3) To review the Russian film industry with a focus on the promotional aspect
Russian film industry experienced difficulties after the collapse of the Soviet Union, even though it was a powerful industry before the 1990s. Nowadays Russian film industry is a victim of favoritism exercised by the government, consequently small film companies struggle for survival.
The most successful recent Russian film was Christmas Trees 3 in 2013 which earned in excess of $38 million in the box office. As the viewing number indicates it is substantially lower than earned by its American counterpart.
An interview with the owner of a Russian film promotion company demonstrated that film promotion is not rated high by directors and filmmakers because of their lack of understanding of the market or the lack of willingness to spend on film promotion. Available finances are not high enough to make effective campaigns.
The majority of respondents to the Russian survey agreed that the most attractive promotional strategy for them is the release strategy based on trailers. Other popular ways finding information about new films are via the Internet and social media. It is interesting to note that the role of Internet is stronger in Russia than in the USA.
4) To compare different ways of promotion in the two countries
This objective was investigated by the author throughout of the dissertation. To improve Russian film promotion it is necessary to compare it to a successful film industry, which is, in this context, is the USA. This comparison is described in detail in the Literature Review.
The conclusion was reached that the reason for continued success of the American film industry lies in its successful and creative promotional activities, while the Russian film industry does not attach the same value to this activity.
The examples of how Russian films compete with the American films are described in the Data Analysis section. For example, the Russian film, Christmas Trees 3’s box office success amounted to little more than $38 million while its competitor, the American Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug amounted to more than $44 million.
The reasons for the low takings of Russian films are provided in the interviews. The Russian interviewee said that his company’s budget for promotion is only $50 thousand, while American promoters’ budgets come to over $30 million just for preparing domestic marketing and promotion campaigns. Also, American film promotion industry employs professionals, while its Russian counterpart employs less experienced staff.
American film promoters monitor the needs of the customer and always create new campaigns using the latest technologies. Russian promoters, on the other hand, use only traditional methods not having the technological and financial opportunities as the Americans do. Moreover, due to promotion American films are popular abroad are not.
5) To summarise a list of strategies that can benefit the Russian film industry
All tools and strategies are listed in the Literature Review and they could be applied by Russian film promoters. Among these strategies release and post-release were highlighted. These would make the Russian film industry far more profitable than it currently is. Release strategy includes product advertising at big events, advertising via the Internet, social media and film websites and international and domestic exhibitions. Post-release strategy includes merchandising and Internet advertising; both useful in increasing box office success and providing a good return to filmmakers on their investment and make profit as well.
According to the results of the survey people prefer to use the Internet for new information and use social media to share this with their friends. Social media is a new tool for people working in marketing and promotion. As of yet social media is not widely used in the release or post-release stage and both American and Russian film promoters could begin to use it more frequently. There were only two examples found for Internet and social media promotion during the investigation, one was Ray William Johnson and Dmitry “Goblin” Puchkov who use these tools extensively in the release and post-release stages.
Russian film professionals should identify ways in which they could save on release and post-release campaigns and use their budget more wisely. In the American film industry the budget, which used to be a single budget, will be divided into two one used for making the film, the other for promotion. This would be useful strategy for the Russian film industry as well.
Finally, Russian promoters should always remember that creativity generates interest. Russian film promotion now needs more young and competent professionals to further develop the industry and to share experiences with one another. The lack of training is another problem for the Russian film industry. Eventhough there are many institutions and universities where filmmaking is taught as a subject in Russia, none of their curricula includes marketing and promotion related to film.
Looking at the hypothesis of the dissertation it could be claimed that, based on evidence found during the course of this research, all American film promotion strategies could be applied by Russian professionals in order to benefit the Russian film industry and to make it more profitable. The Research part of the dissertation does not fully support the hypothesis but it demonstrates that potential audience follows very closely film promotion strategies and tools. Russian promoters could employ all discussed strategies and add their own to attract wider audiences for the Russian film industry.
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Appendices
Appendix 1
The Integrated Marketing Communications Mix Model (Broderick and Pickton, 2005)
Appendix 2
Interview Questions
1. How long have you been working in the film promotion and distribution industry? In what capacity?
2. How would you describe current situation for film promotion industry in your country?
3. In your opinion, why is promotion so important for the film industry? Do promotion strategies help films to become far more profitable?
4. List some domestic films for which you created promotional campaigns.
5. What promotional tools and strategies do you use for promoting films in your country?
6. According to your personal experience, which film promotion strategies and tools are the most important and widely used by your company?
7. What resources, for example people and finance, do you need to create attractive promotional campaigns for potential audience?
8. List some risks and problems that may hinder the quality of your work.
9. According to my research, the most effective promotional strategies for films are the release strategy, such as advertising and exhibitions, and the post-release strategies, for example merchandising. Do you agree with this statement? If not, please, explain.
10. Do you monitor the needs of the audience and latest tendencies to create distinctive and interesting film promotion campaigns and if yes, how? For example, promoters of the Avatar movie organised a video conference between film creators and film audiences via Skype.
11. Nowadays the Internet plays a huge role in everyday people’s life and some companies use different techniques to promote films through social media websites. Does your company use the Internet and social media to create promotional campaigns?
12. How do you see the future of the film promotion and distribution industry in your country?
Appendix 3
Survey Questions
1. What is your gender?
.........................................................................................................................................
2. What is your age?
12-17
18-24
25-34
35-44
45-54
Older than 54
3. Where do you live?
Big city
Small town
Village
4. On average, how many domestic films have you seen within the last three months?
1-2
3-5
More than 6
5. Please choose how much you agree with the following statement: “The film marketing in my country is weak and I do not pay attention to in any film promotional campaigns”.
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
6. What attracts you the most to see domestic films? Please choose one or two which are the most important in your opinion:
Famous actors and actresses
Storyline
Famous director
Interesting trailer
7. What is the most common way you find out information about new domestic films? Please choose one or two which are the most important in your opinion:
Through the Internet
On the television
In magazines or journals
In cinemas by posters and trailers
8. What promotional tools affect you to see new domestic films? Please choose one or two which are the most important in your opinion:
Radio advertising
Social media websites, such as Facebook or VK.com
Word-of-mouth
Billboards and posters
Television advertising
What is the most effective way to promote new domestic films to potential audience?
.........................................................................................................................................
9. Do you buy DVDs and Blu-Rays?
Yes
No
10. Do you watching domestic films on the Internet?
Yes
No
11. Do you buy merchandising, such as t-shirts, collectable staff, toys and others which are related to domestic films?
Yes
No
12. Please choose how much you agree with the following statement: “I like to see interesting and new film promotion campaigns, for example video conference with film’s creators via Skype or take part in different competitions to win free tickets and prizes”
Agree
Neutral
Disagree