How would you market non-theatrical movies? It is difficult because people usually purchase movies based on either seeing it before in theaters or knowing it was a hit in theaters and then purchasing the movie. Many people’s friends and families talk about theatrical movies and once they are available to the public, they purchase it. This is why theatrical releases do so much better than non-theatrical. I was wondering what your ideas are to promote non-theatrical titles?

Dan has some good points here - On-line (the web) marketing would be essential to your cause. Another effective marketing channel in this case would be mobile phones. There are numerous companies that perform a wireless marketing service by sending push SMS's to a database of mobile numbers. For a fee, you would be able to purchase access to a database made up specifically of film fans (people who have opted in before to receive film related alters). Such organizations would manage the entire process for you; however, it does come at a price.

Hope this helps,

Claudio.

On 09:20:16 2 July 2004 Dan Zambonini wrote:
>I'm not a marketing type, but am a huge movie-buff, so
>just some initial thoughts off the top of my head (would
>be interested in hearing some marketing-gurus thoughts on
>this topic, though):
>
>- An obvious one, but web-sites. The whole
>Blair-Witch thing showed how an online presence can work
>wonders, if approached correctly.
>- Trailering in movie theatres - I would have thought that
>by pushing a trailer into theatres, you'll get access
>to the right audience. I don't know about the
>relative costs, though...
>- 'Viral' marketing (as much as I don't like to use
>cliched jargon...) - flash games, email rumours, etc. etc.
>- Underhand tactics - I'd be tempted to put some false
>(but non-obvious) comments on imdb comment boards,
>newgroups, etc., hyping the movie.
>
>Interesting question...