all of the
posters in subway stations were for movie ads and posters installed in a line at
the entrance of subway stations had the greatest ad impact. He also explained
that each film-producing company spent eight thousand seven hundred dollars in
poster advertising. As subway advertising has enjoyed a favorable business
climate, several of newly developed outdoor media like PDP system and projector
screen were first introduced in subway stations in 2001. These outdoor media
have doubled ad impact, providing real images with audience.
Outdoor Mobile Media
Unlike stationary billboards,
Outdoor mobile media makes advertising campaign easy to see in heavy traffic.
With attention-getting illumination and high fidelity colors, advertising
message becomes an event. Outdoor mobile advertising includes bus wrapping and
video screen mobile. A graphic - wrapping bus increases a recall rates,
regularly moving around the area with heavy traffic. Especially because the
outdoor advertising system is effective target marketing and allows for greater
message penetration, it is suitable for movie advertising. Outdoor Mobile Media
had experienced such growth from the early of 2000 to the middle of 2001. Yet,
as it has been more restricted under outdoor advertising law since the end of
2002, few outdoor mobile media, now, are used for movie promotion. Another type
of outdoor mobile media is the vehicle furnished with a video screen as a
display system. Display systems available for outdoor mobile media are an
electric board, a multivision and a projector screen. Most of outdoor mobile
media are equipped with a projector screen, and promote a new film opening.
Compared with an electric board, its resolution is more inferior. However, due
to lower rent fee, the system becomes more popular in the film industry. A
mobile billboard surely is the outdoor media for providing the message to a
highly targeted audience. The mobile billboard is appropriate for a film
promotion because movie ad can be exposed to a targeted audience anytime. The
outdoor system allows for the highest message penetration, thereby it is better
answer for a short-term promotion. For this reasons, recently, the mobile
billboards have been widely used for new products launch and grand opening
campaign. The benefits of outdoor mobile media are as below: Higher Reach and
Frequency (Allows for greater message penetration), Visibility and Impact
(Guaranteed by message size and dominance), High Exposure (Anywhere, around the
clock, day and night), Reinforcement (Consistently reinforced message), Location
(On the road with consumers in downtowns), Duration (Longer audience exposure),
and Coverage (More geographic territory than a static billboard)
etc.
Multiplex Cinema
Since 1998, the number of
multiplex cinemas has been dramatically increasing across the country. The
growing number of multiplex cinemas has had a great effect on film industry,
increasing the number of an audience and showing more films. In the competitive
market, all film-producing companies have struggled to promote their films,
using a variety of sign systems around multiplex cinemas. In the past time, the
only sign for movie promotion was hand-painted graphics in the front of a
theater. In these days, the advent of digital printing technology has allowed
for completely replacing the old signs with digitally printed graphics with high
quality. And the steadily increasing number of theaters has required more sign
systems including banner stand, poster and P.O.P, which results in the
development of sign industry. All film-producing companies are devoted to
promoting a new film at a theater to attract those who do not decide which movie
they are going to watch even on the site. The number of sign shops specializing
in producing movie ads has been strikingly increasing since 2000. The item of a
film on sale is totally different from general products. Therefore, sign-making
shop must work for the job through completely different approach to the film
industry. The majority of film-producing companies have business partners for
making sign systems. Usually, a movie promotion takes one or two months. So
graphic durability is not a big issue, but color consistency as well as
turnaround time is most critical. Even small errors on graphics can result in
ruining an entire movie promotion plan. A film-producing company feels
comfortable to work with regular sign shops, which can produce unique graphics
despite of using the same substrates. These sign shops need to own super
large-format digital printer to satisfy client's needs of making much bigger
graphics.
Unique Promotion
A Film producer and sale
agent have been working with LG Caltex Oil, one of the largest petroleum
refining companies, for their film promotions. In the close of 1999, LG Caltex
Oil held initiatively a cinema preview for their customers. It was successful
enough to promote the identity and brand of LG Caltex Oil. Since then, the
company has continued to run the collaborative marketing with the film-producing
company. The film-producing company uses a gas station as promotion area at the
cost of holding a movie preview for LG Cartec Oil. Because most of gas stations
are located next to roads with heavy traffic, a film-producing company can come
up with the best combination to offer and deliver creative message. Jungeung
Choi of LG Caltex Oil Inc., said that collaborative marketing were win-win
business, which provides competitive advantage to both companies. For a new film
release, around 50~200 banners are simultaneously installed at 50~200 gas
stations for two weeks. | |
