Film Marketing Research : Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2, a much awaited movie after the well recieved Iron Man, had a lot of exposure in popular media to ensure that it created a hype about the movie and attracted the audience to come and watch it. Over $100 million had been spent on the marketing campaign, which shows that they invested a lot in order to market the movie. There are many different techniques used in their campaign, in order to persuade the audience in various styles.

Poster:

Both these posters have the iconic '2' sign in the Iron Man font, which shows synergy with their campaign, but also with the first movie, which helps it feel like a series. Although these characters were not in the first film, the are kind of enigmatic as it makes the audience think 'who are they?'. Mickey Rourke and Scarlett Johansson are both well-known celebrities so it helps the movie if they use stars that are known to the public as it brings in more fans of these actors. They both also have the release date which informs audiences when it will arrive in cinemas. The both are slightly plain, in order to give mystery to these characters, but also to make it look sinister.


Website

Iron Man 2 Website

The Iron Man 2 website is a very slick and sophisticated website which immerses the audience. As you first enter the website you can see the trailer playing, although some may find this a bit annoying, it is a good technique in order to keep refreshing the audience about the movie and the atmosphere of watching it in a cinema. I like the fact that you can choose which suit you can have as the background, and when you switch from page to page there are buttons on the suit which talk about that part of the suit. The theme and background is very much related to inside the Iron Man suit, which helps create synergy but also give the audience a more involved feel. The website has many things to do on it, for example LG have a link so that you can fly the Iron Man suit in 1st person by using the LG smartphone. The games include the audience, it helps the sponsors gain money from this. Also being able to listen to the soundtrack and look at awesome clips and pics, it makes it more of an enjoyable experience for the audience, encouraging them to see it.

Iron Man 2 google skins

This shows that a connection with google helps the movie, as you can set it as your google theme, which makes it seem pretty cool plus it makes you feel included in the experience.

Trailer



They release an official trailer, and a TV spot as well premiering the trailer at the cinema before other movies, e.g before Sherlock Holmes movie because Robert Downey Jr. stars in both of these films, so it increases publicity. It gives the audience an idea of what will happen in the film, but it will not give away the story otherwise it will defeat the point of going to the cinema and the point of a trailer. A preview like this excites audiences as they want to see it in the near future, so they released these around 5 months before release and increased the exposure over a few months in order to create a hype about the film. Plus it also sets up the genre of superhero, comedy and action adventure with the select clips used in the trailer.

Mechandise, Spin-offs and Sponsors
Iron Man 2 had 12 or more sponsors for the movie. Examples of the sponsors are:

• Audi
• Royal Purple
• 7-Eleven
• Land O'Frost
• Reese's
• Oracle
• Burger King
• Sony Music
• Symantec
• LG
• Dr. Pepper
• Diesel

To find out more about sponsors: http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2010/05/04/Iron-Man-2-Marketing-Tie-Ins-A-Survey.aspx

Audi has placed their R8 car in Iron Man, so it being in Iron Man 2 keeps but also adds to the coolness of the character and the car. It shows an aspirational lifestyle which all men want to have.





There was also a viral video released to show a history of Stark Expo, it adds to the story of Iron Man but also helps promote their own product. Also it looks very authentic and for the younger audiences slightly believable.





Merchandise
Since Iron Man was a marvel comic hero they played upon this and made an Iron Man action figurine. This is a large market including the likes of Action Man, G.I Joe and Spiderman. Superheroes are there to inspire young kids, and bringing out a toy will not only make them money, but also make sure it can compete with other superhero movies like Spiderman 3.
Spin-Offs
Since the release of Iron Man 2, they have released a game as well as a special edition comic book. The game is an obvious idea as now most movies have games on all format, sometimes the game is released before the movie. Examples of movie games are Pirates of the Carribean, The Simpsons Movie game and Star Wars. Although they may not be the best in the gaming world, as a marketing tool they are genius as they allow the audience to experience the story but also it generates hype about not only the movie but also the game. The comic book came with some speical editions of the DVD, which you had to pre-order. I feel this is an innovative way of promoting their film because Marvel have actually used the comic book idea. They are re-known worldwide for their comic books, but they released the special editions for this movie. It will attract serious comic book collectors as it is part of their hobby, but it could attract new audiences as it may bring them more into the story.

Overall
In my opinion I feel their marketing plan was immense as they pulled out all the stops in order to attract a large audience. Despite spending alot of money on marketing the film still grossed alot of money. I feel it may not have been cost-efficient but it made sure that they sent across the message that they wanted to plus they used alot of CGI to show future technology, interesting the audience. I believe they have tried some new ways of promting their film and overall it has worked very effectively.