Pic players ply promos

DWA's Anne Globe, Warner's Sue Kroll, Fox's Oren Aviv and Universal's Josh Goldstine take the stage for a panel at Variety's Film Marketing Summit on Tuesday at the Universal Hilton. In today's film biz, marketing may not be everything, but everything is definitely marketing.That was the prevailing sentiment Tuesday at Variety's Film Marketing Summit, as execs and creatives debated issues ranging from what aspects of a pic to reveal to auds, and when, to the integration of social media into promotion and new tools to propel auds to plexes.Execs from both the studios and the indie realm weighed in the scope of today's marketing approaches in back-to-back sessions at the Universal Hilton, with some some embracing -- and others wary of -- just how much material comes into public scrutiny as a film ramps up."You can't announce your title, your release date, your director, your casting choices without thinking of it as a piece of marketing," said Oren Aviv, prexy of domestic theatrical marketing and chief marketing officer at 20th Century Fox.Speaking at a session titled "State of the Theatrical Film Marketing Business," Aviv said his reaction to releasing early marketing materials -- trailers in particular -- is typically "terror," but that the process has its advantages, in that the long lead time and abundance of feedback "gives you the opportunity to shape your message.""You have time to screw it up," he said, "and fix it."Josh Goldstine, who joined Universal Pictures as marketing prexy in August, underscored the importance of galvanizing a message early and sticking to it."Do I want to make this look like something they've seen before, or something they haven't seen before?" Goldstine said, noting that U's marketing team, even before his arrival, had already decided to present "Bridesmaids" as a distinctly different kind of female-driven comedy. That turned out to be the right call. Changing people's expectations enabled the film as a whole to "tap into what was so inherently human and relatable in that movie: to embrace breaking the rules," said Goldstine. "That actually set the audience up for the heart of that movie to really connect with people."Likewise with "Horrible Bosses" and the "Hangover" films, which Warner Bros. worldwide marketing president Sue Kroll cited as examples of how today's long-lead marketing campaigns and multiple platforms allow audiences a more intimate look at a film's characters well before the films themselves unspool."Nowadays you can bring shape and definition to all the different characters through all that content," Kroll said. "With 'Horrible Bosses,' we had a great concept, but we branded it in a way that was unique for a comedy. Because when people understood all those characters and their different interactions, they understood what it was."During the afternoon's "Indies Make a Comeback" panel, FilmDistrict prexy Bob Berney stressed that in the indie and adult-oriented realms, the key to marketing is to stay focused on a specific audience -- but also to pick the right movies in the first place."It's all about finding that balance of art and marketability," Berney said.Howard Cohen, co-prexy of Roadside Attractions, agreed: "You have to court your core as an indie. Identify them -- and then stay with them."Beyond creating crucial first impressions of a film, finding ways to get auds involved -- through sites like Twitter, Facebook or Eventful -- is increasingly important, as execs at the panel titled "Urgency & Driving Moviegoing Frequency" noted."Letting people be part of the process pays off in spades. That's what social media is for," said Jordan Glazier, CEO of Eventful, adding that an online campaign that interacts with potential moviegoers creates "a sense of affiliation, belonging and kinship" which "translates to theatergoing."Ted Hong, chief marketing officer of online ticket seller Fandango, agreed, saying, "The power of online is it's much more of a dialogue. TV is still one way."The growth of online advertising also means studios need to figure out how to speak with audiences in a new way. "We want to protect the theatrical window," Hong said, "But we want studios to stop marketing and start connecting with audiences to the point where it doesn't feel like marketing."Landmark Theaters CEO Ted Landmark's Mundorff made a point of suggesting that studios spend more to support a film after it opens in theaters, not just before. "A lot of the time they're not supported," he said.Mundorff isn't a fan of discounting ticket prices to fill seats. He didn't approve of Lionsgate's pair-up with Groupon and Fandango to discount tickets for "The Lincoln Lawyer" earlier this year. "When the consumer is buying a $6 ticket, you are devaluing movies," he said.But the ploy worked for Fandango and Lionsgate, which said 89% of the people who took advantage of the discount said "they would not have seen the movie had it not been for Groupon," according to Hong.There are both perks and perils to other ticket-sales drivers as well, the panel noted.For Fandango, ticket sales on mobile devices have grown from 1% to 20% of the online ticket seller's business over just a couple of years, said Hong. Fandango is now testing barcodes that can be scanned in theaters when tix are purchased on cell phones. Two exhibs are currently testing the service, with a third coming on board soon.But as consumers rely more on their cell phones to text and tweet, their increased usage in theaters is turning off moviegoers to the point where exhibs need to remove them during screenings."When someone's not happy (about the no cell-phone policy), I say tell your friends," said Landmark's Mundorff, adding that "the worst offenders are the acquisition people at film festivals. It's already against all odds that these films get picked up."Mundorff said it would be shortsighted to phase out more traditional marketing tools. He said doesn't foresee a time when film ads no longer appear in newspapers."People read reviews and reviews drive our business," Mundorff said. "If the industry abandons newspapers, newspapers will abandon reviews."The biz, panelists agreed, needs to find ways to enhance the moviegoing experience as a whole."Our theaters are churches, and my goal is to preach to cinema fans of different denominations," said Henri Mazza, chief creative officer of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, whose chain of theaters relies on positive word of mouth and serving alcohol in a more laidback setting to attract auds.The Texas-based chain has 10 locations, mostly within the Lone Star state, and one in Winchester, Virginia, but is looking to expand into Los Angeles and NY soon."The first couple of years was about perfecting the experience," Mazza said. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

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