Essay question- Ford

“Successful media products depend as much upon marketing and distribution to a specific audience as they do upon good production practices”. 

To what extent would you agree with this statement, within the media area you have studied?

I would agree with this statement because I believe that within the film industry, the way in which films are marketed and distributed throughout the media justifies its financial success. In order for a film too make a vast amount of money within the industry, it needs too have a widely well known distribution company that can blanket market the product too its designated target market effectively. Due too marketing being extremely important throughout the film insustry,it can be one of the main reasons as too why a film may flop in the box office causing a loss in profit. Without the use of large marketing, the production will no0t be widely heard of towards its designated target market which means a loss of recognition means a loss of profit. And so the more marketing that is used, the more money that would most probably be gained due to people hearing and seeing about the film through the use of hardware content, tie-ins, posters and television advertisements.
Marketing stratergies are highly relied on now and those that are most profound for their distribution skills are those of the Big Six- such as Walt  Disney which is third.

Walt Disney's marketing and distribution strategies play a huge role in the companies success within the film industry due too the way in which they are proliferated and are famous for their global, influential distribution techniques. This is due to their ability too do so due to their reputation that have too uphold because of the vast audience that their films and products cover and therefore, as an audience, we feel that they are a reliable company and so we support their films.
Disney are not only a huge distributor, but they also own a vast amount of well known film companies such as: Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel Entertainment and The Muppets Studio. They also have their own clothing line, theme parks and attractions, television channels, radio stations, along with a number of convergance uses. These include game apps for children and older audiences and also film apps and downloads. By having a such a large amount of tie-ins and marketing techniques, global audiences know exactly who Walt Disney are by the mere mention of their name. By investing such a large amount of money into their marketing and distribution techniques, they know for a fact that this makes their products more successful so can confidently gain other companies to distribute their products as tie-ins as well, e.g, Food chains, drinks companies ect.

For example, Toy Story 3 was distributed by Walt Disney and is currently the 1th highest grossing film of all time, grossing around $414,984,497 from its $200,000,000 estimated budget. The amount of marketing and distribution for the film that Walt Disney did for this production guaranteed its amazing success in the box office worldwide.  Along with the film, Walt Disney did a vast amount of marketing strategies in order to gain the films major success in the box office and the ability to have a continuing grow of profit due to the tie-ins.
Mattel, Lego and Thinkway toy companies produced toys in order to promote the film and suit a wide range of children audiences globally due to the films main target audience being children. Disney Interactive Studios also produced an electronic video game based on the feature length film which was released for Xbox 360, Wii, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo DS, Playstation 3 and PSP on June 15 2010. By producing a video game on such a large array of devices makes it accessible for almost anyone and suiting a wide variety of the target markets needs by promoting a tie in that fits with the latest gadgets for all the family.
Also, an Apple Iphone App was featured on the IOS4 event on April 8 2010, making it available too download on the Appstore. By doing so, it connoted the use of convergence by creating an interactive app that does not only suit a wide range of people in their target market, but also promote the film even more. 
Along with the tie-ins, the film also released the hardware to go along with it including the standard DVD, two-disc Blu-ray and also a four-disc Blu-ray/Digital copy/DVD combo pack. the features include behind the scenes which show a sneak peak teaser of Walt Disney's next up and coming film Cars 2, which again, is another clever way too promote their next film by enticing their audience by a trailer. Lastly, a 3D Blu-ray was released too suit those that have the 3D equipment too relive the cinematic experience. 

Even though we tend to think that films that do not have well known distributors will not do as much marketing as those from 'the big six' but they can also gain recognition and still be successful.
The Kings speech is a traditionally British Film that only used an $15,000,000 budget yet grossed $138,795,342. This due American taking a huge liking to the traditional 1930's British aspect of it which the Americans love., and due to the USA taking a huge liking to the film, word of mouth spread causing more and more people  too hear and watch it globally and due to it being nominated for the Oscars (and winning multiple awards) promoted the film even more. Along with the use of trailers on the internet and posters campaigning the films release, the more people worldwide that had watched and enjoyed the film, resulted in the uses of marketing strategies being expanded and extended more globally gaining more recognition of the film resulting the global success.

This production was distributed by Momentum Pictures and The Weinstein Company, which connotes examples of synergy. By doing so, it allowed a small British film too become a global success due to the two different companies distributing the same film, allowing two lots of budgets to be used on marketing. Smaller distributors (like the above two), tend too use synergy in order too distribute their film because they do not have a large budget unlike larger distributors would have (such as Walt Disney) Also, smaller companies- like those that produce British companies- tend to use smaller distributors in order to fit in with their budget a s well, and so synergy could also be used.

Although marketing and distribution is important and can supposedly guarantee the films success in the box office and overall, but some films that will become timeless, such as The Kings Speech, did not need vast amounts of marketing and distribution methods because of the word of mouth and nominations that excelled the love for it. If it had over done it with the marketing by blanket marketing the target audience, it would of spoilt the films perspective. But  with children's animation and family films, such as Toy Story 3, blanket marketing is the best approach because that way, it can suit the widest possible target market by incorporating a vast amount of hardware, proliferation and tie-ins to keep on making a profit for years to come.

So, I conclude that I believe that the use of distribution and marketing methods can make a successful media production gain a higher profit and not flop overall because this way, by blanket marketing its audience, it not only gains recognition but excels all products overall.