How Effective Is The Combination Of Your Main Product And Ancillary Texts?

My research into films marketing campaigns illustrated to me that there were many consistencies throughout. This is to make sure that when the audience sees one thing (for example: the poster) and then another (teaser trailer), a link can easily be established. Making this link builds a 'profile' in the audiences minds and therefore when they want to watch something in the cinema, this profile is there. They are more likely to watch a film from a unified marketing campaign.

In my campaign, I decided to keep as many things uniform as possible for this reason. One of the things I kept the same was the fonts I used on my poster and in my teaser trailer. This makes them instantly recognizable so the audience can draw a link.

However, when it came to making my magazine front cover, I was not able to use the same font. Production companies have full control over what the teaser trailer and posters look like, but when it comes to magazine front covers, they have very little say. Production companies will send round a press pack with photos and information they have provided, but more than this, they have no control. It would have to be a very rare and special occasion for a magazine to change its font for a film.

I also used the same tagline's in my teaser trailer and on my poster. This further builds the 'profile' in the audiences mind and draws an instant link. While the font might be a bit trickier to pick up, a tag line has the potential to be memorable so when you see it on a poster and a teaser trailer, an instant link is established. I feel the tagline's I picked represent my film suitably without giving away too much of the story line. They also have an action feel to them, so when seen, a member of the audience can identify that the film belongs to the action genre. There is no tagline on the magazine, as the magazine is independent of the production companies. Instead the magazine has a cover line which  it comes up with itself to show its independence from the film.

The dominant central image on the poster and magazine front cover might not be the same, but the both feature the central protagonist. When the audience see the central protagonist on both the poster and the magazine front cover, an instant link can be made.

On my poster and in my teaser trailer, I used a similar billing and the same production company logos. I did not include a billing on my magazine front cover as this is not a convention for magazines. Rather, they have things like cover lines which display names of actors, directors and other films.

Finally, the release date on my teaser trailer and poster is similar. One of things I noticed is that many teaser trailers do not have exacts dates. They tend to feature a line like 'coming soon' or 'summer 2017'. It is for this reason that in my teaser trailer, I used the latter. As my poster was not a teaser poster, I included the actual date of release. The similarity in dates provides an extra opportunity for a link to be made. This link provides a push for the audience to see the film before it is actually released.