Marketing Campaign for Avatar

I decided to focus my research on Avatar, as it proved a successful campaign, due to the fact that it was heavilty anticipated and talked about, and A LOT of people went to see it.

The budget for Avatar was approximately £200,000,000, and a fair amount of this went into marketing the film. It grossed $2,782,206,970, which shows that it was a successful campaign as it attracted a large audience. The campaign was indeed on an enourmous scale, and consisted of the three main parts that build any campaign: advertising, promotion and publicity. By juggling all three part, awareness of the film was created quickly, and sustained until the film's release.

Advertising:

Several trailers (and TV spots), and very recognizable posters which expressed the "new technology" USP of the film were released. Many of these posters and trailers were globally released which created an international awareness of the film, that connected the many prospecting audiences from around the world. Online marketing also played a key role in advertising the film. Viral marketing on Facebook and Twitter was a huge help in earning the film its massive revenue (Avatar's Fb page had 1,149,471 fans as of 28th Jan 2010).

Promotion:

Avatar and Panasonic were sponsors of each other. The first preview of the film was also shown in Empire to create an early hype and tease film fans who read empire. The Coca-Cola company also collaborated with 20th Century Fox to launch a worldwide campaign to promote the film. By collaborating with big businesses like Coca Cola and Panasonic, Avatar's awareness was spread to a very wide audience who purchase these products.
Also, various other famous films by James Cameron, like Titanic, Alien and Terminator are used to promte the film in the trailer and posters. By mentioning these films, the fans may be attracted to watching Avatar for a similar cinematic experience.

Publicity :

the premier of the film was heavily waited upon, and the film was released on the same day worldwide to create a huge hype all at once. Various interviews were also done with James Cameron, where he explains his thought behind Avatar (like on CNN). This gives the audience an insight into the making of the film, which may interest many film fans.

Audience Interaction:

On the website, the audience is invited to "make your own Avatar" by using an image of yourself. Photos from Facebook can also be used, which makes this viral method more user friendly and reaches a wiser audience, therefore making it more effective. The audience is also able to get involved with various charitable evets, like saving the rainforests. Not only does this make the institutions behind the film seem better and more generous, it also gives the audience an incentive to go on the website and watch the film, as the are helping for a cause.

An Avatar game is also available for purchase on the AppStore (and on consoles like Xbox 360 and PS3), which i got and think is pretty awesome. This allows the Avatar name to be seen by a wider audience (the many people who own Ipods and use the AppStore),  whoc can interact with the film and feel part of the huge fan base. Downloads are also available, like wallpapers and soundtracks, which can be send to different people and creates yet another form of viral marketing.
Merchendise is available from a variety of sources, including Amazon, and allows fans to buy figures, wear T-Shirts and even buy costumes of their favourite characters.

Overall, I think that Avatar's marketing campaign is very, very, very, very successful. In fact, i think it was too successful. Many people (including me), found Avatar to be a good film, but not up to the expectations made by the campaign. Such an amazing campaign suggested that  the film would be one of the best ever, in terms of breaking boundaries and in terms of its narrative. Nonetheless, Avatar's marketing campaign was clearly successful, seeing as how it made the film as popular as it is today. It targets a huge audience, and reached almost everyone i could think of. It created a brand for the film, and made it one of the most anticipated films of that year, which is why i still think it was an amazing campaign.