Film Marketing.

“Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.” - Mark Twain.

One of the most influential horror movie directors of all time; Alfred Hitchcock changed the way people went to the cinema. During the 1960’s, marketing was new and pioneering. Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ was highly anticipated and it sent the world on a cinema frenzy.  

Here are the different types of marketing techniques and how it’s evolved through time:

- Traditional Marketing:

Word-of-Mouth: This is the most inexpensive techinque to advertise and market a film. Modern publicising and advertising is constantly changing because our attitudes to media are changing and the way we consume media is changing.

- Contemporary Marketing:

Internet Usage: Using the internet to advertise films is probably the easiest way to gain popularity before the release date. It's becoming a popular way to engage target audiences, especially teenagers who spend the majority of their time on social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and on video-sharing sites like YouTube. An example of this would be ‘Paranormal Activity’. The entire marketing campaign was created online. This strategy worked so well that cinemas were desperate to release it worldwide.

- Past Advertising:

Time Restrictions: Hitchcock developed a ‘time restriction’ at theatres that stopped the box office from selling tickets for ‘Psycho’ after the film had started. People were turned away if they were late.

Trailers: In the trailer for ‘Psycho’, Hitchcock went through the movie rather than showed his audiences what would happen. The mystery and secrecy created excitement, thus convincing you that you needed to see this film. This is why the film had such phenomenal box office success. The jump at the end leaves the audience wanting more. Trailers have been developed to create more suspense through music and quick cuts.