The Star Wars series has been entertaining the masses since 1977, so it came as no surprise that the most recent addition to the series was met with a warm welcome from audiences all over the world.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released Dec. 18, 2015 and is the seventh installment in the series. The film is the first of the sequel trilogy announced by Disney in 2012 and created high standards for the next two films to come. Reviews were very favourable and many critics made comparisons to the original first three films.
With Disney’s deep pockets driving the marketing of The Force Awakens, it comes as no surprise that the film managed to break box office records in more than one category. The Force Awakens has become the fastest film to cross the billion-dollar threshold, hitting $1.09 billion in just 12 days. It also managed to have the biggest domestic opening weekend ($238 million), biggest domestic second weekend ($149.2 million), and biggest worldwide opening ($529 million), which are all massive accomplishments.
How did Star Wars sweep the globe so quick and intensely you may wonder? What led them to those astounding numbers?
Here are three ways that Disney leveraged marketing and PR to boost the hype around the latest Star Wars episode:
Photo from Official Trailer
1. Start early and stay constant :
The very first trailer released for the film came out over a year before the movie itself was released. The first trailer only lasted about 88 seconds, and was considered a ‘tease’ to the audience. The 88 seconds amassed 58.2 million YouTube views within its first week. Later, in April of 2015, eight months before the release date, a second, slightly longer trailer was released. Again, this trailer was released as a bit of a tease before the third and final official trailer was aired in October of 2015. The early start that Disney got on marketing the film gave them an edge over the competition because a slow and constant drip of information had the established fan-base of Star Wars lovers begging for more info. Since the teaser trailers and official trailer didn’t give too much of the plot and storyline away, it was extremely effective in drawing people to the theatres.
Official Logo (resemblance to past logos)
2. Brand strength and recognition :
As I mentioned previously, there has been a strong connection to the original trilogy from the very beginning, which has helped Disney form a positive brand association to the already large Star Wars fan base, as well as those that may have been lost along the way and were brought back by the nostalgic connections. Disney used events like Comic-Con and Star Wars Celebration to further strengthen their brand. The Star Wars San Diego Comic-Con for example, wasn’t just a panel, it was a celebration. The release of the first trailer wasn’t a normal release, Disney decided to live stream it at a Star Wars Convention, after which social media exploded with joy. Straying from the norm, Disney launched toys, and other items before the movie release during the holiday season and attached itself to Black Friday by referring to it as ‘Force Friday’, creating a marketing event of their own. Strong partnerships with Amazon, Toys R Us, and Target were a key factor in their success over the holiday season, and surly helped in the film becoming the biggest Christmas Day box office in history with $49.3 million.
Cast on Jimmy Kimmel
3. Disney’s collective effort :
Disney is a huge conglomerate that owns companies across many different business sectors. One way that Disney did really well in the marketing for The Force Awakens was that there was synergy across all of their divisions. The third, official trailer for the film aired during a half-time on an ESPN’s Monday Night Football segment in October. The Force Awakens has been mentioned at least 111 times on ESPN and 449 times on ABC. Star Wars: The Force Awakens was also featured on noteworthy talk shows such as Good Morning America and Jimmy Kimmel, all due to the strong synergy that Disney has displayed across the board. Another portion of the collective effort shown by Disney is in terms of making the film into a global phenomenon. Social media and its far reaching grasp has been a large factor in allowing this marketing campaign to go worldwide. Each trailer release was a global event rather than a singular event in theaters. A well-managed social media platform was hugely beneficial in contributing to worldwide success. Disney’s release strategy also kept in line with the global phenomenon. It released the movie in many theaters simultaneously in many countries, becoming a global event.
All in all, Disney has set the bar for big budget films, and the marketing and PR process going forward. The success that Disney received was due to the fact that many people were on board, and had bought tickets for numerous shows prior to release of the film. The marketing and PR shown by Disney has proved to turn the hype up to a notch that set the film in a league of its own, breaking numerous records.
How will the following two films of the trilogy, set to be released in 2017 and 2019, respectively, compare to The Force Awakens? Will Disney surpass itself in leading the charge for changing how the industry markets its films?
I hope you look forward to it with as much anticipation as I do.
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