- •International business school – budapest
- •1. Introduction
- •1.1. Academic Background
- •1.2. Key Terms
- •1.2.1. Film Promotion
- •1.2.2. Promotion Strategies and Tools
- •1.3. Research Question and Objectives
- •If some of the release and post-release strategies - as practiced in the us - were adopted by the Russian film industry, filmmaking would be far more profitable.
- •2. Literature review
- •2.1. Promotion Strategies and Techniques
- •2.1.1. Promotion as Part of Marketing
- •2.1.2. Promotions Specific to the Film Industry
- •2.2. Comparison of us and Russian Film Promotion Tools
- •2.3. Main Differences in Promotion Strategies
- •3. Research Methodology
- •3.1. Research Design
- •3.1.1. Research Approach
- •3.1.2 Research Strategy
- •3.2. Data Collection
- •3.2.1. Interviews
- •3.2.2. Questionnaires
- •3.2.3. Secondary Sources
- •3.3. Methodology of Evaluation
- •3.4. Validity and Reliability
- •4. Data Analysis
- •4.1. The American Film Promotion
- •4.1.1. Secondary Research
- •4.1.2. Survey Results
- •4.1.3. Interview Results
- •4.2. The Russian Film Promotion
- •4.2.1. Secondary Research
- •4.2.2. Survey Results
- •4.2.3. Interview Results
- •5. Conclusions
- •1) To give an overview of promotional tools and strategies in general and in the film industry in particular
- •2) To analyse us film promotion through examples
- •3) To review the Russian film industry with a focus on the promotional aspect
- •4) To compare different ways of promotion in the two countries
- •5) To summarise a list of strategies that can benefit the Russian film industry
1.2.2. Promotion Strategies and Tools
According to Armstrong and Kotler (2009) product promoters should choose from a mix of strategies, pull promotion or push promotion. For a successful business it is important to know who the potential audience is, what their needs are and what the right time for delivering the goods is (Armstrong and Kotler, 2009). For the marketing manager, too, it is necessary to know who his customers are, how to make contact with them and what kind of messages they want to see. A manager should be able to design a clear marketing strategy using the following steps, - segmentation, targeting, positioning and differentiation.
The term ‘promotion’ in this dissertation is used interchangeably with ‘marketing communications’ which includes four main categories such as advertising, personal selling, public relations and sales promotion (Broderick and Pickton, 2005). These tools of marketing communications and promotion will be described in this dissertation because this theory is more in line with the views of the author, compared with others.
1.3. Research Question and Objectives
The question this research will be answering is the following:
What are the strategies and tools in the US film promotion that could potentially be applied to Russian film distribution?
The specific objectives underpinning this research are the following:
to give an overview of promotional tools and strategies in general and in the film industry in particular,
to analyse US film promotion through examples,
to review the Russian film industry with a focus on the promotional aspect,
to compare different ways of promotion in the two countries,
to summarise a list of strategies that can benefit the Russian film industry.
The Hypothesis of this dissertation is trying to support is the following:
If some of the release and post-release strategies - as practiced in the us - were adopted by the Russian film industry, filmmaking would be far more profitable.
2. Literature review
In the literature review part of the dissertation theoretical models, concepts and ideas drawn from different sources will be examined and critically analysed. Opinions presented in the form of books, journal articles, conference papers and websites that have been specifically concerned with issues of film promotion will be used as source.
First, promotion strategies and techniques in general will be reviewed followed by an analysis of those specific to the film industry. Next, a comparison of US and Russian film promotion will be made in order to highlight the main differences between them. In summary, opinions and conclusions will be drawn to support the propositions set forward in this dissertation.
As mentioned in the Key Terms section, the terminology of marketing communications and film promotion is interpreted differently by a number of authors. In this present chapter, a conceptual use of terms will be used in order to make arguments clear and logical.
The above research objectives will be described and summarised in the conclusion of the literature review section of the dissertation.