Cross Media convergence and synergy are vital processes in the successful marketing of media products to audiences. To what extent do you agree with this statement in relation to your chosen media area?

The film industry is dominated by multi-media and multi national conglomerates which dominate the market by using highly funded above the line promotional strategies.

The media giant warner bro’s using their cross media connections to create a marketing campaign to promote their film to audiences all over the world and to wide audiences. For example one of their most recent releases being The Hobbit – Battle of the Five Armies, which was released on the 12^th of December 2014 in the UK.  Being released at this time is a very strategic move to as this will be shown over Christmas where many people will be able to go to the cinema. Being a big blockbuster film The Hobbit will dominate holiday sales in the film industry and will punish other films released at the same time and will also block other films to be able to be screened due to the high demand and amount of screens in cinemas, which would have been dedicated to The Hobbit. Using synergy to promote the film global singer Ed Sheeran released a song for The Hobbit franchise, which is named “I See Fire” to promote the film and to introduce a new audience of Ed Sheeran fans to promote the film. This is a good example of why synergy is a very important aspect of promoting a film to your audience, using a famous soundtrack will also advertise the film to new audiences who maybe usually wouldn’t be interested in a film of this genre. The first teaser trailer for the film was released on the 28^th of July being attached to films in the cinema such as Guardians of the Galaxy, this film was released in the UK summer holidays so The Hobbit was guaranteed to receive huge amounts of publicity. The second trailer for the film was released on the 6^th of November which was the full main trailer which was attached to Interstellar and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 which was also two very big blockbuster films which were predicted to be two highly successful and publicised films which would increase the hype and word of mouth for The Hobbit.

Warner Bro’s using their good relationship with Lego who have previously came together to create toys and video games they have also done this for the hobbit also. Creating Lego video games for game consoles such as the Xbox One and the PS4 with an already built reputation on previous Lego video games this excelled in the gaming industry and also advertised the story too new audiences. Due to media convergence of the adaptation and grown in technology new consoles have been released and this may lead to people staying at home and rather game then going to the cinema, so the release of a game from The Hobbit and Lego would come at a financial benefit due to the revenue from the game sales and from the attracting the people who have played the game which would encourage them to go to the cinema and see The Hobbit Battle of the Five Armies. This all contributed towards the final $951 million box office takings which The Hobbit has received. Using their current connections with Netflix with the first two hobbit films featured on the UK Netflix it is predicted that The Battle of the Five armies will also appear on Netflix, Netflix is growing and is dominating the online film streaming market and due to the high quality films and the versatile devices you are able to use the service on. By putting the two films on Netflix before the third was released this is a great way to attract people into the cinema’s to see the third due to the large audience who owns a Netflix account, this will also encourage more people to sign up to Netflix ultimately ending up in more profit for both of the companies.

Another form of synergy which Warner Bro’s used to advertise The Hobbit Battle of the Five armies to the New Zealand audience was used wellington based football club to have a specially designed Hobbit kit for them to play in to promote the film to the people watching on the TV and people to see at the football game, especially with the film being filmed in New Zealand this was an easy audience to target.  Air New Zealand also introduced “The airline to middle earth” liveries on their planes to promote the film and to encourage people to travel to New Zealand to come to see the places where The Hobbit has been filmed. Both of these marketing strategies will be recognized as they will be seen all over the world and attract audiences, this will attract people for not only the film but for the airline also. Social media and blogging was also big for The Hobbit using Twitter and Facebook as below the line marketing to promote the film to wide audiences. Especially how social media has developed in recent years with many people joining every day and becoming available on almost every electronical device, with many people liking The Hobbit page on Facebook and people retweeting tweets on twitter for more people to see, The Hobbit will be aiming to get many likes on pages and retweets as they can so more people will become known of the film. Peter Jackson also had his own personalised blog where hobbit fans would check constantly looking for updates and teasers for the upcoming film, he would also interact with his audience and mention small teasers about the film.

The film industry will use synergy and cross media convergence to aim to make their films the most highly publicised films currently out on the market. Using examples from The Hobbit I have been able to demonstrate how huge media conglomerates such as Warner Bros will use different techniques with Media convergence and synergy to get people into the cinema’s to see their film to ultimately make the film a financial success.