Bridget Jones Baby marketing

I'll add to this - your own photos etc would be very welcome

This post builds on an earlier post, which itself is long and detailed, looking at the international nature of the campaign and the trailers especially, but also looking back at the scale of this franchise - so lets start there.

The latest movie is at $180m worldwide - a good return, but well down on past entries. There should be a 4th based on those numbers. See my post on the Gant Rule (with BJB as an exception) for more details - such as this, the only territories with 8-figure returns:

• Australia $13m
• France $14m
• US $24m
• UK $60m

The basic: Premieres
This generates TV news and wider media stories (eg Mirror):

NBC-Universal uses horizontal integration to keep Damon franchise airborne

Okay, so this might not be part of the OFFICIAL marketing blitz from NBC-U - but such trivial but viral UGC as this vine is worth many millions in advertising spend when considered as a whole, able to penetrate beyond core audiences targeted by the distributors. Here's where I found it:

An unofficial JB Facebook page with 48k likes.

The Vine was featured by a UK newspaper:

My main point here, however, is a good example of how the mega-conglomerates can flex their muscles to mutually benefit different wings: NBC-U both creating and benefitting from pre-release hype of the new Bourne movie by playing the Damon-starring previous films across EIGHT of its NBC-U channels. Research indicated that existing franchise fans were the key audience for the movie, so NBC-U sought to reinforce familiarity with the long-running franchise:

WARP v WORKING TITLE WEB 2.0 comparing social media

Through various case studies I've noted a key difference between the two companies in how their social media operates: scale.

In theory, web 2.0 creates a potential level playing field for Indie minnow and (conglomerate subsidiary) mini-studio alike ... but it still takes skilled, paid operators to create and update content, and respond to user comments/posts ... not to mention doing so in multiple languages (Paul and Les Miserables are just two WT examples which had Facebook accounts in multiple languages; you have to look to the truly weird L for a Warp example: essentially a Greek film, its no surprise to find a Greek language presence!).

Although we do see some very smart content (the Le Donk Xmas card) on some Warp sites, the considerable investment that WT make (encroaching on traditional distributor territory in doing so) on content rich websites stands out: the huge interactive Tinker, Tailor... online/offline game, Hot Fuzz Pacman, Shaun of the Dead Space Invaders... even the Smokin' Aces comic book.

Three basic points:

1. These combined materials are a vast learning resource freely available to you - the YouTube uploads especially
2. Warp's shift towards TV (think convergence) is evident based on my sampling today (Feb 14th 2016), with This is England 90 and The Last Panthers most prominent
3. As I note above, the lack of investment from Warp in maintaining these sites is also clear, with nobody updating the YouTube description for example for at least 6 months!

WARP
THIS BLOG TAG
WIKI 
IMDB (no separate TV division)
IMDB Warp Films US (limited brand)
IMDB Warp X
IMDB Warp Films Australia
THE-NUMBERS.COM
WEBSITE
YOUTUBE
TWITTER
INSTAGRAM
FACEBOOK 
WARP FILMS 10 (a dead link - they can't afford to maintain hosting fees?!)
TUMBLR (actually Warp Records, no separate Films site, another sign of limited funds; sample: '71 post)
TUMBLR TAG: warp films (plenty of UGC, and links from other companies, such as Australia's Madman Films (Snowtown, Shopping, Partisan all with Warp).

NEWS SITES
VARIETY Leading Hollywood trade magazine.
BFI (Google search) - see their review of 10 key Warp releases.

WORKING TITLE
THIS BLOG TAG
WIKI 
IMDB
IMDB WT2
IMDB WTTV 
IMDB WT AUSTRALIA
THE-NUMBERS.COM
WEBSITE
YOUTUBE
TWITTER
INSTAGRAM
FACEBOOK
TUMBLR - no official page, but tagged a lot (including Working Title Korea) 

BFI 
VARIETY (also a simple search, brings up different results) 


COMPARING WARP/WT FOLLOWER NUMBERS:
Twitter Warp 30k v WT 8k
Facebook Warp 50k v WT 24k
YouTube Warp 666 v WT 388
Instagram Warp 4k v WT 4k
Tumblr numbers not shown
TOTALS: Warp 85k v WT 36k
BUT ... on YouTube views: Warp 159k v WT 466k (on a new channel, launched 2013, replacing previous channels)


WARP
THIS BLOG TAG
WIKI 

IMDB (no separate TV division)

The shift towards TV is clear

IMDB Warp Films US (limited brand)

IMDB Warp X

IMDB Warp Films Australia

THE-NUMBERS.COM

Notably this site only picks up on FOUR Warp films! An indication of their lack of US success (though the likes of TisEng are missing)

WEBSITE

Four social media outlets listed/linked.

