TARGET AUDIENCE FOR WESTERNS/COMEDIES
Something I’m having trouble with is identifying the target audience for my film. The typical audience for westerns is Boomers (1946 – 1964) and The Silent Generation (1925-1945), as these were the generations where the western genre was the most prevalent. Based on this alone, it seems like I should target the older generations, but it’s not as simple as that, as my film incorporates elements of modern comedy. Based on this, I’ve decided to market it towards a younger audience, as I feel as if I will have more success finding people who are willing to listen. In general, there are far more young people online when compared to the older generation. Whether this is a good thing or not, it’s useful for advertising online. This can be seen whilst scrolling through Twitter and Facebook; brands will often try and appeal to younger audiences by using words and phrases more commonly used by Millennials (1981 – 1999) and Gen Z’s (1995-2015).
Marketing
Marketing is, at its core, manipulation. The ad below appeals to Millennials by attempting to be relatable; They ask if anyone knows a friend who needs their app, prompting hundreds of people to engage with the post by tagging their friends, driving up revenue for McDonald’s while sharing the brand with everyone who gets tagged. I normally hate this form of marketing, as I find it creepy seeing a company worth 100 billion dollars pretend to be a normal, everyday person, but it’s a good example of how to successfully market a product for a certain age group and market. This is demonstrated by the huge engagement on the post, which is the dream of most social media managers.
What McDonald’s and plenty of other companies are focused on is create a solid brand identity, which is mainly accomplished through the use of social media. According to a recent survey by the Pew Research Centre, “almost all Millennials (97%) say they use the internet, and 28% of them are smartphone-only internet users. 63% of Millennials complete transactions on their smartphones (UPS), so targeting these users on social media is a great way to convince them to buy your product. I plan to use some of the same tactics for my film, except I won’t be using Facebook’s sponsored post feature; I’ll just post for my friends instead.
My plan
I plan to print out posters to put up around college to advertise to my classmates. These posters aren’t very effective, as hardly anyone is willing to watch a 17 minute long short film after seeing a poster for it. However, it raises awareness of the film, and is quite funny to see a poster as ridiculous as mine pinned up around college.
I’m also coordinating with a friend of mines dad who owns a printing company to print a full size roller poster to display at the exhibition. He’s willing to give us a slight discount, which brings the price down to around £25, which is rather good. His business can be found here: https://printbridge.co.uk/. I’d highly recommend it!
I’ve also made an Instagram post promoting the film to my followers. It’s simply the poster, with the caption:
“Country Boys Make Do
Coming soon to YouTube!
I’m very pleased to be announcing my final major project for college 🤠
A 17 minute long cowboy film based in Cornwall in 2019”
I also am planning to create a 30 second teaser trailer for the film, which I will post on my Facebook and Instagram pages. This will hopefully increase anticipation for the film, which is currently at an all time low. This trailer will be fast paced, exciting and short, in order to keep the viewers attention.
What makes a good trailer?
A trailer should give as little away as possible, while providing just enough to build anticipation. The shots should be striking and memorable, but give little insight into the plot. They can be varying lengths, but for short films like mine they should definitely be beneath a minute, as any longer and they give away a sizable chunk of footage. This is also the perfect length for uploading to Instagram, as the limit is 1 minute, innit.
Resource Links
- YouTube. (2017). Good Trailer, Bad Trailer – The Art Behind Trailers. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V502wOke9xE [Accessed 2 May 2019].
- AdEspresso. (2018). 5 Core Characteristics of Millennials and How to Market Based on Each One. [online] Available at: https://adespresso.com/blog/marketing-to-millennials/ [Accessed 3 May 2019].
- S, U. (2016). [online] Pressroom.ups.com. Available at: https://pressroom.ups.com/mobile0c9a66/assets/pdf/pressroom/white%20paper/2016_UPS_Pulse%20of%20the%20Online%20Shopper_white%20paper%20final.pdf [Accessed 16 May 2019].
- Research, P. (2018). Millennials stand out for their technology use. [online] Pew Research Center. Available at: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/05/02/millennials-stand-out-for-their-technology-use-but-older-generations-also-embrace-digital-life/ [Accessed 16 May 2019].
Josh Martin's FMP blog 