Beauty and the Beast Marketing Case Study

This was a huge release for Disney in 2017 and has had a phenomenal marketing machine behind it to ensure it was a success. I think it's safe to say they succeeded as it was the biggest March opening weekend of all time and the number one opening of 2017 to date taking £18.4 million in it's opening weekend. 

This was a remake of the very popular 1991 original cartoon which already had a huge fanbase so the film's marketing campaign relied heavily on nostalgia to bring in fans of the old disney film. They did this by using the original music, characters and costumes and recreating iconic shots from the first film such as the rose petals falling, Belle entering the castle and the beast tearing the family portrait. All these shots were used in the trailers, especially the teaser trailer which was devoted to enticing fans of the original film with direct parallels being drawn between the two. All this resulted in a record breaking weekend, second only to the release of 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' which also had a huge pre-existing fan base. 

We have been able to follow this film right from the start when the film was announced in 2015 as updates were released on casting the main characters, specific attention was on the casting of Emma Watson as Belle which caused a lot of excitement around the film. 

Next they released the first poster - a rose in a jar to reassure fans that this was going to be true to the 1991 original film - this was the first of the nostalgia fuelled campaign.

The next poster released was of the two main characters dancing to create hype around the romance and magic of the film. The background is dark to create a sense of mystery but also to entice fans by controlling the tantalisingly slow release of information about the film's look.

Afterwards a theatrical one sheet showed us the ensemble cast the movie sported using the famous actors (such as Emma Watson, Ewen McGregor, Ian McKellen and Emma Thompson) to rouse more fan support and hype. 

Next a triptych poster was used to show the three main parts of the story - the town and Belle’s life, the castle and the romance and the villain Gaston. This allowed fans to have a glimpse of the locations of the film too. 

Next a whole selection of specific character posters were released to show each individual character clearly. This, again, allowed the high profile cast to be flaunted to gain interest and excitement whilst also showing fans updated costumes from their favourite cartoon characters. 

These were also created as motion picture posters. 

The company then released a teaser trailer giving glimpses of the sets and characters using the original music and iconic shots and camera angles to spark further nostalgia. 

Then a full trailer was released outlining the story and showing iconic shots from the original film. 

The third trailer released went into more depth about Belle and the developments of her character the 2017 film had added. 

There was an official website for the film which sported a huge ‘Buy Tickets’ banner as well as trailer, behind the scenes pictures, film stills, a plot synopsis, the motion picture posters, cast interviews, the credits of everyone involved and links to the Disney store merchandise including dolls of the live action characters. 

Disney showed examples of synergy by promoting their 'Beauty and the Beast' apps from the film on their website to increase profits on multiple media platforms. 

There was a twitter, Facebook and Instagram page where the film was promoted with short clips and posters including countdowns to the release of the film, soundbites of the cast singing and ‘random’ pictures from behind the scenes. 

This reached huge audiences on social media and allowed fans to follow every step of the campaign by tracking the actors and specific film social media pages for updates and sneak peaks. 

TV spots aired showing clips of the film with each one focussing on different characters. One even aired at the golden globes opening ceremony and during the oscars broadcast. This meant the film reached industry experts and film fans who watched the award ceremonies at home, a more specific and highly relevant target audience.

Disney exercised corporate synergy when stars hosted an episode of ‘The Bachelor’ on ABC to promote the upcoming release. There was also lots of symbiosis with companies such as ‘HomeAway’ which offered the chance to stay at Duns castle with 20 guests, ‘Morgan Taylor’ with movie themed nail polish colours and Twining which put some of their tea flavours in movie branded packaging. 

Cast members did loads interviews to promote the film for magazines and youtube channels, the first being Emma Watson’s interview with EW which showed us first looks of her as Belle, pictures of the Beast and the movie’s tone. 

The film also had a lot of attention drawn to it through Disney's first explicitly gay character, 'LeFou' played by Josh Gad. This is a positive development in media representation however, that's not why this character made the news. The film was banned to anyone under 16 in Russia due to this representation and, in Malaysia, the film hasn't been exhibited due to Disney's refusal to remove the scene which they want censored. This has created a lot of talk around the film and it's characters, especially with Emma Watson's development of Belle as a feminist. This created lots of publicity around the film and actually helped generate audience interest. 

Overall this film campaign has been huge, expertly planned and perfectly pulled off. It used it's biggest source of income - pre-existing fans - as it's base using nostalgia and enticed new fans through famous casting choices, modern day story and character developments resulting in the most successful musical film opening weekend ever in the UK. 

Audience Feedback on my Final Cut

The target audience feedback was positive and I'm really happy with it. They said that they understood the plot and managed to relate to the protagonist because she is the same age as them. They also said it was incredibly tense and this atmosphere was created by the building 'franticness' of the scenes and the soundtrack. I put a lot of thought and effort into this so I am thrilled that they picked up on it. I did get more interest in the story when I showed the opening to girls and, although there may have been other reasons I believe this is because the opening is tailored to appeal to a female target audience.

They also said that it was good at foreshadowing the later action through the build up of flashbacks leading to the modern day moment.
One person said that they really enjoyed the clever use of media technologies to get information across to the audience (news report as Emma walks into the room). They said this meant they understood the plot and what was going on in the town without being overwhelmed or bored with information. They also really liked how it was still in the story so didn't break the bubble of the film world with an outside voiceover or information to read on the screen. They said it made it feel real and like they could've been there.
I was also told that my opening engages the audience through the use of the narrative enigma. After they'd watched the opening, every single person turned to me and said, "Well what happens?!" This is really encouraging as they were drawn into Emma's world and engaged with the characters so much they wanted to know what happened to them in the rest of my film.

I showed the finished opening to an audience member who'd watched one of the earlier rough cuts and said that they weren't sure when it was a flashback and when it was modern day. They suggested I maybe added transitions to show when we were moving between the two. On seeing the final cut they said it was much better and that the transitions I'd added really improved their understanding of the piece. They also said that they loved the filters I'd put on the flashbacks which helped to differentiate them even more from the real time action. I was really happy that they could see an improvement in my opening an that it helped their understanding of my plot.