Click on the 'read more' link for further screenshots, links and analysis

NBC UNIVERSAL expands social media with BuzzFeed $200m deal

Working Title's conglomerate owner NBC-U has announced another new media deal, putting $200m into a tie-in with BuzzFeed

NBC Universal invests $200m in BuzzFeed.

NBC-U are clearly comfortable with taking risky punts and developing new distribution outlets - just look at their rather ingenious Prima venture, seeking to extract considerable revenue from high-end home cinema.

NBC Universal said it was attracted to the opportunity to tap into BuzzFeed’s 200 million unique users and the 1.5bn video views they rack up each month.
“They reach a massive, loyal audience and have proven to be among the most creative, popular and influential new media players,” said Steve Burke, chief executive of NBC Universal. “BuzzFeed has built an exceptional global company that harmonises technology, data and superior editorial abilities to create and share content in innovative ways.”
For NBC Universal it is two deals in two weeks following an equivalent $200m investment in Vox Media, which owns eight brands including technology site The Verge and news site Vox.com.
In May, Vox expanded its portfolio with the takeover of Re/code, the well-regarded tech news site founded by former Wall Street Journal staffers.

Inside: Hollywood blurring audience/producer; are YOU?

'Social film': blurring audience/ad/producer divide

In time, we'll consider various web 2.0 theories that typically argue that the contemporary, highly interactive (as opposed to top-down, one way) web is seeing the traditional dividing line between audience/consumer and producer wither away. Concepts such as UGC (user-generated content) and fan-made videos (a key revenue source for YouTube and record labels, through the advertising attached to these) have become very mainstream. Viral campaigns also present ads as fictional or reality texts (including music videos, not just film/'reality' clips).

The fiasco of Snakes on a Plane showed that democratising and outsourcing creative work to an audience (in that case in an effort to create money-spinning buzz and awareness) can be a disaster, but we will most certainly see more and more of this. I've blogged elsewhere about examples of film production company Working Title's slick marketing campaign for films such as Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, which used online (spy-style) puzzles as part of multimedia campaign spanning supermarkets, posters and other such traditional fare with social media elements.

If you watch the short video below (3mins), ask yourself where the line is drawn here between audience and producer, and film and advertising (the title meshes with Intel's slogan, Intel inside), with the audience given chances to appear in the film and shape the script, whilst the blogs and other online videos and guides that sprang became part of the meta-text (a postmodern theory term).

Then ask yourself what use YOU are making of social media for producing your work. Have YOU used social media for...

• casting?
• initial genre/audience research through fan forums?
• generating pre-release buzz through a company blog/FB/Twitter/Instagram (etc!)?
• gaining audience feedback through any of the above (and YouTube/Vimeo of course)?
• used tagging/labels in Blogger/YouTube etc to attract more hits to help with the above?
• tried YouTube video responses/messages/comments to link to other film/video-makers?
• designed a viral-style campaign element which helps to involve an audience and increase publicity/awareness?
• generated and used a QR code as part of this?
• generally considered options for direct audience involvement in/influence on your production?

This is the film Inside, which is itself a good example of the viral methods used by conglomerates these days to get through to ad-weary and wary consumers (Toshiba and Intel were behind this movie): IMDB, Wiki, links to their FB/website etc are in this article. They coined the term 'social film' for this approach.

BJD3 cancelled, but novel + musical not?

bridgetjonestheedgeofreason.co.uk still active (just - see below)

UPDATE 2015: Still awaiting confirmation (Wiki)

UPDATE 3RD JUNE 2013: NOVEL OUT, FILM STILL LIKELY? read more.

Surprising (welcome?!) news that the 3rd BJD movie, announced back in 2011, looks set for a delay at best. When it was announced in 2011 there seemed to be considerable audience interest, and prospects looked strong for a hit. With fem-friendly movies like Bridesmaids proving box office gold in the meantime, the timing seemed spot on, but the movie seems to have entered development hell (a term employed by famous producers such as Art Linson to describe movies stuck in the pre-production stage), although the 3rd novel is set for UK and US releases in 2013.

I'd previously blogged on the 2011 announcement here.

Here's the Chicago Sun-Times with the updated news:

Although a third film was said to be in the planning back in 2011, actor Colin Firth today tells the Chicago Sun-Times that plans for another sequel to Bridget Jones's Diary may be some time off.