LO3 Task 4 - Distribution and Marketing

LO3 Task 4 – Distribution Channels

Hey it’s me Bradley and I'm back for more analysing media products! Today were going to talk about distribution and advertising leading on from last episode being 'Audiences.' Enjoy this episode and I'll be back for more in Task 5!

a.) Distribution Channels

The definition of distribution is split into two parts; the first being the media product being available to the audience and the second being the advertising and promotion so the audience is aware of the product. The more awareness the product receives the more revenue the company makes. The distribution of Life of Pi has been positively impacted by technological convergence, in the way that in the cinema, the production companies behind the films used to have to pay at least £100,000 to place their film in just one cinema, however recently due to the technological advance a hard drive is sent and linked up to the server, which supports all the projectors and only costs around £200. Also the ways in which the product is assessable to the audience has been made easier and allows for more awareness, meaning more revenue for the company, being 20th Century Fox.

There are many ways in which Life of Pi can be watched including; the cinema, illegally downloaded for websites such as Isohunt and Demonoid, the Sky Store, from online streaming websites such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, also from app stores such as iTunes on iOS and Google Play on Android. These previously listed were digital medias, there also can be analogue methods such as VHS tapes and film reels, but they were too expensive and are not used anymore. As seen as Life of Pi is produced by 21st Century Fox owns Sky, it would be cheaper and in their benefit to put the film on the Sky store, that is a benefit of having subsidiaries working on different platforms, and this is the advantage of a conglomerate. Sky being a subsidiary of 21^st century fox would help create synergy because Life of Pi was showed on multiple platforms. Life of Pi is distributed over a wide array of platforms, ranging from the cinema, to smart phones that are multifunctional. Multifunctional technology is a benefit for the user; it allows all the uses to be found in one place, it makes for an easier and cheaper experience. From some of the viewing TV figures or revenue from Life of Pi being; worldwide box office profit being $607,987,022 and the total domestic video sales being $47,457,084 denoting that more money was made because of technological convergence, because it’s cheaper to distribute and advertise. Because of the current technology it is much easier and cheaper for their product to be distributed across all the platforms and also makes it easier and cheaper for the audience.

b.) Advertising and Promotion

When marketing a product, in this case Life of Pi specifically, there are many ways that it can be advertised and promoted including; posters, social networking, television and YouTube adverts, radio broadcasts, with help from other companies (joint ventures), relying on the word of mouth of the public, newspaper and magazine articles and interviews. In terms of the joint ventures used to create Life of Pi, 20th Century Fox went into a joint venture with Ingenious Media, Haishang Films and RatPac-Dune Entertainment. The posters that would be used to advertise Life of Pi would be on display at local cinemas, and up around public areas such as bus shelters and shopping centres, this would help to raise awareness of the film, especially the posters that are up on display in the cinema. In terms of social networking that was used to raise awareness of Life of Pi, an example would be twitter, leading up to the release about film they would be tweeting about the film and the characters etc. another example would be Facebook where the trailer for the film would be watched, shared and commented about so people can share their opinion. On Facebook a page was made specifically for Life of Pi and its release, leading up to the release of Life of Pi, posts were made about the films release and even mentioned a competition to win a holiday to the destination shown in Life of Pi. Another example of how Life of Pi would be advertised would be online reviews, sharing the film. This could be a positive and negative way of sharing the film, as depending on the opinion of the critique, it could create good or bad publicity for Life of Pi. But any publicity for the film is good, as even though some reviews may be bad, it is raising awareness which is what the producers of Life of Pi want. The review would increase the overall income of Life of Pi, being from an audience member, it makes the review more authentic and trustworthy, and it also proves the success of technological convergence with audience participation. The trailer for Life of Pi would be posted to YouTube where it can be watched, commented about, shared to other social media and rated. This was a successful way of marketing Life of Pi as the trailer got over 10 million views, raising a lot of awareness. Online reviews could be posted to YouTube as well, raising awareness even more and possibly encouraging people to watch Life of Pi if they haven’t already. All these advertising techniques would be used to attract a mass / international audience.

c.) Technological Convergence

David Gauntlett (2002) discussed the rise of the Web 2.0. This is the change in the internet being a static, one way form of communication to a two way interactive medium. The new Web 2.0 has become much more accessible to the audience and now is used as a platform to market products and connects socially. With the popularity of social media rising, now nearly everyone has a social media account, whether it is Facebook or Instagram. Due to the hype of the Life of Pi it will be spread across all the social medias, whether they post a status about it or share the trailer, they are helping contribute to the marketing of Life of Pi. Also the audience can help by the word of mouth, they are helping by spreading the word to their friends and family, and they can tell their friends and family etc. even though it isn't as effective as other marketing techniques, it still contributes to the overall success of Life of Pi. With current gen consoles becoming more and more popular, they are raising awareness of the things that they can do. You can watch Life of Pi on the consoles, you can access social media where you can converse about the film, you can access YouTube through the console, and you can play games on the console. With technological convergence you can access all these features in one place, meaning technological convergence makes it cheaper and easier to access the film and everything along with it. Technological convergence makes it easier and cheaper to access all the different media platforms and access all the features from all the different subsidiaries of 21^st Century Fox and 20^th Century Fox.

That’s all for this time, hope you enjoyed learning about advertising and marketing! Join me next time for Task 5 where we learn about ethical, legal and regulatory bodies.